Pretty fall

Walking down the runway towards our hangar - just thought it was a pretty picture with a beautiful Carolina blue sky!

Turkey!!

Every year there is a new "rafter" of turkeys (I looked that up...).  It varies year-to-year how many - this seems a little small.  Sometimes there are 20 turkeys! 

Driving down the driveway this evening -

And this is the view as you approach our house.....the trees are pretty here!  (I'm sure they're better in the mountains....but I'm enjoying ours also!)

Runway progress

Well, they're going to be about 2 weeks late re-opening the runway at Siler City due to all the rain we had a month ago.....

They finished the actual paving on Monday - 40 dump trucks making circuits to the asphalt plant for 12 hours straight.  The trucks all lined up for the paving machine.  One truck would dump his load in about 2 minutes and drive away to go back and get another load.

More than one crew working - here they're drilling the holes in the ramp for the aircraft tiedowns.

They cut a round hole thru the asphalt.

Then augured  in the 4' long tiedown ring.

A little more tar and gravel driveway repair

It's that time of year again.....our driveway at home had gotten some pot-holes in the tar/gravel surface.....

So the usual crew spent the day yesterday up close and personal with tar and gravel!

Lindy in the gravel truck.

Our "tar cooker"....

Quite a simple process.

Pour some hot tar in a pothole and cover it up with pea-gravel.   That's all!  about 8 hours later we had most of the bare areas sealed up. 

A little Oriental lot work

After the long vacation, we checked on the lot.  We hadn't seen the septic system actually completed - it looks good (as far as a septic system can look good, haha).

All grassy now.

Pretty fall day.  (The storage building is on the next door lot.)

The contractor "roughed in" the drive way....but it was going to wash away if we weren't careful....do we smoothed it out.

And seeded it for stability.  That's it for now!

Runway progress

I've snapped some photos over the past few weeks (when we were actually home!) of the runway progress.

The ramp - leveling  before paving.

One end of the runway - getting ready for paving.

Taxiway paving.

Flying over on our way home from the western trip.

Note the yellow "X" on the end of the runway showing that the runway is closed.

And they're getting close!  This is the first layer of asphalt....just one more to go!

Flight to pick up Dick's restored Piper Cub

We flew neighbor Dick up to Andrews-Murphy airport to pick up his newly restored Piper Cub.  You may remember we flew him up there several months ago to drop it off with Bipe, Inc (a well-liked restoration company).

Beautiful day and really pretty views of the changing leaves.  (They're never as pretty from the air as they are from the ground though).

Beautiful work!!  It's an (almost) new 1946 Piper Cub!

Just lovely!!

2015 Western Trip - Asheville Visit and End of Trip!

We stopped by to visit with our folks in Asheville and attend the McCraw reunion.  Thanks Mom and Frank for putting up with us for the weekend!!  :-)

Sharon and Buddy joined us the the Sierra Nevada brewing company manufacturing plant in Mills River (adjacent to the Asheville Airport).

They give guided tours of the plant....but they were full.  So, we just did a self-guided walkthru.  (Even eavesdropped on a couple of the tour guides as we wandered.)

Amazing and clean facility!

They have a great restaurant -very popular!

I ordered a sampler of 4 different beers.....I'll have to admit that I didn't really find one I like.  My preference for boring Miller Light makes any of these beers seem much too "favorful"!!

The beer/cheese/pretzel appetizer was fabulous!

Next day we visited with Granny and Cordy - then went to the McCraw reunion. 

Nice to see everyone!  Ivory "holding court"....

Then the trip really was coming to an end - time to get back to  3 weeks of grass growing and a pile of mail!

Circled Siler City Airport to see how the paving is progressing.....not a lot of pavement yet!!!

2015 Western Trip - New Orleans!

Time to start heading home.....taking off in dreary skies from Page, Arizona.

The skies didn't clear until we were about an hour east.

Still amazes me what the land looks like!

Due to a late start, we decided to stop back by Borger, Texas for the night because it's such an easy stop.

This is the huge refinery approaching the airport there.

Since we were not in a terrible hurry to get home, we decided to stop by New Orleans.  We'd never been there before!

Approaching Lakefront airport over Lake Pontchartrain.

I can see why it's named Lakefront Airport!!  Notice that the runway drops off immediately at the lake!

We got a spectacular hotel (Hotel Mazarin)  on the recommendation of the airport staff.  It was just a block off Bourbon Street and one of the nicest hotels I've stayed at.

During the day, the place is just like any other crowded, old city.

But as night falls, it starts to take on a seedier feel!

The next day, we bought streetcar passes and I really enjoyed the ride!

Apparently, it's common to visit the graveyards - so we did!  It was interesting wandering around the above ground crypts.  Lots of history there.

The burial process is quite a bit different than we are used to in the East - The crypts are used over and over by the family.  When someone in the family dies, they simply open the crypt and push all the bones to the back of the crypt - thereby making room for the "newly dead".   Efficient use of space!!

Walked along the riverfront.   Mississippi riverboat cruise.

Lots of these carriages giving tours.  We noticed they were all pulled by donkeys.  We were curious so looked up why --- it's actually a law in New Orleans -- they MUST use donkeys, not horses.   Apparently horses are not as heat tolerant as donkeys.

Had some good food -  I had Crawfish  Etouffee one night....very good but basically a yummy thick soup with pieces of Crawfish stirred in!

And this plate of shrimp/grits was divine!!

We wandered Bourbon Street at night. 

Lots of bands playing.

But mostly Bourbon Street at night was noisy and funky.  Too many "hawkers" trying to get you to come inside their establishment.....glad we've seen it.....not sure we need to see it again!

And time to head out Eastbound again!

2015 Western Trip - Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks

Next day was exploring Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks.

Canyonlands was quite beautiful - these photos don't do it justice due to the cloudy skies.  Some of the views were as spectacular as the Grand Canyon!

An arch at Canyonlands...

On the way out of Canyonlands, this motorcylce passed us.... I wish I had gotten to the camera quicker....the motorcycle is pulling a trailer - strapped on top of the trailer is a extra-large pet carrier with a dog inside!  The man must really want to travel with his dog!!

And just had to document the speed limit!  Our little rental car had trouble maintaining this speed!

Strange rainy weather!!

Saw several little pretty waterfalls....I'm sure they are normally dry.

And all the little creeks were red and raging!

At Capitol Reef National Park, I had read about the orchards that are left-over from the original Mormon settlers in the late 1800's.   The park service keeps the orchards growing in the fertile valley - and they allow visitors to pick and eat anything they want while in the orchard!  

If you want to take apples away, you weigh them and leave $1 per pound in a honor box.

I picked a yellow and a red one to sample while we were in the orchard.  Very nice and crisp!

Still rainy - a nice drive thru Capitol Reef.

One of the nice drives was closed due to flash floods.

We were making our way to the end of this phase of the trip.   Lovely drive thru the mountains.

Beautiful aspens in fall splendor!

Amazing how different the terrain is in just a few short miles!

Heading back towards Page, Arizona where the plane is still parked!