Flight to AK, Day 1. KSPG – 1A5.

Any day’s travel that ends with you sitting on a porch and enjoying this kind of view, has to be considered a victory.

  All in all, both the girls and the guys accomplished all they had planned for the day.  Today started our trip Northwest, the correct direction for Alaska as opposed to the 1021 miles we flew in the opposite direction two weeks ago.  The morning commenced with what was probably the most challenging part of the day’s activities, getting the girls (and Declan) onto their commercial flight from Tampa International.  I dropped them off on the departures curb of Tampa International Airport right on time at 6:30 am.  Speaking to Liz, they had a couple problems with medications in carry-on bags and not having Declan (lap sitter) on anyone’s boarding pass.  After overcame those issues, they boarded on time for their 07:55 flight.  They met the car in short term parking of Kansas City International Airport’s terminal C and started on their way.  They seem to have found a hotel in Sioux City, IA for the night, though I haven’t talked to them yet.

The plan for today’s flight was to file and fly IFR direct between Albert Whitted Airport (KSPG) and Macon County Municipal Airport (1A5) in Franklin, NC.  Franklin is where my Uncle Norris and Aunt Marlene’s farm is located.  This is a favorite spot for our family to visit because Brayden and Carly love to feed their horse carrots and apples.  We planned to arrive midafternoon and stay the night before departing with Uncle Norris on Monday morning (17 June).

St. Petersburg’s weather was terrific with light winds and a scattered layer at 2,500 feet below clear skies.  I filed IFR to climb through the scattered clouds and take advantage of cooler temperatures up high.  The magnetic course direct to Franklin is 360°.  Using the rules for IFR/VFR flight, this would dictate flying at an even thousand-foot altitude.  I attempted to file for 5,000 feet as the perfect compromise between speed, winds, and the difference between scattered layers of clouds at 4,000 in north Florida and 6,000 in north Georgia.  They didn’t bite and cleared me to 4,000 for a final altitude.  No matter.  After passing the lower clouds around the Florida/Georgia border, we climbed above all the other layers at 6,000 feet.

What can I say about the scenery along the gulf coast of Florida?  No, seriously.  What can I say about it?  Once you get past Clearwater Beach, the coast and adjacent areas are pretty devoid of interesting sights.  I snapped a couple photos of things we thought were interesting like industrial plants with huge runoff canals and gigantic strip mines. 

 

Making 145 knots true airspeed at 6,000 feet yielded us 135 knots over the ground.  We were witness to a funny conversation on Atlanta approach control’s frequency around Macon, GA.  Another airplane checked in on the way to Franklin.  The controller asked the other aircraft (Baron) if there was a fly-in at Macon Country because of there were three aircraft on the frequency heading that direction.   The Baron pilot responded that there was not a fly-in, and that everyone was flocking to the cool mountain air.  To that end, it is interesting to see the vacation areas spring up the farther north you get in Georgia.  From about Lake Oconee on, there is a noticeable increase in lake a country vacation areas.

Nice little airport built into a peninsula of Lake Oconee (I think.  I made a note on the iPad exactly where the lake was, but don't have the iPad on my.)

I cancelled our IFR clearance just past Athens to avoid climbing to 8,000 feet over the mountains.  Flying VFR, I was able to stay below a scattered to broken layer of clouds at about 4,000.  We maneuvered around scattered clouds and settled at 3,200 feet through the southern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Four miles south of the airport, we did an orbit of my Uncle’s farm for some pictures, and then we crossed midfield to make left traffic for runway 07.  I was way high on the approach causing us to land an embarrassing 2,000 feet down the 5,000 runway.  The previously discussed Baron was on the ramp getting fuel and a bonanza followed five minutes behind us rounding out the three aircraft Atlanta approach had referred to.

Dam along Lake Burton on the Georgia / South Carolina border

The foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which make up one sliver of the Appalachian Mountains.

Macon County airport is a pleasant place with full service fuel, some great scenery, and the little airplane with big performance shown in the photo below.

The Just Aircraft Company SuperStol airplane.  This is an impressive machine that was introduced to us by Gary Schmidt.

I met Gary Schmidt from Just Aircraft, which builds the Highlander, Escapade, and SuperStol.  The airplane he had on hand was the SuperStol.  Just Aircraft is located just down the road in Walhalla, SC.  I, admittedly, know very little about their line of airplanes, but they are certainly performers.  Gary showed off with a departure that rivaled any of the stellar efforts I saw a couple weeks ago at the OK18 fly-in.

I’ve determined that the stop in Franklin was a good decision even if we are stuck for a couple hours in the morning for thunderstorms and fog.  Stress from the last week at Fort Leavenworth, travelling, and the Saturday packing extravaganza we did yesterday really took their toll on me.  After getting the girls on their way and fighting our way out of the heat of Florida, I needed an afternoon nap and some relaxing on Uncle Norris’s porch.  I would have struggled if we tried any more legs.

I went for a jog in the afternoon.  Admittedly, my only motivation for running was Troy Hamon’s trip report from a couple months ago.  I have to stay in shape(ish) for the Army stuff.  If Troy can run during his trip, what excuse do I have?  Thanks Troy!

Brayden had a great time helping his Grandpa and Uncle Norris work on the tractor, and of course, he fed the horse.  One of Uncle Norris’s skills is empowering kids with tasks on a job.  He can always find the right chore to give the kids that will challenge them, but allow them to figure it out on their own.  I remember feeling a real sense of accomplishing when I worked with him as a kid, and I could see the same in Brayden.

Now that Brayden headed off to bed and I have some time to focus on the computer, I’m finding a couple challenges for tomorrow.  First, I left the iPad in the airplane.  It has just over 50% battery left, which means that I’ll have enough battery for the day, but Brayden won’t be able to play Sudoku on it.  I’m going to make sure my phone is charged to get all the weather I’ll need during the flight.  The second wrinkle is several lines of thunderstorms approaching through the night and into tomorrow afternoon. 

Originally, our plan was to depart Franklin heading to Dayton, OH to visit my brother.  His law school classes preclude him from being able to meet us, so we are going to continue direct towards North Dakota.  This was a difficult decision.  I was hoping to meet up with Patrol Guy at Grimes just north of Dayton.  My dad, however, purchased tickets to the Midnight Sun Baseball game in Fairbanks on the 21^st.  He stated that this was one of his bucket list items.  We’re gonna see what we can do to get some miles in tomorrow, leaving more time in Canada for sightseeing and weather.  We hope to put 7-8 hours in tomorrow reaching a jumping off point for customs in Canada.  I’ll have to update tomorrow with what we decide on route and stops based off of weather.  Until then…

I started this page simply to post some photos.  There's no organization to the pics.  They are simply placed here for use in other areas.

Declan enjoying campsite setup at the OK18 Fly-in.

Carly would yell out "BUUUUUSSSHHHWHEEEEEELS!" every time she came across one of the many airplanes at Gastons so equiped.  Couldn't get it on video, but it would have been a great plug for them.  Finally got this photo with Brown Bear's marvelous machine during breakfast.

Declan picked a great spot to watch this beautiful cub on Amphibs takeoff.

The family (minus Declan who was sleeping) on the way to Gastons.

The family getting ready to enjoy breakfast at Valley

The kids have seen a bunch of OBP videos and were excited to find one of their contraptions in real life.

All of our cargo, minus Declan.

Day 2 (2 June): Fort Leavenworth to St. Petersburg (KFLV - 25M - KSPG)

From the bedtime weather check on Saturday night, today (Sunday) promised to be more productive from a mileage standpoint than yesterday. And, low and behold, it was. After we struggled with an upset baby all night, we pealed ourselves up at six. The kids and I went to Daylight Donuts for some carry out breakfast while Liz finished getting Declan and our bags together. Loading the plane only took a couple minutes after the time we spent reorganizing last night, and off we went. Farewell Fort Leavenworth.

Fort Leavenworth's weather was less than ideal with a cloud layer that started at 1,700 feet. I called for an IFR clearance and we climbed up through the solid overcast. We climbed out of the top of the clouds at 5,000 feet to a beautiful, clear blue sky above. I've always enjoyed cruising above that first layer of clouds. The ride "on top" is typically super smooth and I've always liked the visual of the pillowy-white floor underneath. I selected 9,000 feet as our cruising altitude for most of the day because of a strong tailwind out of the northwest.

This leg gave me time to play with my new second-generation stratus receiver.  This is a device that receives free weather and traffic provided by the FAA and transmits it via Wi-Fi to an app on the iPad. Up to this point, all our flights had been on gorgeous days, so I had yet to see a radar picture with actual activity. There is a void in coverage between Kansas City and Memphis, so I never did get the radar picture on that first leg. This prompted a call to Flight Watch on 122.00. Flight Watch is air traffic control that provides weather over the radio. This is the first time I've talked to them in a couple years, so I'm surprised I even remembered the frequency. They confirmed that the front was well beyond our destination of Ripley, MS.

The kids did very well on the first leg. Who wouldn't with a belly full of donuts? Declan slept for over half of the leg and some Graham Crackers ensured he woke up into a good mood. The only noteworthy thing about flying into Ripley was some difficulty working with Memphis Center. The ceiling at Ripley was low enough that I had to do an instrument approach to get down into the airfield. That is, I would have to follow a specific procedure that allowed me to descend below the clouds and down to the runway.  It's probably my fault for not requesting an approach sooner, but Memphis Center left us at 5,000 feet and direct to the airport…all the way to the airport.  A couple miles from the airport it became apparent that we weren’t going to get our approach instruction and be able to descend to the airport.   By the time we received our instructions, we were so close to the airport that we had to fly the opposite direction for about five miles before turning back in.  For the pilot types reading, I’m used to having the conversation of,  "What approach do you request at Ripley?" "I request the ..." No worries. I prompted him with a request for the RNAV (GPS) runway 21 approach. We broke out of the clouds at 1,800 feet and I greased it on a little ways down the runway. I really get the feeling that this airplane-flying thing is becoming routine.

Now, let's discuss Ripley. I chose Ripley based off the fuel price. $4.75 was a good selling point. I should have done a little more digging, because I didn't realize that the low fuel price equated to low overhead on facility and staff expenses. There wasn't a soul there and the small terminal building was a little rundown. We expected to work out something for lunch, but that was obviously not going to happen.  As a result, we executed a bathroom break / refuel / reload, quick-turn…aka, a Chinese fire-drill.  A check of the weather showed that the front that caused so much damage in Oklahoma and Kansas had split in two leaving us a wide alley to get across the Florida Panhandle.  So, off we went.

We climbed into the clouds again and, again, we broke out at 5,000. This leg of the flight took us right by Birmingham, Montgomery, Dothan, and Tallahassee. Dothan, in particular, is noteworthy because we kept the plane there while we lived at Fort Rucker, Alabama. The afternoon "popcorn" cloud build-ups forced us to climb up to 11,000 feet and maneuver just a bit. It seems to be a regular routine in the southeast U.S. to work your way around the building cloud tops at between 9,000 and 12,000 feet. Traveling near clouds like this in a small airplane provides an interesting sight, because the clouds seem to boil out the top as they build.  Make no mistake, your passengers might appreciate the sight, but they won’t appreciate the bumpy ride if you fly though them.

Brayden, Carly, and Declan took turns napping limiting Mommy’s nap to about 10 minutes.  Revisiting the issue of no lunch at Ripley, Liz divvied up our remaining snack food as a lunch substitute.  Brayden, Carly, and Liz shared pretzels, graham crackers, Doritos, a bottle of milk, and gum.  I got the best deal with the remaining donut, a granola bar, and graham crackers.  Note to self, we need to have some non-emergency rations in the airplane to hold us over on days like this.

The Stratus radar picture thankfully kicked in at the start of this leg, providing us the location of developing storms along the Florida gulf coast.  Storms were lined up from Cross City down to Clearwater.  Jacksonville Center was very helpful suggesting a vector that kept us slightly out over the gulf, thus missing all the activity.  It was amazing that the visibility allowed us to see a developing storm over Sarasota from more than 140 miles away.

 The lack of food contributed to Carly overcoming a dose of Dramamine to get sick.  Also, the last 30 minutes of the trip became difficult for one passenger as the 4-hour flight nearly exceeded bladder capacity.  Luckily, we were vectored directly to Albert Whitted in St. Pete.   I feel fortunate that we were given a right downwind to land on from over Tampa Bay on runway 25.  This gave us an opportunity to fly past the Pier one last time before they tear it down.  The St. Petersburg Pier has defined the city’s coastline since 1973 and landmarks many of my childhood memories.  Some of my fondest memories involve following my older brother, Scott on bike rides through downtown and either to or by the Pier.  I feel bad now that I didn’t visit more in the last couple trips back home. 

 Except for making a last second jink to miss a rude bird, the landing was uneventful.  Long cross-country flights almost always provide you with a feeling of accomplishment.  In this case, we were able to manage the flight, weather, and family to travel 1,077 miles, reaching our destination in time for all the week’s activities.    Flight time totaled 6 hours and 52 minutes.  Of course, our ultimate destination is Fort Wainwright, AK, now 1,021 miles farther away.  The 3,777-mile trip from St. Petersburg to Fort Wainwright is set to start on June 16.

Thank you to Dad and Bev for treating us to dinner at The Hangar Restaurant overlooking Albert Whitted, and hosting us for the rest of the week.  There’s no better way to end a long day of travelling for the kids than to frolic in Grandma and Grandpa’s pool.  The one-day delay postponed our Disney trip until Tuesday.  In the morning, I’ll have to fly the airplane over to Tampa Executive to get some small maintenance done.  Beverly will go with me and Dad will come over in the camper to pick us up.  All in all, the trek is materializing well.  For the next two weeks, we will be busy enjoying vacation with Family in Florida.  Please tune in as we resume documenting our travels on June 16 with the girls (plus Declan) driving and the guys flying.  Until next time…

Day 1: Finally, progress. Umm... maybe not.

Our household goods were loaded into 12 crates on Wednesday afternoon.  We moved out of the house yesterday (Friday) afternoon.  I finished the last class of the Army school I'm attending here at Fort Leavenworth.  "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."  "Hit it!"

Um.... maybe not.  A front of tornado producing thunderstorms is lined up between Oklahoma City and St. Louis.  Studying the radar and weather forecast, there are two options.  We could depart to the southwest towards Lawton, OK and get around the southwest corner of the system.  That would increase the flight to 10 hours from the originally planned 6.5, and still takes us through moderate turbulence, convective forecasts, and a stiff headwind.  The other option is to head out to Waffle House and enjoy some coffee, waffles, and people watching.

My indecision over weather got us off to a late start.  We didn't get to breakfast until 9 and didn't get to the airplane until after 10.  While Liz loaded the airplane I made the decision that we wouldn't depart today.  The southwest tip of the storm was staying generally in the same place while the rest of the storm continued to extend all the way to the great lakes.  We decided to use the rest of the day to repack our things and I would try to get a local instructor to give me an instrument proficiency check.

We retreated back to the lodge on post and checked back in.  Taco Bell for the kids and Charley's sandwiches for Liz and I.  I got in contact with John, the instrument instructor, to get my instrument proficiency check done.  He was free at three.  I left Liz with the laundry and headed to the airport.  A half hour at the table discussing our plan, and we took off at 3:30 for an hour and a half instrument flight.  The cloud bases were just below 4,000 feet putting us in the clouds for several periods of the flight.  We did the precision approach at St. Joe (KSTJ) and the nonprecision back at Fort Leavenworth.

Although we didn't tick off any miles towards Florida, it was a relatively successful day of organizing ourselves for the trip.  I'd venture to say that we needed this unplanned deep breath to get ourselves together. How better to celebrate that productivity than to hit Hooters for dinner and StrikeZone for Disco Bowling.  The kids really had fun while needfully expending some energy.

Now, everyone is showered and ready for bed.  We got one more load of done to completely reset our clean clothes.  The plan is to get up at about 5 tomorrow morning to pack up and get an early stop.  Daylight Donuts opens at 5, so we can get some to go breakfast on the way.  The front seems to have split in two near Tennessee opening an opportunity to get through.  We'll see if that gap is still present tomorrow morning.  Until then, Let's all get some sleep.