New England Visit

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

Maintenance Flight with Some Fun Passengers

I hadn't seen my husband all week and knew I was leaving again early Monday morning. So when we had to fly the airplane from Phoenix Sky Harbor to Mesa Gateway Airport to do some maintenance on Saturday afternoon, I invited John along so I could at least SEE him over the weekend! He obliged. Isn't he good to me!

We landed then had to wait for a taxi to return us to our cars at Swift Aviation. The flight was only ten minutes, but it took us over three hours to get back to our house thanks to waiting for the taxi company's "best driver" to finally show up! John had tons of homework, but I am glad he postponed it to come fly with me. Terry brought his son and a friend, as well. I had so much to do to get ready for my next trip, but I never frown on getting to fly!

Fun-Filled Two Days

When Wednesday starts to roll around and I haven't been called for work yet, I start to feel a little more comfortable with the fact that I might actually have some time at home! I called around to make some appointments for my car (oil change, tires rotated, new shocks, etc.), then received a call from Terry just a few minutes later to let me know we were leaving that evening! Shocks must wait!

We left with Joe and three passengers to Colorado Springs on Wednesday evening around 6:30 PM. After a few hours in KCOS, we used most of the long runway to take off towards Blaine, Minnesota, which is in northern Minneapolis. We landed around 1:30 AM, and it's always fun trying to find your way around an unfamiliar airport at night! I got the passengers' bags loaded in the rental car and sent them on their way to the hotel. The line guy gave us a ride and we beat everyone else there! By the time I brushed my teeth (I even did it that late...can you believe it?) and crawled into bed, it was 2:15 AM. Slightly past my bed time!

Thursday morning started early. Less than 5 hours after I got into my room, I was up and at 'em again for our next flight. The day was to be filled with shorter hops but not much time in between. Even though I am not a napper, I was hoping for at least an hour to sneak one in (never happened). We flew to Oshkosh from Blaine. It looks so different without a a millionty airplanes parked on the field. Then we flew over downtown Milwaukee on our 20-minute flight south to the brewing capital of the world (or at least Wisconsin). During our short stay on the ground in Milwaukee, we made a mad dash to El Fuego Mexican Restaurant just down the street...marveling that we had eaten there just the week before. Sometimes I don't know where time goes! After Milwaukee, we flew to Chicago and got a great view of the foggy city before landing at Midway Airport. We stayed for a few hours, which I mostly spent arranging cars, hotels, and cars at our upcoming destinations. I did get to watch Michael Jordan's Gulfstream taxi in. Late afternoon, we flew to Syracuse in beautiful New York. The view of the Finger Lakes was breath-taking thanks to the wonderful sunset behind us. After an hour at Syracuse, we finally headed to rest towards Hanscom Field in Bedford. Like the Teterboro of New York City, Bedford Airport acts as a reliever airport for heavy Boston traffic for us corporate folk. We landed at 9:45 PM and went to the Holiday Inn Express for a night of much-needed sleep.

Friday morning didn't start as early since the passengers had several meetings arranged in the Boston area. Luckily for me, it gave us the chance to enjoy my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory, at the Burlington mall just a few miles from the airport. I tried something new and loved it...the Orange Chicken. Yowsers, it was good! I think everything tastes better in that magical building! We waited for a few hours at Jet Aviation until our passengers arrived. I spent that time arranging maintenance over the weekend at our home base in Phoenix. I get to babysit all work done before we leave early Monday morning for another week of flying, this time with Ron. We stopped in Kansas City to get some fuel on our long flight home. We radioed ahead and convinced them to order some pizzas for the passengers, and I accidentally ordered us one as well! One time, I made the mistake of thinking they would leave us a few slices. Who likes pizza crumbs! So I smarted up and now order a crew pizza, too!

It was a packed two days. Ten cities. I am drinking orange juice like no tomorrow to try to avoid getting sick from so little sleep!

Phoenix - Colorado Springs - Blaine - Oshkosh - Milwaukee - Chicago - Syracuse - Bedford/Boston - Kansas City Downtown - Phoenix