FLY Trip to Tenn

Tomorrow we head east towards Savannah TN, SNH for the annual LLT Fly-In
http://www.ladieslovetaildraggers.com/blog/announcing-the-2013-lady-taildraggers-fly-in/

Here is our loose route, wx permitting.
Leg 1



With a good push, we can get to Ardmore OK, ADM or 1F0. If the winds are so so, well stop in Wichita Falls TX, F14.
If the winds are really bad we'll stop in BFE. Yes there really is a BFE and it's in Brownfield TX.

We'll get fuel and food and try to make our goal of Murfreesboro TN, MBT for the night to visit old friends.
Leg2


We'll hop down to SNH from MBT on Friday and enjoy the weekend of fun.

I'll see if I can do a rolling update as we go. Any places to stop that would be better than another etc, we're always open to suggestions.

Day one, where is BFE?

We awoke at 0400, hoping to get to TN today. Also hoping to outrun the forecast in N TX and W OK.
Overflying Tucson.



The downside of flying east early, sun in your eyes. Of course the upside of sun in your eyes....good VFR WX




We were going along the border towards El Paso and checked wx along the way again with flight watch. They painted a picture that got us considering taking a more southerly route. The winds aloft were pushing us nicely and gave us lots of options.

One of the many great things about having your own plane and a flexible schedule is that you can stick your nose in any direction you want and see how it goes.
We decided to stay on our original route, stop early at BFE so we can top off the fuel and have the best chance of getting way away from the TX, OK WX before the afternoon heat turned all those cute little popcorn clouds into monsters.

We had a furry welcome at BFE. I didn't know this puppy's name so thought "Proppy" would due for our short visit.





Turns out our decision the stay on course, and also to stop early paid off. Not only did we beat the heat and associated scary monster clouds, we also overflew Wichita Falls TX and Ardmore OK with ease and continued on into Covington TN and excellent WX.

Crossing the muddy Mississippi



We were hoping to get in early enough in the day to land at a grass strip just outside of Nashville. I wasn't too keen to try it at night even though it's lighted. Turned out we made it with lots of time and daylight to spare.





I took many pix, but I guess my phone ate most of them. Sadly these are all the photos that were any good. Sure was a great day of flying.

Friday

We flew down the short trip from Nashville to Savannah TN. No wx issues for us at all. We tied down Pop Tart and set up the tent. We won't need the tent for much now since we opted to " camp" on the lake at Pickwick Lake Lodge, due to the possible wet wx ya know.


The short leg




Fnding a parking spot.




The gang so far




Morning on the ramp







Kind of quiet with all the wx the past days.


Todays poker run route. Looks pretty good eh!



What, what is that?






Maybe today we'll all skip the poker run flight and be glad there is a big hangar here for all the planes.

Too bad the weather has been uncooperative this weekend. You missed a good breakfast or lunch at M93 (Houston County) at the Southernaire Restaurant. A local favorite fly in destination in the mid TN area. Took me awhile to find that grass strip north of KMBT. I'll have to do some aerial recon.

Harlem Shake Rain Dance

When the wx gets in the way........make something up.

http://youtu.be/7NeJn4OoYKA

Saturday afternoon adlib.

LLT Sat improv

Saturday

Saturday and all it's planned poker run flying got washed out, literally.
There were plenty of wx breaks to the south, but the poker run itself and the pre-arranged lunch for 50 was all in the other direction.



We went from plane to plane and got a little bit of info about each gal or guy who came to LLT.




I think most of the gang got in the pic.


Some portable entertainment rolling in.



Sat night after dinner

Sunday, almost home

Sunday

Sunday is looking much better and with the exception of starting out under a bit of a ceiling, the forecast for the rest of the day heading west was just getting better and better.



0400 wx had almost moved through. By the time we would leave later in the morning that should all be about cleared to the south.


The first part went off pretty well. The second part, not so much. The route was supposed to look like this...

It turned into this......


Courtesy cars along the way. Some with air in the tires, some without.







Until our last fuel stop at E11, a bit east of El Paso.
CAVU here in Andrews TX but ELP is getting slammed with CB's and high winds. No thank you. I am a wimp.
Too bad all the restricted areas are being used this evening. Well not all of them but at least one, and that is one I need to skate through Alamagordo. The North route is also socked in right now.

We're going to tie down the plane with good hatchet knots and hope that ELP wx doesn't bring all it's fury here.

We had talked Fri & Sat about possibly camping on Lake Texoma at Cedar Mills but after seeing all the rain they got the past few days decided not to.
I don't think my wheelpants like mushy sod.

Sunday night as the sun set, one short leg tomorrow.

Lunch

Steve N. said:

Too bad the weather has been uncooperative this weekend. You missed a good breakfast or lunch at M93 (Houston County) at the Southernaire Restaurant. A local favorite fly in destination in the mid TN area. Took me awhile to find that grass strip north of KMBT. I'll have to do some aerial recon.

Click to expand...

We sure did miss a good lunch. I got to enjoy it last year and was looking forward to more of the same this time. The wx gods thought Harlem Shake a better lunch I guess.

Last leg home

We discovered many things when we stopped at Andrews County TX.

A dry county can be wet if you ask the right person.
Booking a hotel online isn't always cheaper.
A gas & oil boom makes hotel prices rise substantially.
Self-serve FBO's rock. XBR & E11
Big fat chain tie downs are a nice comfort when you have to leave your plane out.

Here was the last bit of todays flying.


The totals
Time-20 hours
fuel- 150 gallons
Mileage-2557

Time for another oil change. I'm getting really good at not peeing oil all over the hangar floor now.

That's one cool trip you completed Cathy! I am itching to go to that corner of US again...

DELIGHTFUL

SUCH a great time reading this trip report!!
Thank you, acroflyergirl!
Gregg

Vlad travel sightings

Vlad,

We don't hold a candle to you. We are going to the Cape again in Sept and if you're around as we're cruising back through PA we'll come meet you.

acroflyrgirl said:

Vlad,

We don't hold a candle to you. We are going to the Cape again in Sept and if you're around as we're cruising back through PA we'll come meet you.

Click to expand...

Very well. Flash Mob Interceptors will keep an eye on you

PS btw you probably exceeded free PeeBucket traffic/storage limit and your pictures became blocked. Either send them couple bucks or move pic to other free site.

Bandwidth hoarded

Thanks Vlad for the bandwidth tip. That was it. I have unlimited bw now.