John & Anne Wiley

2013/03/18

Memory

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 14:03

Memory is strengthened by many things, such as positive emotions, but one of the best ways to remember something is for trauma to be associated with the experience. We’ll remember Tucson. 🙂

DSC_5044-b

We’re snug and warm with lattes inside that Starbucks on the left. We’re watching the sun rise over the mountains, filled with emotions, laughing frequently, and clearly remembering our experiences last night. Not long ago we were shivering in the cold desert air at the Catalina State Park. I figured out a way to partially inflate the air matt using the vent outlet in our rental car. Then I rolled the edges of one end to increase the pressure and tied it with some twine supplied with the sadistic tent. We finally got to sleep at about 1:30am, and woke on the ground in total darkness at 4:30 because an attractive someone (I won’t name names) had stepped on the partially inflated air matt and introduced a tiny puncture.

Now we are that couple laughing frequently in conversation breaks from gazing blankly with bloodshot eyes, at their internet devices. We first experienced Tucson together on our “honeymoon” Southwest driving tour across the Auto Club Indian Country Map in a 280Z sports car. We were younger then, had our camping gear figured out, and slept much better. But when we heard the coyote choir again last night during a break in the air matt quest, those warm memories washed over us with delight. Today we’ll visit sweet relatives, then take a magic carpet ride in Tripp to Las Cruces. Right now we’re about to head for the Sonoran Desert Museum we discovered on that first visit, to rekindle our love for that place in the joy of our marriage memories.

Tucson Trials

Filed under: Islander Adventure,Random — John @ 07:53

"Honey…" she asked ominously, "Where’s the pump for the air mattress?" We both paused from finishing up the new tent designed by some cruel committee. "In the plane," I eventually repiled. We both knew that would take over an hour to go get. So we improvised.

At last we sleep. We hope…

More tomorrow.

(sent from my phone)

2013/03/17

Departure

Filed under: Islander Adventure,Random — John @ 18:30

This is my first post by phone. If it works ok, I’ll have more options for at least a short daily post along the way. 🙂

So here’s the last pic from our last SB flight. Maybe later I’ll post pix of our flight to Tucson.

2013/03/16

Farewell Feelings

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 05:45

We’re especially enjoying Our Town recently. As we get Tripp ready for our Islander Adventure, we’ve taken brief flights to check out little things we’re going to use for the journey. Mostly though it’s a sort of Farewell to Santa Barbara for a time. We’re really missing Home already, as our departure fast approaches. So for me this pic is a bit melancholy as we cherish this place and everyone here whom we love.

4988 Missing U

4988 Missing U

We’re already missing that sunset over the University, the skies and mountains, greens and browns, and all the fun things going on down there. Sweet young Sarah knew we were going on this short flight and to my surprise I could see her come out to wave, so far below.

4985 Farewell

4985 Farewell

The white picket fence between us frames for me a warm farewell, and the essence of leaving Home.

2013/03/12

Dreams & Schemes

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 23:08

We’re ramping up. The dreams and schemes going into our Islander Adventure are pretty intense. So much to learn, plan, get, and do before we take off! Looking at this pic of Goleta Beach just now made me realize the Caribbean is going to look similar.

4742 Bahamaesque

4742 Bahamaesque

Both have beautiful beaches, ocean, boating, fishing, diving, swimming, and lots of blue. The sky here is often similar to pix I’ve seen of the Caribbean. But the ocean, not so much. Here it’s a deeper blue that’s more serene somehow, and there it’s brilliant and a lot warmer for water sports.

So today I’ve invested quite a bit of time figuring out the maximum distances we’ll be flying over water.

Water Crossings

Water Crossings

If you’re interested, you’ll probably need to click for the larger version to make any sense of this. In essence, it turns out the first water crossing from West Palm Beach to Grand Bahama Island (about half an hour) matches the one between Great Inagua and the little island just off Haiti.

Many (most?) pilots don’t worry about long water crossings, even in single-engine planes like Tripp. Lucky Lindy is oft quoted saying two engines just give you twice the chance of something going wrong. That’s fine, but more important to me are two things:

1)Engines have become vastly more reliable since Lindy’s adventure, and Tripp’s Lycoming 0360 is among the very best. Engine troubles of any sort on planes like Tripp are very rare. But the only sort of engine trouble I’d concerned about on a long water crossing is sudden and severe power loss, and that is much more rare still. Almost unheard of. Still, I do all possible to minimize that tiny chance.

2)I fly high. No, not in that sense, silly! Planes like Tripp glide quite well, serenely going about 1.5 miles per 1,000 feet of altitude. So unlike the innumerable pilots I see taking off from SBA toward Catalina past that scene of Goleta Beach (above) staying low as they head out over the water, I climb to always be within gliding range of land. Tripp is quite safe for going into water (for us that is – Tripp would probably eventually sink and become a fish refuge), so the concern is about being far from shore. Anyway, on those two long Caribbean crossings we’ll be beyond glide to shore for about six minutes. So even if the fickle finger of fate were to choose that moment to touch our trusty powerplant, we’d land near shore.

Now maybe you’ve never thought about this (or don’t want to!), but for me it’s a big part of contemplating a Big Adventure that includes big water crossings. If we do go beyond the Bahamas, it will be a small factor in our decision along with all the international ramifications of passing near Cuba and Haiti, possibly stopping in Dominican Republic, and visiting Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands.

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