If all goes according to plan, I will set off today on another little mini-adventure: flying my Grumman Cheetah airplane across the continent, from San Francisco to Boston. Given that I’m only rated to fly in good weather, my plane doesn’t have an autopilot, doesn’t trim out well for very long, doesn’t climb much above 8,000 feet in the summertime, and only goes somewhere around 115 miles an hour (without a headwind), this is not just a simple Point A to Point B journey. It means weaving through mountain passes and under cloud decks, waiting out weather, flying in the morning and exploring wherever we’ve landed in the afternoon.
It will also be an adventure in that I’m taking a co-pilot on this trip—my boyfriend’s 17-year-old son, who thinks he may want to become a pilot. This trip should certainly answer that question for him.
But as Anne Morrow Lindbergh used to say, when people asked her if she wrote her books while she was having all those flying adventures with her famous husband … it’s hard to have the reflective mind space to write in the middle of an adventure. Too many other critical items are vying for attention. So while I will take copious mental and written notes, I will be offline until I am safely parked on the East Coast—hopefully by the 28th of August or so.
Good wishes for tailwinds, blue skies, gentle surface breezes, and a healthy, trouble-free engine are, of course, quite welcome. For whatever else it may be, the trip will most certainly be … an adventure. With all I’ve ever said comes with that package.
Back with you all shortly!
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What a great trip you have planned. Looking forward to your future reports on the trip. If you have plans to stop in Michigan on the way back west, give a shout out and I’ll be sure that us mid-western peninsula folk give you and your passenger a warm welcome!
Flying a plane like a Cheetah across the country certainly qualifies as an adventure. Relish your time and fly safely.