Recent Lubbock trip

Jul 10, 2008 17:21

I just got back last Friday from flying myself to Lubbock, TX. I was over there for about a week to watch my lil' sis get married and spend time with the fam. It was very much the fun.

Andy joined me for the flight out, so he was pilot in command from Deer Valley to Albuquerque. The FBO gave us a courtesy shuttle into town and a card so that we could call them to be scooped up when we were ready. Then I got us the rest of the way to Lubbock, under a few sprinkles of da rain, but nothing really dramatic. Got to show Anny around town for a couple of days, and then he caught a Southwest commercial flight back to Phoenix.

The wedding was small and quick, or perhaps lean and mean, but it was beautiful, my sister was beautiful all gussied up, and Nate cleans up quite nicely. The two of them darted off to Santa Fe for their honeymoon the next day, and I otherwise spent time with friends and family, as well as getting my critical food fixes of One Guy from Italy, Taco Villa, and of course Orlando's.

I managed one local flight during my time there, where I requested permission to tool over the city itself from Lubbock Approach, and they happily obliged, and while fun as a first time to do something like that looking down at my mother as a tiny speck waving from the driveway, to overflying the Texas Tech campus, and everything else...it was another stark reminder about just how tiny Lubbock is. Lubbock Aero took great care of my bird while it was there. Fueled up promptly, tied down cleanly. Moved her into their hangar during the thunder/hail storms as they passed, and towed her right up to the FBO exit so I could load up and preflight without walking. No need to pay until my ultimate departure, not even when I took it up for my mid-trip spin, and upon paying for my fuel at the end of my stay in Lubbock, tie down and hangar fees waived. Always a pleasure leaving my bird there, gratis tie down or not.

The flight back was helped by having XM radio pumped into the intercom, so it was a lot more relaxing to have that interspersed with the occasional Albuquerque Center radio frequency changes as I putted along in the sky. I kept my ABQ fuel stop and restroom break very brief and got trucking for home. I beat the thunderstorms that would have blocked my ingress into the valley by about 3 hours, so hooray for proper flight planning and Nexrad weather on the Garmin 496. Woo! And everybody watched my progress live in both directions by way of http://www.fboweb.com/track/n4116l, so by the time I landed, Andy was at the airport unbeknownst to me to help me park the bird, and Christy had set me a text message 10 minutes prior noting that I was almost home.

Now, the old girl is due for her annual, and this time I'm specifically getting new tires, new vacuum pump, and an oil cooler so that I can fly more reliably in the Arizona summer heat. Off to Oshkosh for the big show soon, and while there likely going to rent a plane and borrow an instructor to get some actual soft field experience, and that'll give me my fix while 16L is getting new shoes and a physical.

Who's goin' flyin' with me?
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