If you are not from ‘roun here, you might not have the delicate palate required for appreciating well-seasoned meat cooked for hours in a pit down-back behind the runway…
Ahh, who am I kidding! Yes, this time on ‘random ideas that turn into a thing’, we’re hitting the skies to find some excellent barbecue. Some important context here is that, if you haven’t heard, Seth sweet-talked an examiner into passing him on a check-ride, and so now we have a pilot in the family! You can be proud, mom. But really, he knocked it out in 12 weeks, which it nuts. We’ll have to get him to tell you about it.
Anyway… *starwars theme starts playing*
A short time ago at an airport pretty close by,
Seth and David are faced with a beautiful day.
But while the weather is great, David had some paperwork
to complete and a pre-solo test to review. Not wanting the weather
to go to waste, airplanes gather round and a newly certified pilot plans to
hit the skies. With the fate of our desire for BBQ on the line and a young
child’s dreams of cake, our aviators must negotiate crowded frequencies
and small country airports…
Aaaaaalright, we’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming. But if you like pictures, you are in for a treat today. One of the folks who #camewith goes by her non-birth name of Annie, and she’s kind of an exceptional picture takererer. See exhibit A:
See what I mean? Dope.
We’re joined today by Adam and his kid Gram. Want some amusement? He is kind of my dopple-ganger about 23 years late…
Hate to break it to you Adam, but be prepared for this phase…
Back on topic. Adam was kind enough to let me ride with him today in his Cherokee 140. I thanked him by not helping, but instead watching him pre-flight and prep the plane for the trip.
As you do out at Whiskey17, each trip is preceded by a lot of jabbering and subsequent tardiness to whatever next it is you are supposed to do. There is a reason we fit in here…
But! I did learn that one of the fellows on the field has recently bought a Kitfox. You know, the side-by-side taildragger that Trent Palmer is helping make famous? And from the pictures it is BEAUTIFUL. We’ll have to work on the ok to do a piece about it here.
Run-up done and heading set, Adam, Gram, and I race ahead of Seth and Annie, who are trailing in the 150. The flight down was a bit bumpy, but Adam did give me the opportunity to fly the Cherokee. If you’ve trained in a 150 at all, the rudder pedals in a Cherokee 140 will feel like you have taken two rocks and a comfy seat, leaned them up against the side of the empire state building, and then exclaimed to everyone that passes that you are ‘yawing the earth’. They are HEAVY. It was a very fun experience. One bonus? Gram rocked the flight like a boss…
OH! And a GIANT Globemaster snuck up on our 3-o’clock without ADS-B and scared the begeebies out of us! Those things are huge…
It was also about this time that Adam mentioned this was the last trip for his Cherokee before his first annual.
We arrived at Pick ‘n Pig (BQ1) in Carthage NC, meeting up with Phillip. Phillip is a very experienced pilot who knows Annie from back in the day. He is also punctual, which is not an accurate description of the rest of our convoy…
Lunch was great, and also at 5pm. But great none-the-less! Their bbq is vinegar based if you care about such long-standing meat-cooking rivalries, and from the lack of any evidence that anyone ordered the coke cake, rumor has it that their deserts are delicious.
After lunch, more nerd talk ensued. A family of 5 landed in a very clean Cessna 210, and we all proceeded to drool. We also found out that Phillip has decided to take the leap and begin training for his CFI. I’m looking forward to hearing what his experience is like, because #dreams.
After some opportune photo-ops and a check in with Stanley to see if he needed to be picked up on our way back to Whiskey17, we departed back to the North so we could catch Raleigh at sunset. Oh yeah, and on the way back we tried some very loose formation flying, which was pretty epic. Enjoy:
Our flight back was smooth as butter. We got the 140 and 150 tucked in right at civil twilight, and all drove home fat and happy.
We’ll be doing this again. Let us know if you want to come ;).
Whiskey Boys 
Bud this TOTALLY ROCKS!!! I wanna go back in time and be you at 28. So very excited to share your adventures. Ok, Mom is done being sappy for today…ok, well, maybe not…just done writing about it on public media…
….I’m still thinkin it…..
Happy Flying
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