fri sat sun mon

I got the Luscombe to a few more nearby fly-ins before the season ended.  There was Greenwood in October and a Horn Point work party in November which I indeed flew into.  And a flight up to Cheswald later in November,  to say goodbye to a classic airplane which was leaving my sociogram,  but never my heart.   Then along came December 1st and 2nd.  Beautiful warm days that started out foggy.  Days that showed G.A. was alive even in December.
   For me it started on Friday Nov. 30th.  I was having one of my usual nothing days,  except the weather was pristine,  and warm.  I had expected a visit from a friend or two who may have wanted to visit as a part of the "Holly Run" on Saturday and "Massey" on Sunday.  But nobody called about that.  I got a call at 4PM from my friend the Professor.  He asked if I was still going to be having friends over.  I said no.  He said  "Can I fly in anyway?"  And I said absolutely but 'tis getting late.  Suddenly I cared about doing something.  I needed my truck to gather some firewood.  I needed firewood because the Professor and I like campfires.  The truck was full from another project.  I hurried and emptied the truck and before I could start gathering fallen tree limbs,  the 152 circled in a gorgeous sunset and I saw it land west where naked bare trees now allowed me to see the airstrip in almost winter.   The light was fading and the Professor parked the Cessna and climbed in the truck and he was charged from a great flight as a cap off to a long day and long week for him.  So we gathered wood as much as we could grab before dark.  Then we laid a fire.  Then before lighting it we ran out to dinner.  (Suicide Bridge).  Then a roaring fire.

Saturday  morning wife had been up for hours before I rose.  The Prof. still sleeping in.  I made some breakfast and I opened the hangar doors and rolled out the Luscombe.  It was foggy,  and calm,  and fairly warm.  I started gathering more wood.  Soon the Prof was helping me and all of a sudden it was 3:30 and getting late again.  We started the Luscombe and I taxied out to go to Cambridge for fuel.  Then we got visited by a couple RV's who did beautiful fly bys.....  had they been on the Holly Run?   I took off and headed for CGE.  The Choptank River was coated with an icing of fog.  The viz was down in a weird haze.  I was considering turning back on a flight that was 12 miles long.  My little 65hp engine started missing and my heart jumped.  I pulled on the carb heat and it got rougher still but I kept the heat on and it finally cleared up.  The Prof had taken off also,  but decided to just fly two circuits.   I got my fuel and had help with a prop start and was on my way home.  I took off and flew all the way home with the carb heat on.  It was 100 percent humidity.  And I landed and left the airplane outside,  and far away from our fire pit.  I would be using it tomorrow anyway.  I had enough light to gather more wood and lay the fire.  We ordered carry out food delivered so we could just hang out in the hazy,  damp night by that lovely fire.  We made it an early night.

Sunday morning.  I had chores to do.  The wx was foggy.  I was moving slow.  I had to go to the store to get breakfast food and my covered dish contribution to Massey.  Weather permitting.
It seemed to take forever to get launched.  The Prof had planned to take his 152 to Massey,  but he asked if he could come with me in the little Luscombe.  So we went.  The wx had cleared and it was wonderful.  The pattern was a bee hive,  but we snuck in one hour late and the place was packed we were triple parked.
I saw many of my friends and had a great time.  We watched everyone take off.  Then we had to hustle to get propped (thanks Dempsey) and get going,  these days are short.  Then back just in time for one pass to see if we could scare away deer, foxes, skunk, seagulls, dogs.  Again I parked outside and 500 feet from the fire pit.  And for the third night my friend the Prof and I had a nice campfire.  A very early night as he had to leave and  teach in the AM and what if there was fog....

Monday morning....  for some reason I awoke at six and couldn't go back to sleep....  so I made coffee and slugged around and watched the Prof go about his Profy,  Profy day.  He checked wx,  skyped his GF in Norway,  ate breakfast, the fog slowly lifted.  He launched about nine and I was on my golfcart out by the runway saying goodbye on my Icom on 122.9.  He flew out of sight in the sun and the mist. 

I figured I would go back to bed.  But the golfcart took me along the treeline to some brush I had been clearing.  I started picking up limbs and twigs.  I took off my jacket.  It was almost 50 degrees already in the sun. I still had on my moccasins.  I put on my work gloves.  Did you ever go to a fire that burned all night and try to get it going from the coals with twigs just for the hell of it?

GAI         :::::+:::::