Day 11 - Virginia Coast Chorus

The weather delay gave me the opportunity to sing with the ladies at Virginia Coast Chorus.  They, too, have a show coming up, and ran through a lot of songs in what seemed like a very short time.  I learned more choreography, sigh, and a different interpretation of Jingle Bell Rock.   Very cool.

Director Cheri Danner runs a tight ship and these gals get a lot done!  I enjoyed the double quartet on the floor opportunity; it's always helpful to me to get off the risers and hear differently.   My thanks to Carey for the invitation.

And now, for the latest weather report.  Not good at all.  Hurricane Joaquin coming?  Hurricane?  We don't have these in California!!!  Give me something I know and love, like an earthquake.  :-)

So I'm taking the safe course of action and sitting tight for now.  If you don't hear from me for a few days don't worry, I'm probably sitting with my feet up enjoying a latte or eggs and scrapple.   

Thank you all for your safe wishes.  Safe is not always the fastest course and this is definitely one of those situations!   Stay tuned.  Hugs to all.

Days 8 & 9 - Wedding / Family / Copilot

The wedding was lovely and windy as the weather front moved in.  The bride was confident and beautiful, the groom suave and calm, the parents only slightly frazzled.  My 91 (?) year old great aunt is still a joy to chat with, sharp, witty and totally in command at all times.  My sister, brother and I enjoyed reminiscing with relatives. We devoured the delicious food and drink!!! It was a delightful experience, but my eyes were always on the sky.

Clouds, wind and rain are forecast for the Richmond area all this week. The original plan was to sing with the Greater Richmond Chorus on Monday night and depart for the west the next morning.  If Tuesday is inclement, Plan B is to sing Tuesday night with Vienna Falls and depart Wednesday.  It all depends on the weather.  Isolated passing showers is not a total deterrent,  I just need a modest safe sunny path to better weather!   Driving down to Richmond today I passed three such opportunities, so there is hope.

I'm really looking forward to singing with Greater Richmond tonight.  The chorus is much larger than my home group and I expect to be feeling massive harmonious vibrations from all around me!

My journey so far has been solo, not because that was my first choice but because husband is to tall to spend more than two hours in this plane, kids are working, my chorus was performing on a Broadway venue stage, etc, etc, etc.

I had a friend and fellow Lions club member, retired United Airlines pilot Walter, who was quite interested in joining me but for various reasons he bowed out, with regrets, a week before my departure.

Undeterred I elected to fly solo.  It's actually been kind of nice.  I can arrange all my various stuff wherever I want, and I can really concentrate on the job of flying.  But it would kind of be nice to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience so I opened up right seat to several people who have flown with me recently, and I got a taker for the return journey, another semi retired Lion Mike G.

I noticed, he didn't volunteer for eastbound, only westbound.  Hmmm.  Perhaps he wanted to see if I could find my way to the east coast before he took a chance.  Mike has done some flying so that's very helpful.  When he volunteered I called his wife to find out if he was serious and if she was okay with all this!!  Anyway here's joining me on Tuesday so you may hear about him from time to time.

Next post - Greater Richmond!

Day 10 - Greater Richmond Chorus

All the way across the USA there is a chorus that totally rocks.  I always thought the big choruses would be less tight, more women could mean more opportunities for cliques, or less likelihood that they would know each other very well, but GRC, as they call themselves, breaks all my preconcieved notions.  

At sixty plus members they are just barely large, but even so, these gals are of one mind behind director, Vera Crouse.  She doesn't seem to need to explain anything.   Maybe it's telepathy.  She makes a gesture or says two words and everyone is instantly there.   They clearly LOVE their director, and she loves them.  

The visit started with food...always a good sign ... and a lot of good natured ribbing between the ladies.  At the rehearsal hall they were all ready for me, the whole front row was wearing aviator scarves and goggles / sunglasses!!!  See picture below.  (Better picture coming....having technology issues)

After running through some of the songs for their upcoming church performance, we moved into their competition set.  After that was a choreo rehearsal and I stepped out to watch.  I'm kind of bummed that their regional contest is not webcast.  I would definitely pay to see them perform.  

After the rehearsal, more food, and cameraderie. This chorus is tight, their sound is tight, and you can feel the shared joy.  Grateful thanks to All of the GRC ladies, and especially Karen and Phyllis, who offered her lovely house, two dogs, and 4? cats, and apple raisin bread (yum).

Picked up copilot Mike and we headed to the airport to check everything was okay with my plane.  All systems go, except the weather.  Humph.  Looks like Thursday or Friday departure.  Hey, that means I can sing with another chorus!   Awesome!

Day 7 - Kent to Richmond Virginia (Hanover Field)

As of today I have been traveling for a week.   What a wonderful week it has been!  What an adventure!   

As I mentioned yesterday, I decided to change my flight plans due to a slow moving tropical storm affecting the southeast (see picture below).   I chose to fly to Hanover Field in Richmond, Va, directly rather than going to Wildwood NJ where the wedding would be.  I can easily drive to Wildwood, NJ - - places are a lot closer together on the East Coast than the West Coast - - and then come back to Richmond, and attend rehearsal Monday night with the Greater Richmond Chorus.

I know from California you can get stuck at a coastal airport, like Wildwood, due to coastal weather phenomena like fog.   And the visit of the Pope means that there are significant "no fly" zones that I would have needed to circumnavigate flying in and out of Wildwood, meaning I have less choices of route in case of cloudy locations.

I am a VFR pilot - - I do not fly in bad weather.  I did take the training and passed the written exam for Instrument Pilot, but then life intervened and I never took the flying test.  I don't miss it in the least.  My idea of flying is blue skies and unlimited horizons.   

When I was younger I was a little more daring, in fact my first airplane was outfitted for aerobatics and I was accomplished at the basic maneuvers, loops, rolls, spins, hammerheads, etc.  Tremendous fun!  But the concept of flying into a cloud never really appealed to me.   What if you have engine trouble and you have to look for a place to land, real quick?  As much as I trust my airplane, why take the chance?

The flight to Hanover Field was uneventful, blue skies and sun, but in the distance I could see that tropical storm creeping towards us.   Nice surprise at the airport, Karen Davis of the Greater Richmond Chorus was snapping pictures of my plane as I rolled into the parking lot.  Karen is an independent journalist who may do a story on my trip around the USA.  That would be cool!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday are wedding / family related and I may not be posting.  I am keeping a close watch on the weather.   Monday night I sing with the Greater Richmond Chorus.  My planned departure is Tuesday, but if weather has not cleared by then I 'll stay until Wednesday and that gives me a chance to sing Tuesday night with the Virginia Coast Chorus - - win win!   

Thank you all for following my travels.   Your comments are very welcome.

Day 6 - Middletown to Kent State

Hi there - -
Vivacious Tonda took me to the airport in Middletown and we met up with two women pilots and I think she recruited one of them for her chorus!  Either that or the instructor pilot recruited Tonda to take flying lessons.  I'm not sure.  :-)

The day was clear and there were jump planes taking off every 15 minutes and parachutists dropping all around me ... the folks at the FBO kept trying to get me to try jumping and I said NO WAY.   Jump out of a perfectly good airplane?  My bucket list is already crazy, don't need more crazy....

After a quick 90 minutes flight I was in Kent, Ohio, at an airport run by Kent State University -- yes, THE Kent State University.  My friend Craig is a music education professor and his spouse is a professor in Vocal studies.  They had all kinds of surprise activities planned for me, including a PVI if I wanted it (I did) but unfortunately ... it looked like the weather on the eastern seaboard was deteriorating.   I made the decision to spend only one night with them and depart Thursday morning. I also made the decision to fly directly to Richmond VA and drive to the family wedding.

I did have the chance to hear them rehearse their upcoming concert of medieval music, which was very cool ... and to visit the May 4 Memorial at Kent State.

Most of us were around and remember that President Nixon, after promising to withdraw from Vietnam, actually began bombing Cambodia.  When he revealed the deception, anti-war protests broke out all over the United States.

At Kent State University, the governor of Ohio ordered National Guard soldiers to the campus to assist in dealing with the angry students and on May 4, 1970 the Guard opened fire on Kent State University Students, killing four and wounding nine.  They have a compelling and absorbing memorial exhibit and I took a few pictures for your edification ... plus there is of course me again.  (again!)  https://goo.gl/photos/gE5F16RiXR5LQJcU9

Day 5 - Topeka to Middletown - Diamond Jubilee Chorus

The next flight leg was to Middletown Ohio to visit Jean Barford's Diamond Jubilee Chorus.

Initially I was dodging scattered clouds but after I passed over the Mississippi the skies cleared and I noticed it was time for lunch.  I had to create my own tray table.  :-)   Passing over Indianapolis I picked up several large liquid bugs on my windshield - remember - no wipers.... (Bugs over a mile high?  Remind me never to visit Indianapolis).   Uneventful flight.   Photos:  https://goo.gl/photos/fyRJDjk4UPoqCyff8

Tuesday night the Diamond Jubilee Chorus meets in rented space at a local mall.  They have quite a setup with an office for the Director, and separate rehearsal rooms labeled "Leads" "Basses" etc.  In the large storefront space are both risers and a set of chairs in orchestra arrangement around a keyboard.  This might be the nicest rehearsal space I see on the whole trip!

My hostess Rochelle and fellow lead, Tonda, were the welcoming committee, picking me up at the airport and chauffeuring me to the hotel, the rehearsal, a light meal after the rehearsal, back to my hotel, and this morning, to the airport.

I was keen to rehearse with Jean - - she is legendary!  And I was not disappointed.  She has a great ear, and instinctively zeros in on the right interpretation.  Diamond Jubilee also has a show this fall, November 14, so we ran through some show music and then started working on choreography, admittedly, not my favorite subject.  It was a long night for the chorus, with pre-rehearsals for double quartets working on show music, and then warmups, working on songs, and then an hour of choreography, and more songs, but the reward was the meal and socializing with Rochelle and Tonda and a few others afterwards.   It was a long day, and I was pretty tired, and dozed off at my computer before I could finish the blog.   

Wednesday is a rest day - I have a short flight to Kent Ohio where I'll stay with friend Craig Resta, see this famous university, and get a chance to do my laundry!

  

Day 4 - Topeka Acapella Unlimited

Spent a delightful day in Topeka starting with a trip to the Topeka Library which is a destination all by itself.   There were multiple archways leading to spacious corridors heading to intriguing rooms - - I felt I could have spent the day there.  And if the library building with classrooms and reading rooms and children's rooms and meeting rooms were not enough...   they have outreach programs with book lockers at grocery markets, as well as bookmobiles.   I did several days worth of flight planning, and then spent the day sightseeing.

.I learned that Topeka is famous for many things - - including Brown vs Board of Education, Westboro Baptist Church, and the Equality House across the street.  I saw beautiful houses on lush green streets, immaculate parks and lots of enticing municipal facilities, including a municipal university (!), an aquatic center with water slides, a zoo, an impressive small scale train that runs a mile long course throughout Gage park, and a carousel.   And families with one moderate income can afford to buy a nice house.    Here are some pictures:  https://goo.gl/photos/fBhshpPicAg3mRZ38

This evening was my first chorus rehearsal of the trip, with Topeka Acapella Unlimited.  What fun!  Susan Ives is over the top energetic and it is reflected in her chorus, who can deliver impressive crisp uptune lyrics in tempo without stumbling.   They were rehearsing for their show and I sang bass and bari for different tunes.   At the end we all sang something I knew, which will be performed at their November 7 show, Can You Feel The Love Tonight.  After the rehearsal the ladies LOVED going through my SFSW competition photos from 2010-2015.

Today was cloudy, but it was not a flying day.  Tomorrow is forecast to be clear, and I'll be flying to Middletown Ohio.   I offered to carry notes to the Diamond Jubilee Chorus by "airmail" !!  Great day, great trip, wonderful welcoming Topeka.

Day 3 - Kimball Nebraska to Topeka Kansas

Started the day with an invigorating walk at 7:00 am.  48 degrees, sun shine, blue skies, and the peaceful quiet of a small town that is slowly waking up.   I had been wanting to video the long freight trains that endlessly rumble through Kimball so I kept close to the railroad tracks.   Sure enough within 15 minutes I was passed by a train with leading and trailing locomotives and 98 cars in between.  Reminded me of my training assignment as a containership stevedoring superintendent. Trains are a different world that takes special skills and I know nothing about it.

After another kindly ride to the airport by Chris, owner of Kimball Motel, I refueled my plane, and set off for Topeka Kansas, flight time 2 hrs 38 minutes.  The flight was pleasant, and uneventful.  Still haven't found my music player but instead connected my cell phone for music.  Random mix but somehow seemed very appropriate - - US Navy Glee Club singing America the Beautiful, as epic panoramas unfold outside my cockpit windows.

Airport pickup and dinner with Mary and Rhonda of Topeka Acapella Unlimited. They have many things in common with my home chorus in San Francisco (SFSW): They are 40 years old and preparing for a show in November celebrating music over the years (SFSW is 60 years old and also working on a show for November).  They don't believe in singing only barbershop arrangements.  And both choruses are about the same size.   The rehearsal tomorrow night is going to be fun!

Day 2 - Wendover, Nevada to Kimball, Nebraska

The flight today was the longest leg of the eastbound trip - 481nm (553 miles) and a planned duration of 3 hours and 15 minutes.  Ordinarily I would have left early, but the weather forecast for my destination, Kimball Nebraska, was extremely windy until late afternoon.  So I didn't depart until 10:45am which was a compromise.   As a result of departing that late I had 45 minutes of turbulence at the end of the trip but the landing at Kimball was uneventful.   I did a low pass to check out the landing strip, and then came back around and landed.  No one minded because No One Was There.

As you can see from the pictures, Kimball Nebraska, population 2500, has a nice clean well kept airport with quite inexpensive aviation fuel, but no people and no airplanes. https://goo.gl/photos/R4V3sfZjSXg2zGHT7   

They do have corn, growing across the street, and apparently they have missile silos.  A lot of them.  The big city park across the street from my motel has a decommissioned missile as the central monument.  No bronze soldiers on horses here - - And the Kimball Motel is just what I hoped for - - wonderful friendly owner who picked me up at the airport, and a comfortable room within walking distance of the center of the town.   One thing about flying - - when you get there (quickly) you are then walking (slowly).

Just a few words about SOME of what goes on in the cockpit during the flight, for those who are interested.  By the time I board the aircraft I have packed away all my bags, done a thorough walk around, checked the oil and gas, tires, landing gear and propeller.  In the seat next to me I have the flight plan, which for today, was Wendover to Bonneville to Cevar to Ogden to Evanston to Fort Bridger to Rock Springs to Medicine Bow to Kimball.  I have this printed out, and also loaded on my tablet navigation app, and loaded into the airplane GPS.  

In addition I have my headset, my cell phone, my spare batteries, sun glasses, reading glasses, snacks, water, pen and pencil, paper, usb cables, audio cable, music player, navigational charts, aircraft owner's manual, GPS reference manual, and napkins.  This trip I have an organizer that I'm hanging on the copilot seat to keep everything where I can find it, except at the end of the trip I dropped the music player under the seat somewhere so I need to find that tomorrow.

For 90% of the trip I am in contact with ATC.  I request traffic advisories along the route and they will tell me if there is another aircraft near me -- near both my position and my altitude.  That means listening to them talking to everyone, in case they talk to me.  ATC controllers just work a certain region of airspace, so every half hour or so they ask me to contact the next controller along my route.

Today I had the music player hooked into my headset, which is designed to mute the music whenever I am receiving or transmitting a call.  It was groovy and I enjoyed singing loudly in the cockpit where no one can hear me!

Periodically I stretch my legs, lift my bottom off the seat, yawn, twist around and then settle back down to music, the incredibly beautiful panorama, and my turkey jerky.  It's heaven!

Day 1 - San Carlos California to Wendover Nevada

Well, for various reasons I didn't get up in the air until after 11am.   My goal was a 9:30 am takeoff to avoid turbulence in Nevada, which is very common on warm afternoons.  However ...  there was almost no turbulence and the trip was lovely!   Caught a nice tail wind after passing Reno and cruised along first at 9500' and later,  at 11500' doing over 150 knots  (that's 172 mph).   

After a pleasant 3 hours, that seemed shorter, I landed in Wendover Nevada, a drinking and gambling destination for Utah folks.  Wendover is a former training airport for bomber pilots including those that flew Enola Gay.  They also have a small WWII museum. 

Here are pictures, one I snapped while departing the Bay Area, you can see San Francisco in the distance, a few over Lake Tahoe, some pictures of the desolation that is Nevada, a picture of Wendover Airport from the air, and some pictures of the historic displays.    https://goo.gl/photos/jMSrni71dtEBAeL99

I landed after a Lear Jet and in front of an MD-80.  The Lear jet was full of happy people heading for the Reno Air Races.   They bought a tank of fuel ($430!) and were back on their way.  So many nice people in the flying community. 

The Night Before ...

The weather looks great tomorrow.  Yay!

My chorus buddies gave me a bunch of hugs at rehearsal this evening.  They are such an awesome group of human beings.  I am delighted and honored to sing with them.

Discovered this morning that the airplane GPS needs a database update.  My partner John promises it will be done before tomorrow morning departure.

I was able to fix my battery powered aviation radio - - Yes I have a bunch of extra gear in case things go wrong, including aforementioned radio, a first aid kit, extra water, flashlight, etc etc etc.   

I swear, I have so many lists .... I need a list of the lists.

Booked my favorite flying instructor for a couple hours of chatting on Wednesday.  He went over my flight plans and suggested I shorten the two over water legs.  Sounds like a good idea.  

He also suggested I take the online course for flying in the Washington DC area even though my flight plans do not anticipate that need.   He's right.  If weather changes I may need to deviate and what the heck, the course takes only 45 minutes and I'm actually interested.   What DO I need to do to grab a picture of the White House without attracting the interest of the Air Force?

September 18 and 19 are the two highest altitude legs of the whole trip - - my planned route to cross the Rocky Mountains has me at 11,500 feet for at least an hour on Friday and for shorter periods on Saturday.   I plan to fly in the morning when the winds are calmer and temperatures a bit lower.

If you want to follow my flight, I have a Google Map that shows the route, and the planned stops.  I'll be updating it as I go.    So excited!   Look out bucket list, here I come.

Counting Down to Departure

Hello !

I'm very glad you are joining me on this adventure.
To learn a little about me, visit the Introduce Myself page.

Today is Monday September 14, 2015 - - and I plan to depart on Friday September 18, if the weather is just right.  I'm pretty much a fair weather flyer, so it doesn't bother me that the airplane does not have windshield wipers.

Weather forecasts being what they are, any forecast more than 7 days in the future is a SWAG.  So I'll begin some serious route planning tonight and continue tomorrow, understanding that frequent changes may be necessary.

Change is all well and good because this is a bucket list experience and I'm fully embracing the sheer joy of flying, wherever the best isobars may take me.

Having said that, I've noticed that Murphy's law works on winds aloft and no matter which way you point the airplane, you're facing a headwind.  LOL

Got my packlist going, keep adding things to it.  Probably will forget something basic (toothbrush?) and remember something esoteric like the competition pictures of my chorus.  :-)  Can't wait, this is going to be so much fun!