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Spring Training

tkatc

tkatc

Well Known Member
A native of the Philadelphia area I have never been to Florida to see the Phillies (MLB) in spring training. With my condition inspection recently completed I thought this was as good a time as ever. The weekend weather was looking great.

Heading south out of Philadelphia along the east coast it is rare to have a tail wind...but I did!! 170 kts GS all leaned back at 7.2 GPH. :D

In short order I was passing 53VG international!
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To my right was Tangier Island. I've heard some wierd things about the people here and plan to visit someday soon.
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This is the same armada that the Russian saw...only 2 days earlier.
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First stop! Lumberton (LBT), home of $4.99 100LL. Only took 2.5 hours to get here. Not too shabby.
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The FBO was nice and the people were friendly. They didn't talk to us too much, probably because we're "Yankees" but they supplied us with a nice crew car to take into town.
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A typical trip soutbound along I-95 you will start to see these billboards from 200 miles out. We only had to endure one of the MANY billboards for "South of the Border!"
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After a nice lunch in town we we're off!! Not many pictures to show the landscape but the weather and views on top were beautiful!!
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Looking towards Texas I was trying to give my cousin a PIREP.
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He should have left when I left!!
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We arrive near Clearwater, FL and duck down through a hole near the west coast. There she is!! The Phillies stadium!!
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Tampa Class B is all around us! It is a tight squeeze into CLW but there she is!
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It would be easy to talk to approach but who wants to do that???:eek:
 
The next day was rough!! We lost an hour sleep (DST) on top of a pretty healthy hangover. We actually ran the bar out of Bacardi. Can't figure out if we drink too much or the bar is lame but either way, it's sad!! :D

As they say, "A hair of the dog that bit you...", we started drinking again as we arrived at
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Across the street is where the Tampa Bay Bucs play (NFL)
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I hate the Yankess but have to admit, they have a nice stadium down there in Tampa.
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They also beat us!! :mad::mad:

We had pretty good seats, right in the sun with a hangover!! The only thing they sell is beer and that just wasn't cutting it.
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Shane Victorino!! He just predicted he will have the most triples in the league this season.
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After the game we found a trustworthy Phillie fan to take our picture.
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More to follow....
 
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Nice place to visit. Thanks for bringing the Florida weather back with you :)

BTW: I'm going to have to fly direct from my airport to Canada to truly earn the monitor "53VG International" :) sounds like a worthy challenge !
 
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Tampa Approach

The Tampa Approach controllers are some of the best in the eastern half of the country... don't be afraid to talk to them!! They are friendly and very helpful.

Gordon

Lance N220L
Lancair ES N144GP

KCXY Harrisburg, PA
KVNC Venice, FL
 
He doesn't talk to ATC often but when he does he fires so rapidly I can not understand a thing :D
 
The next day (Monday) we drive to Clearwater to see the Phillies stadium (BrightHouse Field) up close and personal. Very nice facility.
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I LOVE my job but these guys are doing something right too.
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After visiting the Phillies stadium and training facility we had to head down to Clearwater beach. HIGHLY recommended.
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It was spring break and there were LOTS of sights but I didn't want to be THAT guy. :D

Beautiful town.
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Awesome sand!!
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They even had indoor surfing. Never saw that before.
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Just beautiful!
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All good trips must end though, fired up the Tweety for once last loop around the beach before we head for home.
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Time to head north.
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The return trip was just as nice as the trip down. We stopped in Lumberton again for cheap gas but had to make a quick run into town when we realized we kept the rental car keys! :eek::eek:

Hertz will not close out the rental until they have the keys so we had to overnight the keys back to them and they also charged us an extra day rental. Still it was worth the trip. Great time!! :D
 
Good job!

You fixed it...Yes! Nice trip report and nice photos. Thanks! I'm still trying to figure out how you and Vlad are "cousins." Another day, another thread. :D
 
tkatc said:
The next day was rough!! We lost an hour sleep (DST) on top of a pretty healthy hangover. We actually ran the bar out of Bacardi. Can't figure out if we drink too much or the bar is lame but either way, it's sad!! :D....
Click to expand...

Just remember the bottle to throttle rule: No smoking within 8 hours, no drinking within 50 feet...:D
 
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