A few weeks ago Mary and I decided to drive to Wilmington Delaware so we could visit family for the holidays and add in a side trip to Media Pa for me to complete the Pennsylvania permit process. We ended up driving since we canceled our two night stay at our favorite, the Montchanin Inn.
The original planned visit was cut short due to our Ziva girl receiving treatments for her doggie version of the human ALS or Lou Gehrigs disease. We did not want the sitter to have to deal with Z in case she took a turn for the worse. Some have asked why we didn't fly. We saved a rental car fee and Mary's GLC 300 gets 28 MPG, that's way cheaper then flying and renting.
Todays Mission Plan
Fly to Wilmington, KILG, and secure the courtesy car (Van) from FlyAdvanced for another trip to the Media Courthouse and retrieve my plastic 5 year permit.
We took care of the new pup, Lucy, and the two cats. Everyone was secure (Lucy in a crate) and cats out and about. I had the pre-heats on overnight so 3 Tango Charlie was ready to go. It's been awhile since I started after an overnight preheat so I had to rethink the process. I did a regular cold start and I flooded the engine. After a series of pops and misfires 3 Tango Charlie finally came to life. I had to crank in the shutdown (lean) setting. Mary just looked at me, I figured I would see how the run up goes.
Once the idle was set and mixture now happy 3 TC purred right along. The run-up was perfect and we launched from runway two-zero. It really felt good getting back in the air.
The flight north was forty minutes and I was directed for a straight in runway one upon arriving at ILG. I did a one eighty on the runway and taxied for FlyAdvanced shutting down in front of the main hangar. Mary secured the courtesy van while I ordered ten gallons of 100LL at $7.93 a gallon. Yikes!
The drive wasn't too bad until we hit the blue route RT 476, then it was a parking lot until our exit. I pulled the van over to the curb on a side street at the Courthouse then Mary and I did the fire drill routine switching seats, but I didn't get back in the van. I walked up to the courthouse, entered, emptied my pockets and still set off the alarms. Who didn't see that coming. I got the body wand and was free to go, not too bad after all. I handed over my letter and receipt to the very nice lady at the window and she went to get my permit. Easy peasy, I'm headed out of the building.
Mary picked me up on the same corner and we switched seats so I could drive back to KILG. A lady pulled up next to us and said you can’t park there, I said relax, we're switching seats, and she drove off. When I got in Mary said what is she the meter maid...I love my bride.
I made a quick stop to top off the courtesy van and my bride grabbed us each a cold drink at Wawa. Once I parked the van (land yacht) we settled up the fuel bill and headed for home.
When we arrived the house was still intact, Miss Lucy was still in her crate, and the little princess did not leave any "gifts". Not bad for only ten weeks old.
No comments:
Post a Comment