Scott & Tanya Card RV9A build log (N4822C)

I’m still tired from our adventures this weekend. We got up early and left the house BEFORE SUNRISE to meet up with Stu for a little formation practice. I hopped in the plane and fueled her while Scott briefed with Stu. Wheels up at 8am to rendezvous with Bill Gunn and Lowell Lemay who were doing laps over the practice area. Scott did some 4 ship work with them as they traveled to Hearne for the real rendezvous with 5 other RVs from Dallas for a show at Coulter Field in Bryan. This was his first time as #4, which was even more of a challenge. He is certainly getting the hang of it.

After he had his fun, it was my turn for some slow flight and touch and go practice from the right seat. Scott finds it much easier to transition from side to side than I do. I needed a good batch of landings to feel comfortable again. Fortunately, it did come back fairly quickly, but I really have a tough time with alignment from the right seat. 9:30 now and time for another fuel stop.

We took off from that fuel stop to meet up with Johnica flight to take a trip to Palacios (PSX). They were running a bit behind, so we took a detour over Briggs Field (TX23), a gliderport that the Fault Line Flyers call home. I’m toying with the idea of getting my glider license, so we thought we’d go take a look at the field. We have an extremely accomplished glider pilot in the Dallas RV group, and he said he’d take me for a flight. I’m going to have to collect on that before I go down this path.

The detour was a good choice as Johnica (the call sign we are trying to make stick for John & Monica) flight was still slow to get off the ground. We orbited Breakaway Park until they were ready and then tucked into a very loose route a few miles from the airport. It was a nice easy flight down. In Palacios, 13/31 is supposedly the best runway. It didn’t look that way as we departed, but looks can be deceiving. The runway isn’t very well maintained, but it wasn’t a problem either. There were lots of cracks with grass growing in them, but there were no large cracks or holes that would be dangerous to an RV nosedragger. Monica called the Outrigger, and the owner came to pick us up from there airport. There is no courtesy car or taxi service in town.

Lunch consisted of lots of shrimp: fried, grilled, and mixed with guacamole for dipping. Palacios is said to have the largest shrimping fleet on the Gulf Coast, which would be very easy to believe. Johnica flight asked our host/owner/driver if he would stop for some shrimp they could take home. The answer was ‘Of Course’, and we stopped at the processor where some of the boats offload. They purchased about 25 pounds of shrimp that was being shoveled off the boat as we arrived. They were definitely in the jumbo category. $2.50 per pound. Entertainment was provided by some pelicans as we waited for the shrimp.

Scott had a great idea to take a quick coastline run before heading for home. We cruised over Matagora Bay and flew above a little strip of land before the ocean took over. There were actually two runways on that little strip - one closed and one private, but they sure looked like great emergency landing locations. We took in the views of just a little water, the line of ships motoring into the bay, and flocks of birds (well below us I should add). The flight back was easy, and Scott took the opportunity to run a ‘flight of two’ over the Austin airspace. Monica invited us in for coffee, and she makes some pretty schnazzy coffee, so we dropped in for a few minutes.

Q: What is 7 minutes? A: The time it takes from take off roll at Breakaway to the Bravo turnoff in Georgetown. A third fuel stop for the day was completed. I’m afraid the credit card company fraud department may shut me down after 3 stops at the same pump in one day.

Shortly after we arrived home, Monica called and said they decided they didn’t want to freeze the shrimp and had put together an improptu shrimp boil. She asked us to pick up potatoes, corn, and seasoning on the way to her house. We drank and ate away the evening with some of the Breakaway crew. Then, off to bed for a sweet slumber - we needed it after all that day!

The overcast morning allowed for a couple good pictures on the way out, including the 2000 foot tower outside Burnet that poked its way through the cloud layer. We didn’t arrive in Santa Teresa until about 3 pm, much later than what we would have liked. We had just enough time to pick up the rental car, grab Gary to stop in at Albertson’s for a quick snack and the more-important beverages, and make it back to the ramp for the sunset social. The usual tall-tales were told until it was time to vacate for dinner. A group of about 20 headed to the State Line BBQ for dinner. We hauled Jay Pratt and Carol around as they opted to let me chauffeur instead of getting their own car, so they were stuck with our schedule of events. Worked out fine for us, I hope they can say the same.

Somehow, Jay Pratt and Don Christianson talked us into a hike at the Franklin Mountains state park. Two hours later, after trying to keep up with the old folks, we slumped into the car. Scott slipped at one of the steep parts of the descent, slid down the hill, and took my legs out from underneath me in the process. No major injuries, but I had the misfortune of ending up with a left arm and hand looking like a porcupine since there was a cactus at a very inconvenient location.

Back to the airport to lounge on the ramp and visit with old friends and make some new ones. Several of the formation guys put on a nice show for us as well. Scott was admiring Larry Vetterman’s watch, so a picture was in order. The banquet was catered by Rudy’s this year (yum!), and the prizes were distributed. Our late night run to Dairy Queen with the SoCal group commenced, and more laughter was shared over blizzards and cones.

No need to retype the trip home, so here’s what Scott had to say on VAF…

The Cards are home safe from LOE ‘09. We’re feeling vindicated from our travels home from the same event last year which was the final catalyst to us both getting instrument tickets…

We launched from home on Friday into light rain and overcast weather for the short climb a couple thousand feet above to sunshine and a smooth trip all the way to Pecos for fuel. We had the usual great time at LOE. Turn out was a little light, but was no less on the fun factor. Still plenty of entertaining characters to talk to.

Today, we launched into beautiful skies pointed toward central Texas (home). We picked up our IFR clearance just after exiting the pattern at Donna Anna and were happily above the low crud at 13000′ which started at the Guadalupe mountains. The next three hours were smooth sailing above. We watched reporting stations below the whole way with reports of ugly stuff like 200′ ceiling, 1/2mi., light rain… Yuck.

As we were sailing by Pecos, we heard Paul and Louise in Mikey having a little issue getting their clearance in the air from ABQ Center. Bummer… We tracked them down a few minutes later on the radio pausing at Fort Stockton to try again. Little did they know, ABQ Center was trying to raise them for over 15min. after Center essentially told them to **** off, we don’t have your flight plan. Oh well, I guess stuff happens. They sounded safe down there 10k’ below. We continued our happy camper routine all the way to the beginning of our decent into home. We descended through 10k’ of solid clouds, mist, and rain for a beautiful GPS Runway 36 approach at Georgetown. We broke out 100′ above minimums at 600′ with a couple miles of visibility in light rain and mist. It worked just like advertised. The runway was very wet and completely slippery. The roll out was the most exciting part of the whole flight home.

Last year this time, the weather was very similar and it posed a real problem for us. In the interim, as Tanya put it, “We solved that problem, not once, but twice.”