Beach & Boards Time!

Well, maybe not really just beach time but boardwalk time works. The wx forecast was looking great and Mary and I both wanted to do a day trip, we needed to get away. We decided to head south to Ocean City Maryland (KOXB). OCMD is less than an hour by plane but almost 2.5 driving, this is a no brainer. The plan was to head out around 9ish to get to the airport, pre-flight and pick up my clearance so I can depart IFR within the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) at Wilmington. The new rating is already helping our travel. FlightAware track.

I washed the plane yesterday and got the correct fuel load so we were ready in pretty short order. The ramp was busy as could be this morning, pilots and planes moving about, good stuff. We did see Mike B and Frank getting ready to go play in Franks twin Comanche. We were soon cleared to take off on runway niner and climbing out of the pattern for a day of fun. Philly gave me six thousand and handed me off to Dover. We rode with Dover just south of Georgetown (KGED) then got handed off to Patuxent. Pax gave me direct Ocean City and asked me to report the field in site. I was cleared to descend to one thousand seven hundred now just 15 miles north of OXB. I canceled IFR and entered a left downwind for runway two zero. A smooth landing and quick taxi to a tie down......bring on the beach!!

Our taxi ride to the boardwalk was $11.60 and he said $11 even, I gave him $15. Inhale....exhale, yep that would be the ocean and thrasher fries! Mary and I strolled along, quite the couple holding hands and checking out all the shops. We made it down to the village shops and decided to eat lunch at OC Frogs. It's a small place, but the burgers are the absolute best in Ocean City. Mary had the Italian which was a hoagie on a burger bun and I had the Frog Mac, a spin off of the big mac but much much better. After lunch we hit all the shops in the village then caught the tram car to the other end of the boardwalk. Instead of getting off and walking three miles back we stayed on board and got off in time to walk the last few blocks back to our original starting point. We checked out all the shops, bought salt water taffy along with a few other goodies.

We called for the taxi to bring us back to the airport and they were at the planned pick up in just ten minutes. It was a quick hop back to the terminal and the service at the desk was just as quick. We settled up the fuel bill and walked out to the plane. I was ahead of my planned departure time but clearance delivery (CD)was great and amended my time. The route I read back didn't have altitude and was a bit different than my route Fltplan.com had sent. I taxied out to get my run up completed and advised ready for release. CD filled in the blanks and I copied the void times for my release. I flipped back to unicom and announced I was departing runway one four. I climbed out of Ocean City and contacted Patuxent. I was immediately cleared for five thousand and direct Smyrna (ENO). The view was much nicer heading home than this morning. I could now see all of Cape Henlopen and well north of Cape May new jersey across the Delaware bay. I said "I" because my bride was already in dream land with her cheetah fabric patterned neck pillow secure.

Dover cleared us direct Wilmington and I was pretty much hands off the whole way home. It was bumpy below four thousand and I did relay that info to a pilot heading south looking for smooth air. Dover handed me off to Philly we rode along up the Delaware river until a final hand off to the Wilmington tower. I made a nice landing, smooth, but rolled a bit farther then I like. Our ramp neighbor was back to the ramp just in front of us and we both climbed out with our Brides and secured the aircraft. It was funny, Mary and the lady in the Cessna both came down the ramp in the vehicles at the same time with Mary peeling off to our plane and the other to her plane. We headed home with a quick stop for Rita's water ice and then our driveway. We both got a lot of sun. Mary is taking a nap and I'm trying to finish posting pictures. It's so nice to be back fun flying with my Bride, I've really missed it.