My Cross-Country Adventure

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05 Dec 06: I came, I saw, I bought...

My webserver went down today. I've decided it's psychic because it seems to generally do this when I'm out of town. It's especially annoying now given that I was planning on uploading trip reports... So instead of real-time trip updates, once I kick my server back into submission you can read the retrospective.

Oh yeah... This would be a complete non-issue if it weren't for the fact that about 2PM EST today, I became the happy new owner of N28819, aka "Cleo". Her previous owner and I departed Islip, NY early this morning to head for the pre-purchase inspection in Plymouth, MA. We encountered a small band of snow showers which was easily circumnavigated and arrived a little after 8AM. Pete Conner and his crew at Yankee Aviation went to work, poking and prodding and coming up with a relatively tame list of issues. My worries and concerns seemed to melt away, and wrapping up the purchase was pretty much a no-brainer.

Click images for larger view
Sunrise over Long Island Plymouth, MA
Inspection complete The new owner

Of course, after closing the deal, it didn't take long for the first gremlin to bite - While getting ready to taxi a short way down the ramp for fuel, I found the canopy would catch on something opening and closing. We decided it was loose washer or nut that got caught in the canopy rails, and since with a little work we could still open and close the canopy, it's one additional item to have taken care of once I'm back in San Diego. One could also say she's been a little cranky, because I've had a bit of trouble getting her started at Plymouth, and later back at Islip. She has a different ignition system than I'm used to, and the trouble at Islip was entirely due to my using the old habituated (and wrong) procedure instead of the appropriate new one.

It was literally off into the sunset for the flight back to Islip to drop off her now former owner. Despite having a new plane of his own to care for, it was obvious he was going to miss Cleo. I promised to do my best to take care of her, and got off to a good start. Those of you who caught the earlier installments of my blog attempts before my server went down were introduced to the term "greaser" - well, my first landing with Cleo at Islip qualified, and if all my landings turn out that nicely, I think Cleo won't have much to complain about with me.

Sunset over Long Island Sound 2151nm to go from Islip

After some goodbyes, I was off to Reading, PA for the night, with my previously mentioned copilot in the right seat. In all my anxiety/nervousness/excitement, I hadn't really had a chance to settle down and study the airport configuration, and that got me right away. It was dark, and despite asking ground control for directions, quickly took the wrong turn at a 5-way intersection. I figured out the mistake and got to the departure runway without further incident, and soon was back in the air for my first solo in Cleo.

I had wanted to limit travelling during the trip home to the daylight hours, since I was going to be in unfamiliar terrain and conditions (I think the snowfall we ran into in the morning would have been more distressing had I been on my own). I had half a mind to stay in Islip for the night, but I'm glad I didn't. The route to Reading took me right over Brooklyn and the south tip of Manhattan, which I had already seen two days before in daylight. It was pretty magical at night with all the high-rises lit up and Times Square flashing its bright lights. After another gentle touchdown at Reading, the horror began...

Manhattan Island

I've decided that Flight Gods are with me on this trip, and travel by any other means is unacceptable. Between a 130 kt tailwind on the Southwest trip to Islip, and what looks like a generally benign forcast for the rest of my trip home, I've been happy and relaxed while in the air. I've already described the 30+ minute wait for what turned out to be a 3-4 block shuttle ride when I got to Islip. Well, tonight I got into Reading about 6:45PM, got the plane tied down, and found out that, silly me, I probably should have made a reservation at the Holiday Inn that was right next to the airport but was now sold out. I got a room at the Sheraton a couple miles away, but it was past hours for their shuttle, so I called a taxi. I was told 15 minutes. After it turned into 30+ minutes, I found an alternative ride might be with an arriving jet crew who typically head for the Sheraton. Since they were due in about 15-20 minutes, I decided to try that instead of hounding the taxi company. Well, the crew was late, and it turns out they weren't headed for the Sheraton this time. But they actually preferred it, so tried to change their reservations... only to find that the Sheraton was now sold out as well. In the end, Nevin, a nice guy at the FBO, went out of his way to drop me off.

But wait... the horror isn't over... I get into my room to find the heater on, thermostat at 75, but the room at 60. I called the front desk, who called engineering, who came and poked around, declared failure, and got me a different (and nicer) room. It was 9:45 by then. If you're keeping track, that's 3 hours to get from the airport to a useable hotel room about 2.5 miles away. At least I got a free tasty room-service dinner out of it.

So, now that I've written way more than I intend to, I'm off to plan the next legs of my trip. My plan is to sleep in tomorrow, and don't expect to get started before noon. The goal will be Bloomington, IN, about 4.5 hours away.

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