What a wonderful week. New England is one of my favorite destinations, especially this time of year. It was even warm enough to enjoy the outdoors! The week was incredible and just flew by. No pun intended!
We left at o'dark thirty on Monday morning towards Dallas-Addison airport with Ron and Stuart on board. As long as we have time to grab lunch, I love landing in Addison. The Clay Pit has the best Indian food in existence, and the Mango Lemonade has free refills. The waitress had to make us our own pitcher because we went through it like there was no tomorrow! If I know I am going to The Clay Pit soon, I stop drinking anything so I can have even more room for Mango Lemonade. Weeks without water is nothing as long as I get that stuff. It is one of the best drinks ever! After lunch and a few hours of waiting, we continued on a long flight to Providence, Rhode Island. I immediately regretted drinking fourteen pitchers of Mango Lemonade for lunch. We kept getting longer vectors around airspace to get into KPVD, and I was about to cry out, "Emergency," just so I could get down to the restroom! Lesson learned!
On Tuesday, we repositioned the empty airplane to Bedford Hanscom Field northwest of Boston. The weather was beautiful, and I hand-flew it for the long twelve-minute flight! Landing in Bedford also meant a delicious salad at The Cheesecake Factory. We then got to wander around the Minute Man National Park in our truck provided by Jon (the man who runs the company in New England). Boss Ron always makes sure we have transportation, and it was nice to go where we needed (including a run to the Burlington Mall because I left my phone charger in Providence...grrrr!).
Wednesday was a little chilly and overcast, but I welcome that type of weather compared to the heat and constant sun in Phoenix! It's nice to see clouds during something other than a thunderstorm! We left late in the evening for an eleven-minute flight to Manchester, New Hampshire. Manchester is such a cute little town and even better during a sunset.
Thursday came early. I was wide awake at 5:40 AM local, which is 2:40 AM my time! I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I decided to run some errands and make some deliveries to the local Center. After they were done with work there, we flew Ron, Stuart, and Jon to Albany, New York for the afternoon. Million Air is a very nice and spacious FBO. I got to drive their crew car (roughing it in a 2008 BMW 535i) to explore downtown Albany. I even found some cops on horses! At 5:30 PM, we finished our day by stopping in Buffalo for the night. We flew near the casinos and hotels of Niagara Falls, about fifteen minutes away. I went to dinner with my three passengers at the Captain's Cove. I had the chicken (the only dish on the menu that wasn't fishy...imagine that at such a restaurant!).
Friday meant a 1:00 PM departure, so we headed to the grocery store and picked up some yummy sandwiches for everyone during the long flight home. We had an awesome wind the entire time, even getting a temporary tailwind coming west! So rare! We made great time to our fuel stop in Garden City, Kansas, where I was able to pick up my "birthday steaks" from the FBO. We continued on a fast last leg back to Williams-Gateway airport, only having to dodge one thunderstorm on the way. We landed shortly past 3:00 PM and helped Ron and Stuart load their bags before taking our airplane to the Hawker Beechcraft Maintenance Hangar on the other side of the airport. It will be there for the next ten days or so during a scheduled inspection (A/B every 200 hours, for those who care). I get to babysit all the upcoming maintenance, but at least I get to sleep in my own bed for a week!
Mesa/Gateway - Dallas/Addison - Providence - Bedford/Boston - Manchester - Albany - Buffalo - Garden City - Mesa/Gateway