Rosie & Tuppergal's (2nd) Cayman Islands Trip 2009

[rv6rick]

Keep the reports coming.

Hoping to see you and the gang at Sun 'n Fun.

[Rosie]

Tuppergal and I thank you all for the e-mails we've received, and we are especially happy that it provides much motivation for both the builders and the fliers! We departed Addison Monday AM (4/20) for a 13 minute flight with Class B clearance directly over Love Field (2K MSL) into Arlington Municipal to visit Tupperware friends of Victoria (transplanted from CA). We are off to Lake of the Ozarks in the morning to visit with our friend (and contractor) who built our Skypark Home.

Keep poundin' them rivets Rosie

Update: We had a nice 3 hour flight from Arlington to Lake of the Ozarks, complete with a Class B clearance that took us near downtown Dallas;

[hibeam]

Hi all,
JimmyB and Vicki left Goodland last night and made it to Kennett, MO. They reported some pretty good tailwinds (210mph at 20mp & 1900rpm) Wow. They will be headed for Homestead today.
Gene and Janet will launch in "Moody Blue" from Atlantic, IA (AIO), fuel in Kennett (TKX) and Perry, FL (40J) and on to Homestead. We expect some good winds also (60 knots on the tail at 11000 ft) All right!!, save some gas and make some time. We are looking forward to some warm weather. Criminee, it's 37 degrees as I write this at 5 AM here in Walnut, IA. And I didn't plug the plane in last night. If we leave AIO by 8 AM, we should be in Homestead, FL by 5 PM. Beat that on an airliner. We will wave to all you SnFer's as we fly over. Got to do the tourist thing in the Everglades tomorrow.
For you lurkers out there, I plan to update our website with pics during the whole trip. Enjoy.
Gene

[Bryan Wood]

You folks can't imagine how much it sucks to read about this trip instead of watching the miles click off under our wings. The "Nagivator" is sitting here next to me and wishing you all a safe trip.

Later in the week while your all sitting around with a cold drink and the subject of the next trip comes up please pencil us in. Sitting here this morning is the first time I haven't liked my new job.

Sincerely, enjoy your wonderful vacation. We really wish we didn't have to cancel.

[Bob Axsom]

Had I been outside at point 35 in your progress track it seems I would have seen you going over. You are just a little too early for the full beauty of the area as the trees are just starting to produce leaves - many are still completely bare. Have a safe and enjoyable trip.

Bob Axsom

[Rosie]

Originally Posted by Bob Axsom

Had I been outside at point 35 in your progress track it seems I would have seen you going over. You are just a little too early for the full beauty of the area as the trees are just starting to produce leaves - many are still completely bare. Have a safe and enjoyable trip. Bob Axsom

Hey Bob, I have to tell you that all you would have seen was a BLUR!!!! We departed Lee C. Fine (AIZ, near Lake of the Ozarks, MO) at 0800 CDT and landed Cross City (CTY), FL at 1212 CDT... 195-205+ knots groundspeed as we got higher!!!!

We started out at 7500' with 35kts tailwind, then 40kts @ 9500' then 50kts @ 11.5K' We burned just shy of 8 gallons/hour, and I'm glad that we had little to eat and drink before departing. We had planned a stop in Alabama for fuel but we just kept on goi

We departed Cross City for the 'short' flight to Clearwater landing about an hour later.

We plan to arrive Sun n' Fun around 1000 EDT on Thursday. We'll be leaving before just before the start of the airshow so be sure to stop and say hi (if you see the white/green/yellow/purple/gray RV with 12" N numbers :-) Rosie

PS: This 691nm flight from AIZ to CTY in 4hrs 12min, was our farthest and longest flight ever flown in our RV. Normally, we are comfortable with 3.0hr flight legs, but with 50 knot tailwinds....we GO!

[Rosie]

It's been a great week having left California on Saturday April 18th, and we are now on Little Cayman Tuppergal & I spent a few hours at SnF on Thursday before heading out a 2-ship with Mercedes & Leslie to Homestead. We were that last of the planes to arrive (6-ships total).

We departed Homestead this (Friday April 24th) morning, starting at 0800 EDT, in the following order;
#1 Rosie & Tuppergal (RV-6A)
#2 Bill & Sharon Souza (RV-10)
#3 Jim "Jimmyb" & Vicki Baker (RV-6)
#4 Mercedes Eullit & Leslie Monforton (RV-6A)
#5 Chris & Indira Kleen (RV-6)
#6 Gene & Janet Larsen (RV-9A)

We arrived Cayman Brac starting at 1025 with the Larsens arriving at 1200. We all cleared customs, paid our fees, got some fuel then took a short flight around "The Brac". It's about a 5 minute flight from Cayman Brac to Little Cayman. Laird "Lucky" Owens and Christine Johnston were there to park/greet us with 4 other "commercial"-flying couples arriving shortly thereafter (includes Jim & Cathy Pappas).

The Paradise Villas had a fun Rum-punch party for us at 1700, and some are still there enjoying the evening We start the diving tomorrow with 7 divers in the group.

Thanks so much for the e-mails, and we hope you can possibly consider a trip like this! Rosie

PS: My SPOT tracker is new and is having push-button issues thus the incomplete tracks. I need to have it replaced when we return...

[KirkGrovesRV8]

Awesome Rosie!!!!! Have a blast

[RV6_flyer]

Here is where "Google Earth" places Rosie's last SPOT location.



Too bad WORK keeps getting in the way for me. 36-months left.

[Ron Lee]

I did not see the Mills in your list of people departing for the Caymans? I will need to pick your brains for details on the IFR filing since I may be there soon.

From Rosie: I regret to say that the Mills had to cancel their trip early this week