NC Exchange Days 5 and 6

Beautiful blue skies when we woke up this morning. First thing after breakfast was to head to Blowing Rock to get the postcards from the post office and put stamps on them. On the way we came across a sign that said "Mowing Ahead" nothing unusual until you catch up to them. They weren't mowing the grass, but the trees! The post office had all of Laura's postcards plus one more, Laura stamped all of hers in the post office and sent them off.

Since it was sunny and blue skies we decided to head north on the Parkway since we had only gone part way earlier in the week. Great views to the east as we were above the clouds, then we would descend into a valley and go through some clouds and back up again. The photo is basically the same shot I took on our first day, but with clear skies and a slightly different angle. Stopped at the North Trading Post and picked up great ham biscuits and dried apples along with a few other small gifts for co-workers. That got us through to a late lunch which we enjoyed at the Blue Ridge Music Center.

We went through the exhibit and asked the lady inside what was going on as there were a number of people setting up outside. She wasn't sure, but thought it was a crew from Dollywood who was hoping to film with some fall color for background. We sat outside and ate our lunch while listening to a local group, the Timber Rattlers, and watched some cloggers. We were going to pack up and continue on when Laura started visiting with the lady bass player for the group and said we should stick around as the next musician would be Wayne Henderson. Of course, we didn't know who he was, so she explained that he was a guitar picker and that he has played for the president. We're glad we did, boy could he play.

We continued north into Virginia which gets tamer and more rolling hills. Still not seeing much fall color, especially at the lower elevations. Fields of cabbages have replaced the fields of N.C. Christmas trees. We stopped heading North once we got to Mabry Mill. The mill was used for wood cutting and corn grinding. Nice place to stretch our legs and talk with some of the interpretive guides. Saw to great, romping Basset Hounds stretching their legs prior to getting back in the car.

On the way South it appeared to be wooly worm migration season in Virginia, saw a dozen or more trying to cross the roads, but didn't see any in North Carolina. We came back through Valle Crucis. Ended up and Mike's Inland Seafood for dinner, we couldn't leave without at least one more great seafood dinner. We both had scallops and shrimp. The scallops were huge and just melted in your mouth. After an hour of leisurely eating we headed off to hear a concert we had seen an advertisement for. The band was Clann and Drumma a Celtic group that had a piper and three drummers. One of the drummers sang anti-English songs. Most of the band's followers were older then us with a few younger ones mixed in.

Day six was up early to clean house and do the laundry. Once we shut down the house we headed out the gate and turned Right instead of left, the way we had always gone. We knew it went toward Lenoir and thought we would wind our way back to Charlotte in that direction. Shortly after turning right we ended up on dirt roads. We made guesses on turns as nothing was marked, but civilization was there as we almost got run over by a bright red Hummer. We made it to Lenoir, a big furniture producer, but couldn't do any shopping as furniture generally doesn't fit in our luggage. Another sunny day and looks like it might hit 80 degrees.

We stopped in Hiddenite to try our hand at the Emerald Hollow Gem mine that we had seen on the travel channel. We ended up digging lots of quartz and found several other interesting stones in the sluice box. Really, needed someone to explain more, but had fun. Continued on to just North of Charlotte where we stayed with family friends of Laura's. Where Laura got her kitty fix, with the bonus of two Corgi's being available as well.

NC trip Days 3 and 4

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I've updated this.

On day three we were up earlier. Still foggy but we decided to travel south on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville. Along the way we stopped at the Moses Cone memorial park, which has a beautiful mansion that houses the arts and crafts guild. Laura ended up getting a bracelet charm of a possum with two babies on its back, Laura is a twin. And I picked up a CD of women blue grass performers. There is also a nice nature trail that explains about the different plants, so we took a walk and prior to leaving, the fog cleared up some for a view out to lake.

We continued down the Parkway until we were detoured off and around some construction work on the parkway. When we got back on, we didn't have too much further to go until we reached Asheville. We stopped at the Folk Art museum and enjoyed the exhibit and a little more shopping. Then we went into downtown to walk a bit and enjoyed a good meal and beer at The Green Man. Laura had a Saison ale and then Spaten Oktoberfest, which was on tap, with her Sheppard Pie and I had the house Porter with a flank steak sandwich with an onion and apricot spread on it. Interesting combination but very good. When we left The Green Man the sun was finally out for our drive home on the interstate.

Day four and foggy again, time for more shopping. We headed to Blowing Rock, which we never did see, but prior to leaving we saw a very large woodpecker outside the kitchen window. Not a very clear photo, but it was take through the kitchen window and screen. It was also another foggy rainy day. After shopping a bit in Blowing Rock we end up in the Storrie Street Grill for lunch. Laura calls it a good accident because we went there because she saw an advertisement in the restroom somewhere along the way. I had fish and chips, but had them replace the chips with sweet potato casserole, yum. Laura enjoyed great barbecue, vinegar based, with fries. We waddled out for a bit more shopping and kept running into Romeo, a miniature beagle who was wandering with his owners. Our last stop in town is the post office so Laura can send out 20 post cards and rush to Grandfather's mountain since the sun is out.

Shortly after we pay our entrance fee, $28, the fog closes in on us again. We get occasional views as we drive the winding drive to the top. We park and start to climb to the suspension bridge and we only see half of it, due to the fog. Laura thinks its kind of cool and Brigadoon like. She'd like to come back in the summer for their highland games. In the parking lot we discover that the stamps that should have been on the postcards, remember the postcards?, are still in the car. We go back to the gift shop and beg the use of the phone and a phone book. Laura manages to get in touch with the post office and sure enough they had just gotten them out of the post box. They will hold them for us and we can stop by tomorrow and put stamps on them. On the way down from Grandfather mountain we stop at the Nature Museum. Wonderful exhibit of carved birds and the largest amethyst found in the U.S. and a small zoo with animals in more natural habitat.

They had six bears that we saw and three cougars, two of which ran around playing most of the time and one that just sat and posed for us. Also, a couple majestic bald eagles and some white talked deer. Don't know why they had the later as they seem to be quite common all across the U.S.

Back on the parkway the fog lifted again we were able to see what we had missed on the drive up to Grandfather. Got back to our Deep Gap home and had our own deer in the yard, including a fawn. Unfortunately, it was too dark for good photos. After dinner, while doing laundry, we found the seed corn for the deer so maybe we can entice them back in daylight.

NC Day One and Two

After a failed attempt to get the hot water heater going the night before I went to the basement in the morning and found that it was as simple as moving the circuit breaker for the hot water heater into the full off position and then moving it to on. Ten hours of sleep after a long travel day helps.

It was a cloudy morning, so after a leisurely morning we headed out to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Laura (that's the 'my wife' from previous posts)was interested in going to West Virginia, so after some time on the Parkway we exited at Highway 21 and headed toward Independence Virginia.

We finally made it to West Virginia but the picture Laura tried to take of the Welcome sign didn't turn out well. Along the way we didn't see any interesting places to eat. Everything was fast food chain restaurants. We decided to detour to Bramwell since they'd had an Ocktoberfest the previous day. Still no food, but a nice visitor center and interesting train cars that they hope to turn into a restaurant. One of the few remaining tobacco storage train cars is there. We ended up eating a snack we had brought along and continued on our loop back to Boone. As my wife put it in her journal, "After 3,298,546 winding turns we made our way to Bristol, TN, and eventually back to Boone and a dense fog. This is also the day we were suppose to go to Kentucky, too, but after 11 hours that didn't happen and we didn't care if we got there this trip."

The next morning was foggy again. So we decided to spend time seeing the shops in and around Boone. Found the Farmer's Supplies store and it was great, only it isn't supplies any longer. It was in the old building with tin ceilings and brick walls and some of the old storage bins and cupboards. However, it was now an arts and crafts gallery, with very good prices. We then found great food at Mike's Inland Seafood and after lunch headed to Linville Cave. Since it was still raining out we figured exploring a cave was just the thing.

The tour was interesting and the guide was both informative and had a sense of humor. He referred to different formations as "dread rocks," "mother-in-law's nose," etc. He also pointed out that flow stone takes 125 years to grow one cubic inch, so one wall was more than 6 million years old. About mid-way through the tour there was a stream with fish in it and at one point the guide mentioned that they had dropped a cable down more than 250 feet into the water and had not found the bottom. A little further on the guide had us experience total darkness. We were 2,500 feet under ground and he turned out all the lights. Talk about dark. He told the story of a couple of explorers who lost their lights, this is before the permanent ones were installed, and it took them two days to find thier way out. They stayed with the stream and just kept working their way up stream to the get to the entrance.

After the cave tour we took a walk to Linville Falls, since it wasn't raining and the sun was trying to come out. The falls drops 90 feet and the gorge created by the river is the deepest east of the Grand Canyon. Some of the trees were just starting to turn, but I think we were just a bit too early to see the true fall colors.

Exchange to NC

I realize that most of the previous posts are on flying and learning to fly. Prior to starting that process my wife and I joined a home exchange service. We pay an annual fee to list our home and use the service to connect with folks in places we might like to visit.
The first exchange we did was a result of someone contacting us. We had never considered North Carolina. But after looking at the area via the internet we decided to go ahead and exchange. The couple who contacted us wanted to come to Colorado to do some skiing and snow shoeing. We explained that the nearest ski area was about an hour away and the more famous Colorado resorts were three to four hours away, but they still wanted to come.
We ended up doing a non-concurrent exchange. We went on our anniversary trip and they came and stayed in our home. This helped us understand that we needed to increase our documentation on the house and our area. Jenny and Darren had to ask to find the nearest grocery store and when visiting they learned that Rocky Mountain National Park was in our back yard. We assumed that anyone coming to our neck of the woods was coming, in part, for Rocky Mountain National Park.
The stay in our home went fine and we were pleased and a bit surprised on our return. Not only was everything clean and in the same shape, but they had also done the laundry cleaning all the sheets and towels they had used. Talking with other exchangers since this time, it isn't a surprise. I'm told that it is fairly common to do the laundry, however; if you have an early flight out it is also understood that you don't have the time to do the laundry.
In October we flew to Charlotte, NC, (commercial since I don't have the license yet) and picked up a rental car. Jenny and Darren had provided excellent directions to their second home in the Northeast corner of North Carolina. Which is a good thing since we didn't get there until well after dark.
However, if I had my private AND my instrument rating it probably would have been quicker and definitely more fun to fly my self.
Time spent getting there:
2.5 hours Home to Airport hotel
10 hours DIA to Charlotte including layover in Dallas
4 hours Charlotte to exchange home

Now there is no way I would want to fly for 16 hours straight but with more direct routing and estimating only an average ground speed of 100 kts and three stops between for fuel (each fuel stop being 40 mins) it would have taken 13 hours and that would have included a stop with relatives for a night. Granted the costs would have been considerably higher, 22 hours of flight time round trip, almost $2000 if renting. However, we would have been able to take off from the airport 30 minutes away and land at an airport 20 to 30 minutes from our vacation home.

More on that exchange in future posts.

Flying Where?

So where have I flown? Taking lessons on the Front Range of Colorado I've flown into Boulder, Longmont, Ft Collins - Loveland, Ft Collins Downtown, Ft Morgan, and Pine Bluff and Cheyenne, WY.

Since my instructor is also a good friend I've flown with him into Sidney, NE, a few times. This was in his aircraft and not a flight lesson. These are trips to Cabellas. Radio the FBO on approach and the van will be waiting for you by the time you tie down.

Since my instructor and his wife are from Illinois and Indiana. We also took a trip with them back east and we got dropped in Iowa to visit my wife's sister and her family. This worked out well, kind of like the idea behind Pilot Share the Ride. We got to surprise our twin nephews and enjoy a long Thanksgiving weekend.

We had planned on leaving Saturday due to the weather in Colorado moving in on Sunday, but then the weather was bad in Chicago on that day. So Sunday we headed out and made it as far as north east Nebraska when we decided to stop at my wife's aunt and uncle's place. The snow pushed through that evening and we were able to depart around nine the next morning and we were back at work at 1 pm on Monday. Beautiful blue sky and a great view of Longs Peak as we approached Ft Collins-Loveland Airport (KFNL).

Working toward that license, Part II

After reading the previous post it occurred to me that I never discussed how to finance. While I earn quite a bit more than I did in the military, your expenses tend to grow into what you are earning. Once I decided it was finally time to learn I did a few things, which so far, have resulted in lack of dollars not being a hindrance when I can fit in the flight time.

First thing I did was setup a separate checking account.
Second, I started an allotments to that checking account. After looking at the budget my wife and I decided $100 every pay period, i.e. $200 a month. Was within the existing budget.

Now it is very easy to go through $200 when taking flight lessons, books and flight bag alone will run you $100 to $150 depending on the program. And even if you have a lower rental rate on the airplane you need to fly with your instructor and that adds another $35 to $50 depending on the instructor. And then there is ground school time. Another way to help cut that bill is to join AOPA and get their credit card. Most schools and FBO's are in their 5% rebate program. Also, check if your school offers discounts if you buy your hours in bulk, usually about 10 hours. Get 10 or 15% off from your FBO or school for buying bulk hours, you need at least 40 anyway, and charge it to the credit card and get another 5% rebate.

Once the allotments was setup, in January by the way, I let it sit there until June when I took my first lesson. With cancellations due to schedules, weather, TFRs, etc. I have never been in a position where I wanted to fly but didn't have the money.

Now with the last pay raise, I've increased that amount. This is in anticipation of having that pilot license and taking longer trips.

One warning: Whatever you do don't use that money for something else. It is your flying money and if you get in the habit of using it as a personal fun account, you will quickly deplete it. Now I'm not saying it is totally sacrosanct. We had significant emergency house repairs and my wife and I both dislike being in debt. It also happened to be winter time and I wasn't doing much flying so we took a chunk of the money from the flying account and used it.

What I hope to do with my license is exactly what Phil and Nancy Verghese do. Check out their web site and look at their Trip Journals. By the time I have the license and I'm proficient enough for extended trips I hope HomeAndHangarExchange has more than its current five listings! And one of those doesn't count since it is my own listing.

Working Toward that Private pilot License

I started working toward my private pilot license a little over two years ago. This is something that I had always wanted to do, but usually lacked the funding. As a member of the military there were usually great flying clubs with reasonable rates, but still beyond the means of an enlisted member with a wife to support.

Now that I work for a fortune 50 company I have the money but not necessarily the time. By extending the learning process I realize that I am paying more, but some delays have been unavoidable.

Things that I've learned about starting this process:
1) Interview the flight service and a number of instructors. Also, talk to other students at that FBO or school.
Why? I started out at a small airport and I talked to a couple of instructors and selected one. However, shortly after our first lesson he stopped instructing because his wife wanted him home more often. I ended up with another instructor at the same field. And while he was a good instructor he was also a student at the local university and either I was busy, he was busy, or the planes we used were busy. I managed to get in only about six hours of instruction due to all the scheduling conflicts.
2) Larger school offers more opportunity, costs more initially, but may be worth it.
Why? I then started taking lessons at a bigger school. Many more available aircraft and the few times I was unable to schedule with my primary instructor he referred me to one of the many other full-time instructors at the school. All were very professional and it was good experience to fly with the other instructors. I soloed while learning at this school.
3) Weigh friendship with your need to learn.
Why? In my case a long time college friend reactivated his CFI and became an instructor at the above mentioned school. I started flying with him and got close to completing my license. However, he and the owner of the school had a falling out and he moved to private instruction at a smaller airport which basically has only two aircraft. Now I'm back to the same situation as One above.

So, when will I finish. Hard to say. I recently changed jobs and I'm learning my new role. Until that time I don't feel comfortable with taking some time off. I've also investigated a "Get it done" course and while a bit more expensive than working with my current instructor it will probably be cheaper in the long run.

Enough of my rambling. If you are looking at earning your private license I would encourage you to do so, but I hope some of my cautions will help you get it done quicker than I am.