Started towards Middletown!

[bsafran]

My wife and I left Thursday morning on our way to the Middletown Fly In. It's only about a hundred and fifty miles from Valley City, OH, but we decided to take the scenic route. Our plan is to airline out to Sun Valley, ID and meet up with John Craig (JC) and fly with him across the country in the Sedan he rebuilt.

Pictures of his back country 15AC are posted in the Sedan section of this website. Southwest Airlines only goes as close as Salt Lake City so Hertz would have to do the rest. Gentleman, please take note - for the airline part to work, your wife has to be ready and at the airport on time. Well, Southwest made an on time departure with a few empty seats. They kindly booked us their next flight which sat for hours with a maintenance problem. The third time was a charm as the next flight they booked us on left right on time - for Baltimore!

Please look at a map and draw a line between Cleveland, OH and Sun Valley, ID. You will notice that the city of Baltimore is nowhere near that line. So, counting our connecting time for the next flight, five hours after we took off from Cleveland, we were looking out the window - at Cleveland! At least we were on our way.

We will arrive in Sun Valley just minutes before the largest low pressure storm maker in recent memory will strike Idaho. That will delay our departure until at least Sunday. Then, JC will provide us with the greatest bird's eye view of the country on our way back to home base - the Valley City Airport.

The plan is to drop off Bonnie, pick up my crazy looking Scout and get down to the fly in. If we run late, there will be two extra spaces on the Air Force tour bus on Friday.

[Paul Agaliotis]

Brian,
Those little regionals have to be creative on their schedules. Can't wait untill they start International, I hope they remember there are a few San Jose's in the world. Enjoy your peanuts, take a sip and pass the Coca-Cola to the next seat.
Paul

[joea]

Sounds like fun Brian!

Was in the hangar half the day today getting the Sedan ready for the flight myself...

Joe

[bsafran]

My, how things have changed! We arrived at Sun Valley, ID, had a great dinner with JC and watched the snow storm move in. No flight in the Sedan until Sunday, maybe Monday. I find out we didn't have to worry about flying out of Sun Valley. During the planning stage, Bonnie was all for a scenic flight through the mountains. Once she was there, she freaked at the idea of looking straight out the windows and seeing rocks. Say hello again to Hertz. Hey JC, when the weather clears - meet us in Billings, MT. So, we had a wonderful drive right past all the great looking scenery we saw just yesterday while driving to Sun Valley from Salt Lake City, only this time we took a dodge to the east and headed for Yellowstone. The next day she had a great time seeing the wonders of that national park and we moved on towards Billings. If JC keeps to his schedule, he should arrive in time for lunch. Then, we load up his Sedan and head off to see Devil's Tower, Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore from the all plexiglas doors of his restored 15AC. I hope everyone else's trip to Middletown works out a little smoother than this one.