Today started off with a complete lack of a plan, and foggy skies all over southeast Texas. I had half a notion to fly up to Lufkin for the monthly fajita lunch, and the sun started to peak through about 0930, so I headed to the airport. Once at the hangar, I got a visit from a long-time local -8 flyer who is working on a panel upgrade, so we chatted about redundancy philosophies for awhile, then decided to go up to Brenham, since he shocked me by saying that he'd never been there. Since he had to go get his airplane at nearby Ellington Filed, I had an extra half hour to kill, and figured it was a good time to lubricate and inspect my prop (progressive maintenance keeps downtime to a minimum!).
Brenham was a quick 35 minutes away today, and when I got there, I of course ran into other RV?ers while still on the ramp. My friend from Ellington showed up, and we had a nice lunch, accompanied and followed by more RV talk ? is this a great way of life, or what?! On the way to Brenham, I heard a few folks on the air-to-air freq that were trying to get to Lufkin turning around because of low clouds, so I think we made a good choice ? but things got so nice after noon that I bet it was grand everywhere in the area!
Next on the agenda was a trip to Bruce Bohanon?s putting-green of a grass strip down near Angleton. We sat and chatted, and poked around the Flying Tiger a little (when I tested the Valkyrie to FL 240, I vividly remember the realization that Bruce takes HIS ?RV? twice that high!). What a gorgeous place to spend a couple of hours on a sunny Saturday afternoon! Airplanes, grass runways, lawn chairs ? and a brand new Legend Cub that was just sitting there, patiently waiting for someone to hop in and take it around the patch. While it looks like a J-3 with the cylinders hanging out the sides, there have been a whole bunch of improvements to the basic design ? yet it flew straight and honest like a Cub should. As fabulous as my RV is, it is hard to beat just one thing about flying a Cub on grass ? that little swoosh as you kiss the earth on touchdown, the doors open, the prop just ticking over at idle ? all three wheels touching down at the same time ? MAN, that is aviating!
When I got out, I think I used the phrase that ?it?s just like a bicycle??, but I really didn?t mean it in the usual sense of the term ? meaning that you never forget how to ride. What I really meant had nothing to do about ?forgetting" ? because that almost implies a conscious processing of information to achieve an end. What I really meant is that it is almost like breathing ? you just do it, and don?t even think about it. Maybe the years of flying airplanes with more challenging qualities and higher speeds just make returning to the Cub roots so easy?..
The day ended with a short flight across the Bay for fuel, and then a return to home base, flying into the setting sun. This is just one of those rare weeks we get in Houston when the weather is perfect ? and just has to be enjoyed! Now the only quesiton is....what the heck do I do tomorrow?
Paul
Brenham was a quick 35 minutes away today, and when I got there, I of course ran into other RV?ers while still on the ramp. My friend from Ellington showed up, and we had a nice lunch, accompanied and followed by more RV talk ? is this a great way of life, or what?! On the way to Brenham, I heard a few folks on the air-to-air freq that were trying to get to Lufkin turning around because of low clouds, so I think we made a good choice ? but things got so nice after noon that I bet it was grand everywhere in the area!
Next on the agenda was a trip to Bruce Bohanon?s putting-green of a grass strip down near Angleton. We sat and chatted, and poked around the Flying Tiger a little (when I tested the Valkyrie to FL 240, I vividly remember the realization that Bruce takes HIS ?RV? twice that high!). What a gorgeous place to spend a couple of hours on a sunny Saturday afternoon! Airplanes, grass runways, lawn chairs ? and a brand new Legend Cub that was just sitting there, patiently waiting for someone to hop in and take it around the patch. While it looks like a J-3 with the cylinders hanging out the sides, there have been a whole bunch of improvements to the basic design ? yet it flew straight and honest like a Cub should. As fabulous as my RV is, it is hard to beat just one thing about flying a Cub on grass ? that little swoosh as you kiss the earth on touchdown, the doors open, the prop just ticking over at idle ? all three wheels touching down at the same time ? MAN, that is aviating!
When I got out, I think I used the phrase that ?it?s just like a bicycle??, but I really didn?t mean it in the usual sense of the term ? meaning that you never forget how to ride. What I really meant had nothing to do about ?forgetting" ? because that almost implies a conscious processing of information to achieve an end. What I really meant is that it is almost like breathing ? you just do it, and don?t even think about it. Maybe the years of flying airplanes with more challenging qualities and higher speeds just make returning to the Cub roots so easy?..
The day ended with a short flight across the Bay for fuel, and then a return to home base, flying into the setting sun. This is just one of those rare weeks we get in Houston when the weather is perfect ? and just has to be enjoyed! Now the only quesiton is....what the heck do I do tomorrow?
Paul
Yesterday was no exception.