Closing Out The Year In Flying Fashion!

 

I have done a little flying around home since our trip to the Exumas, but no real trips to write about.  Finally, two weeks ago a friend and I flew to New Orleans to attend the International Workboat Show.  It's the only "business trip" I normally get to do and this year I got to fly myself!  The plane ran great and you just cant beat the 3 hour nonstop flight!

Then last Friday the family and I loaded up the plane to begin our big Christmas Flying Adventure.  We took off for New Orleans to attend Abby's dance competition; same one we did a year ago.  Monday we got back in the plane and came up to Shreveport, LA to see my father-in-law and his family.  Although we bucked a 35+ knot headwind, we had a smooth, direct flight which took us right over Barksdale AFB and straight in to Shreveport Downtown (KDTN).

After the front comes through tonight and hopefully the winds subside a little by tomorrow afternoon, we will take to the skies again to spend Christmas at my Dad and Kim's house in San Antonio, TX.  It promises to be a full house and should be an awesome Christmas for everyone!
After Christmas we will head to Dallas for a few days and then on to Northwest Arkansas for New Years.  After that we will head home so we can get back to work and school.

It is nice to have us traveling in the plane again and we are so blessed to have this means of travel available to us.  I will post more about our trip when we get home, but I just wanted to write a quick little update.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

What An Awesome Turnout!

Photo by Del Angelo

It was beautiful Saturday and a I think a huge success for this year's Wings 'N' Wheels show at my home airport of Craig Field (KCRG) in Jacksonville, Florida.  I got to the airport before sunrise to put my plane out on the ramp so I could also attend the morning Men's Ministry at my church.  At that time my plane was the third one on the ramp and only a few cars were just starting to arrive.  When I returned at 9:00 am, the row of planes was full and the multitude of cars went on forever!  It was awesome!

I opened the doors to my plane, set up my chairs, and waited for the public to arrive while I chatted with some of my fellow aviators.  I met a lot of great people and had some enjoyable conversations with a lot of folks throughout the day.  I put out a little display with information about the Bahamas Habitat which garnered a lot of interest.  I even met and chatted with one gentleman who was there with his wife that recognized my plane and me from this blog!  Pretty cool!

Participating in this event was rewarding, but I did have a few people that tested my trust.  Towards  the beginning of the show I had one family come by who's son promptly tried to jump up on one of my wingtips and try to hang from the nav light/strobe assembly.  I of course politely, but forcibly intervened as the parents did nothing.  Needless to say that made me realize  I would not be closing up the plane at different times and wandering around to see for myself what was at the show.  So therefore I do not have a lot of cool plane and car pictures to share.  There was only a small handful of people that obviously had no respect for the displays, but that did not diminish my enjoyment in the day.  I had a great time and hope to do it again!

At the end of the day I did get to walk down the ramp to see David Marco's beautiful Lockheed 12A Electra that is based at my airport.  Just a gorgeous plane.

Wings 'N' Wheels 2012 - Jacksonville, FL

My home drome is once again having their Wings 'N' Wheels aviation and car show on September 8, 2012.  I didn't get to visit the show last year, but I might actually be putting our Piper Lance on static display for this event!  So come on down and enjoy a great day of aviation and cars and if you find me on the ramp with our plane, please stop by and say hi!

What:  Wings 'N' Wheels Aircraft and Car Show

When:  Saturday, 8 September 2012 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Where:  Jacksonville's Craig Airport - KCRG