
Previous Files March 11, 2005 Most Recent |
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
I awoke this morning to the sound of rain on the roof of the RV, and the usual
brightness from the window was missing. Dude's morning walk was abbreviated and
the trip for the paper was via the red Volvo splashing through the pelting rain.
Precipitation is forecast to continue through the day so my plan is to catch up
on desk chores today.
My Mississippi daughter visited this weekend,
her first time to the Charleston area. The weather was beautiful, and of course
I loved introducing her to some of the things that I enjoy about this place. The
few days were filled with outdoor activities, as I played tour guide.
Together
we assembled the bikes that had been stored in the 'basement' of the RV for a
ride down the greenbelt and a view of the marsh. Dude of course, does not take
kindly to being left behind while adventures are afoot, so we first craftily
installed him in the back seat of the Volvo, one of his all-time favorite
places, and then parked it behind the RV where he couldn't witness our
departure. We agreed that this was a sneaky but effective procedure that left
everyone happy.
On Sunday afternoon we toured the Historic section of
town and found the spring weather had brought out the strollers and the tourist
in force. Marion square was filled with flying Frisbees and leaping dogs, while
sunbathers sitting and lying on blankets scattered in the grass soaked up the
spring rays.
King Street in Charleston reminds me of the quote that if you sit long
enough at a sidewalk café in Paris, eventually everyone in the world will
walk by. And sure enough, as we were driving past, I saw a couple that I knew
from West Virginia walking arm and arm down the sidewalk. I was too surprised to
call out until I was past them and they were gone.
It seems to me that
chance is one of the strangest visitors you can have, and one that always comes
unannounced. My eighth grade class in the small country school I attended had a
total of 12 members. A few years ago while walking down a street on the island
of St Martin, two thousand miles from the West Arden Grade School, I met one of
my classmates.
I've been using the Mooney to make the commute between
WV and Charleston, as appointments and demos take me back home every couple of
weeks or so. It has proven to be a good choice for this travel and gives me
almost 150 knots of speed, making the trip about in about 2:50 in no wind and at
a fuel burn of less than 10 GPH.
With
it's basic but reliable avionics, I've spent many hours 'lurking in the murk' on
instruments. So many in fact, that the leading edges of the wings and tail are
beginning to need the paint touched up from the pounding of the rain. In the
hundred or so hours that I've flown this Mooney I've grown comfortable with the
airplane and it now seems to have the good fit that comes when you've flown one
airplane long enough to really know it well.
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