Ziva's First Flight

Thursday 7/18

I bagged work for Friday so Mary and I could launch for the beach tonight.  We had already packed the items we wanted to add to the coach inventory and added provisions for our new traveler, Ziva. I was out the door and high tailing it home  anxious to get to the plane and get in the air before any thunderstorms developed. Mary had set out the thermal inserts for the plane windows, I know I would have left with out them.

I'm happy, going for a ride.

Whoa, stop this bus! I'm going to be getting in a plane???

We were out the door and motoring south for ILG and 08Romeo. I unpacked the SUV and packed the baggage in the plane, I scooped up Ziva girl and set her inside while Mary ran the SUV out and secured it in the Red Eagle lot. I had completed the pre-flight and fuel sump before my Bride relocated the SUV so I climbed aboard to get some air flowing. I repositioned the aircraft adjacent to the Hangar at Red Eagle and blocked Mary's access unless she crawled under the wing.

The fan was indeed turning, most of you will poo poo this but Mary and I briefed prior to even me starting up. I had set Marys Bose headset out on the yoke and while climbing in and dealing with securing the door the headset fell to the floor and she stepped on the right ear cup.  Yep, snapped the bracket clean through in two places. I'll be calling Bose tomorrow for a repair estimate.

Finally secure, we advise Wilmington ground that we are ready to taxi. What's Ziva make of all this so far??? She was sound asleep.

The build ups had started and they were growing rapidly. I requested a thirty degree left change in course to flank the monsters and fly over the Delaware Bay in the clear. The thirty degrees turned into quite the end around. When I finally found a place to out climb the build ups I requested higher. Dover said they were going to give me four thousand shortly so I could descend now if I wanted to. That would work too, so we nosed over and finally turned back on course to Salisbury (SBY).

This ain't so bad.....ZZZzzzzzz

Dover approach handed me off to Patuxent and I checked in with level four thousand and I have current wx at Ocean City. Pax turned me direct Ocean City and off we went looking to make a visual contact. I guess I was maybe six to eight miles when I confirmed the field in sight and decided to cancel in the air at that time. I made an ok landing at OXB and taxied for a tie down.

Dad's got his head under the hood....rut ro...

We headed to the coach in the beach buggy, who's a/c decided not to work, more on this later.  It's a routine just like a pre-flight when it comes to opening the coach. Water on, side storage unlocked, awnings lowered, table and chairs uncovered and set up along with dog water bowl and leash and the most important, get the a/c cranked up. We hung out in the shade until the coach was comfortable.  Ziva went right in her kennel and passed out so we decided to head out for dinner at one of our favorites, Taylors. We also made a quick run to Frontier Town campground to surprise Rob, Becky and the girls.

Friday 7/19

Early morning beach buggy a/c investigation. I checked the fuse and gave it another try, nothing. I also noticed the wipers were dead. I checked that fuse and still nothing. This calls for under the hood testing. I unplugged and replugged the a/c and the wiper motor, gave it another test and everything came to life. A/c worked perfect and well the wipers wiped. I'm not asking how or why, I'm just happy everything is working.

Friday was beach day and we were excited to finally spend some time with the Schaffer's. The plan was to meet down by the inlet and park in the main lot behind the boardwalk. At 8:30 am the lot was pretty much empty and we had the beach to ourselves for a short time. The girls collected shells, yes my girl too. We all dipped our feet into the cold ocean but that was it for me. I did see Rob wade out there and get wet, Brrrr...noway.

We all met back at the coach and enjoyed pizza from Lombardi's for a fun lunch. The girls were looking tired, yes my girl too. I was ready for a nap myself. Rob, Becky and the girls headed back to their campground and we got a few winks in until Ziva wanted out. It's great, she knows to go to the door of the coach and sit when she wants out. Ok, this time she had to bark to wake us up. We hung out for a bit then went over to the park pool so we could bob like two corks. We had the pool to ourselves and loved it!

Saturday 7/20

We planned for another early beach run but then took a pass. Instead we decided on hitting the shops in Berlin, MD.  Mary had been there before with our friend Pam but it was a first visit for me.  I loved the main street with all the old brick buildings dating back over one hundred years. Mary and I made our way through a good many shops, it was an antique gold mine for just about anything you could dream up. We had some laughs seeing items that our parents each had when we were young.

We were getting hungry so we decided on a quick lunch at Si'culi, Rustic Italian Kitchen. The service was very good and the food excellent! We could not finish our order so we boxed it up for a late night snack back at the coach.

We hit a few more shops and called it a day. It's a short drive back and we soon settled in for a nap, hey, we're on vacation so naps are good. The plan was to hit the pool and then get showered and dressed up for dinner back in Berlin at the Atlantic Hotel.  We were meeting Mary's cousin and her husband, from Salisbury.

We made reservations while were shopping today and it was a good thing, the place was very busy. The Drummer's Café at the Atlantic Hotel has quite the history. Dinner was excellent, service was perfect. I had the 7oz filet with three huge scallops, baked potato, carrots and asparagus. Mary had the soft shell crabs and she said they were excellent.

We had a blast tonight and catching up with family made the night perfect. We are so looking forward to doing dinner at another new to us location.

Sunday 7/21

The plan was to depart Ocean City around 9am and for the most part we stuck to the schedule. Actually the wx looked better this morning than what was forecast. We decided to stay with the plan and head north early, beat the heat and have a chance to get a few things done round the house.

I filed and launched on a 270* heading as directed until radar contact was established with Patuxent.  Once they had me I was directed to SBY, not my original plan but what I was given by clearance delivery while on the ground. I did get some IMC climbing into a layer and riding along until cleared for higher.

Ziva was once again in doggie dream land and my lovely Bride was off in her own dream land too. The air was smooth and the view perfect as I made my way north.  Pax handed me off to Dover and they soon handed me off to Philly. I had to contend with the Mig that flies out of Wilmington as he was zipping around the area but I was eventually cleared for the visual 27.

As I started my descent and closed on the Wilmington pattern I had not been cut loose by Philly.  So, instead of waiting and getting jammed into the pattern I requested a switch over to the Wilmington tower. Philly thanked me and gave me the tower frequency 126.0 and I was handed off.  Wilmington cleared me for landing and had another aircraft in the pattern fall in line number two to land. I made a nice landing and tried to keep my speed up for the traffic behind me. I took advantage of the high speed taxiway, KIlo 5 and cleared the runway.