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Racing home
Since we’d already been delayed in Frisco and Midland, we were now looking at a long day of flying if we were to make it home by New Year’s (something we were hoping to accomplish to avoid potential problems with finding hotel rooms and getting flight services on New Year’s Eve). Weather forecasts were looking promising, so we aimed to try. Weather conditions in El Paso this morning were reporting freezing fog. This can’t be good: a) you can’t see, and b) you stand a chance of icing up your plane. But the forecast showed this condition improving over time, so we headed out. Along the way we passed the Guadalupe mountains again, this time with a snowy frost painting the craggy mountains in white. Snowy Guadalupe mountains Happily, the weather forecasts were correct, and by the time we arrived in El Paso the unpleasant icy conditions had melted away, and all was calm and clear. We quickly fueled up and departed the area on our way westward (but not without getting another glimpse of the NASA Super Guppy - yay!). DARE…to eat pistachios A clearer view of the Super Guppy Our next stop was Phoenix/Goodyear airport for lunch, then continuing on to Santa Monica. Test track? Phoenix Goodyear Airport Raul and Theresa’s Mexican Restaurant… …where I’m amazed they even need to post a sign like this: Killer Squirrels (this one’s for dad) An old airstrip? What’s wrong with this picture? We had a bit of excitement during our landing into Santa Monica: the plane’s landing light was no longer working. Luckily, Santa Monica is pretty well lit, but it still made landing a bit more challenging for T. He got us down safely, but then there was the matter of taxiing the plane back to our designated space in the dark. T handed me his little neck light to see if we could navigate using it, but it was far too faint. Then I remembered the hand crank LED light T received from his parents for Christmas. I’d charged it early on in the trip home, so I turned it on to HIGH, opened the door, and held it outside pointed towards the ground in front of us. Because I had to shine it from within the plane and from a fair distance to the ground in front of us, it wasn’t terribly bright and did a better job of illuminating the prop than anything else. However, it was enough to help us pick out the taxiway lines and guide us back to parking, so no complaints here. Not strictly a MacGyver moment, but it worked! So that’s it–we made it safely down, thus completing our second Christmas cross-country trip: some adventure, some good piloting, and some quality time with the families all made for a great holiday trip. See you all next time!
Posted by bpod at Sunday ~ December 12, 2006 |
Category: christmas 2006, flying, travel
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