Wilmington by Ground

Mary and I had plans for heading to Wilmington for a pre-Easter visit, and to see great nephew Rowen for his birthday. 3 Tango Charlie was ready to go with a fresh oil change and recent detail inside and out completed.  I was watching weather and the call for Saturday was a mix of clouds and sun, maybe some IMC time. I also saw a POTUS TFR pop up for Saturday through Monday. It looks like we could get in on Saturday morning day but not get out in the afternoon. Not happy.  

I got to thinking about a cost comparison for a flight vs driving. A flight each way would be about forty-five minutes so lets say 20 gallons round trip for startup, taxi, and flight. Fuel at OXB is $6 so that's $120 for fuel. A rental for one day from Enterprise would cost around $133. All in by plane $253.

Lets see what driving would cost. The first big item is having to drive, I hate driving, especially on SR 1. The trip each way would be two hours. Spoiler alert, we drove. Mary's SUV gets great fuel mileage averaging just under 28 miles per gallon on our trip. I filled my brides SUV up this morning before I worked on this post and it took 11 gallons. We filled up here in Ocean City at $3.63 a gallon for a total of $40. What is my driving time worth? 

Overall it is way cheaper to drive then fly but driving is stressful, demands four hours of behind the wheel craziness, and it's tiring. Flying is quick and easy, we can spend a longer day on location and it's a lot less stressful.

Our first stop was the Booths Corner Farmers Market. I made a beeline to Fishers Deli and Mary got in line at Donut Haven for the most delicious sticky buns.

Mary picked up sticky buns, donuts, and a few other tasty items for her Aunt Letti and for brunch at Lynn's. I purchased a bag of beef jerky and a half pound of sliced dried beef for munchy time with Philadelphia cream cheese rolled up inside, really yummy.

It was good to visit with Aunt Letti who had spent a day or two in the hospital and was now home recovering. It was also good to catch up with cousin Shelagh from Boston who was taking care of her mom.

We then headed over to visit with Mary's sister-in-law Lynn and nieces Laura, Amy and her spouse Hannah, along with their two boys, Brennen and Rowen. It was a nice visit and Lynn had prepared a most tasty brunch. We had waffles, fresh strawberries, and bacon. Mary says, real bacon, on the stove or in the oven. I cook my bacon in the microwave. 

The boys played outside with their gifts for Easter and Mary was making use of the bottled bubble solution. There were plenty of laughs, a few shrill screams, and good times had by all. 

We said our goodbyes and headed over to visit with my sister Denise. We walked into a kitchen with smells of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, good stuff. Dave came home shortly after we arrived, he was road captain for a benefit ride for the SPCA with the motorcycle group he rides with. I believe it's the Harley Owners Group (HOG) Brandywine Chapter. We sat and chatted for a few hours then decided we should get started south for our two hour ride. We wanted to be home in time to feed the Ziva princess by 6pm.

A fun day despite four hours of driving. We are looking forward to our next visit north, hopefully by air!