In chronological order, the Blakesburg trip dictates the first update. I went into work on Friday grateful I could at least head to Blakesburg on Saturday at all only to find that despite having been placed on the work schedule, I was not supposed to be there. Being entirely unprepared for the trip, tired, and a poor student to boot, I elected to stay (additionally I had only asked to take the airplane beginning on Saturday).
Saturday morning I overslept (after a certain level of exhaustion my body takes over and ignores my alarm, apparently). Luckily for me but not so fortunate for Todd, the Luscombe's tailwheel tube blew, and the easiest way to fix it was to put a Lang tailwheel assembly on to replace the Maule setup. That took enough time for me to get ready and on my way.
21Y all packed up again!
We finally got underway towards our fuel stop in Maquoketa, Iowa. Aside from some haze, it was a perfect day for the trip. As on the trip to Lock Haven, I ran 21Y a little harder, around 2250. Needless to say I was surprised when the 65 which typically sips a dainty 4.6 an hour burned over 5!
Todd in the Luscombe landing at Maquoketa. Cub struts make such nice frames : )
Dare you to try and pronounce it!
She just looked so pretty : )Somewhere west of Maquoketa there are two giant towers, which all of a sudden seemed to pop out of the haze a few miles ahead. I tried to take a picture of them but with the haze you can hardly tell where they are--hence the surprise!
Flying over some ubiquitous town I spotted a line of cars waiting for a train to pass, and at once felt inexplicably superior, looking down at those poor groundbound folks with so many limits they had to live within. Forward, backward, left, right, when someone else tells you that it's ok is all one knows on the ground. I smiled widely and all at once fell in love with this wonderful little yellow airplane all over again.
Poor souls stuck on the ground
Passing over those unenviable folks on the ground, I wondered if they noticed me at all. Did they ever wonder what it was like to be flying like me? Did they think it was possible or unattainable? It made me wish I could swoop down and offer rides so they could know what it was like. (something tells me that would be frowned upon)
Another hour or so of flying later, we made it! The haze lightened up and a perfect flying evening materialized. We arrived right before dinner so a delightful amount of airplanes were out relishing the opportunity to fly a bit. That made entering the pattern interesting, as some faster aircraft were on a long final, but there's a microwave tower out there if you extend a bit, but then you're way out there if you extend past it (in a different ZIP code for a Cub). It took two go-arounds but I finally made it in and set up camp.
21Y settled in with her neighbors. That lasted about 45 minutes until I decided it was too nice to just sit around and watch other people fly!
More later, but now you know we made it : )
--Amy
