Flying High Over the Maze

We took off this morning headed to Taylor, Texas and to meet our Kansas friends, Jim and Jean. On the way, we flew over the Rocky Creek Maze in Flatonia to take pictures. The maze is cut in a seven acre field and opened to the public this week. The theme this year is Country Music-Texas Style.

We landed in Taylor and saw that Jim and Jean were waiting for us. We walked down the ramp, looking at planes and then walked over to the car show. Hamburgers were on the menu at the fly in, but we decided to walk over to the Mexican food restaurant for lunch. After lunch we returned to the airport and we grabbed some chairs to enjoy the shade under the wing while the guys talked airplanes.
Soon it was time to head home, we packed the plane, took off, climbed to almost 5,000 feet to avoid the thermals and flew back to Victoria.

A Night on the Riverwalk

I drove up to San Antonio to meet Pam and her sister, Barbara for an overnight visit. Pam was in San Antonio for training and her sister came along to keep her company. I arrived at the Residence Inn before Pam got out of class, so Barbara and I had a chance to visit.
When Pam got out of class we decided to head to the Riverwalk and Rivercenter Mall. We found a Chico's in the Mall and Pam got a pair of jeans, I bought nothing. We walked down the Riverwalk and stopped to enjoy a margarita during "Happy Hour" at a restaurant. We then decided to eat at Boudroa's on the riverwalk and got a table inside. We all ordered something different, so we could try lots of different things, including some grits....a favorite of Georgia girls! We started our meal off with a Prickly Pear Margarita......very smooth and good! We split a dessert and ordered a bread pudding with warm rum sauce..............it was excellent! After dinner we enjoyed a cruise on the river taking in all the local sights. We caught a bus back to the hotel, put on our pajamas and talked like teenagers having a sleepover.
Pam had to get up early, while Barbara and I enjoyed sleeping in. I packed and headed back home after a fun night in Old San Antonio.

We Got Skunked!

We left early this morning before sunrise to go fishing in Port O'Connor. We arrived to find the tides were still running extremely high. We unloaded the boat and set out across the water, with the tide so high you could run almost anywhere. We caught some small reds and trout, but no keepers. We crossed the bay and decided to try the lakes, but the water was murky, the wind blowing out of the East like crazy and fishing wasn't good. After our lunch break, we crossed the bay and tried a couple more spots. No Luck! We decided to head for the house as rain showers were coming in from the Gulf. We got home, unloaded and washed the boat and put everything away. We got skunked today!!!!

Scud Run to Under the Wire

Fog when we got up this morning, so we waited, finally around 10 am it began to lift and we headed to the airport. We loaded the plane and took off headed to Louise for the Under the Wire Fly In.
The closer we got to Louise the lower the ceiling, we were flying what pilots call IFR..............better known as "I Follow Roads"! It was amazing to see other planes in the pattern as we prepared to land. Dale set Miss Ice Tea Too down on the grass strip and found a place to park. We unloaded the plane and set up our chairs under the wing in the shade. Soon it was lunch and we enjoyed the picnic lunch I had packed. The skies cleared and it was began to warm up quickly. Dale talked with all the airplane guys and I managed to take a few photos. It was nice to visit with old friends, some we hadn't seen since last year. We decided to head home before the flour bombing, loaded the plane and took off. The thermals made for a bumpy flight home, but it was a short flight. We landed, stored the plane and headed to the house....another fly in comes to an end.

Dodged the Bullet........Again!!!

Well we dodged another bullet, got nothing out of "Ike" ....not even a drop of rain! We had wind gust of 40 mph and it did knock some ball moss out of the oaks, but that was about it. The storm went in around Galveston and we were on the clean side of the storm, that is the reason we sustained light winds and no rain.
We have checked on our kinfolks in the Houston area and they all seem to be okay, all are without power, but doing good.
If Ike was a Cat. 2 storm, I would hate to see what a Cat. 4 or 5 would do in our area.
Last night we had a beautiful sunset and I got a good photo of the calm before what we thought might be the storm.

Waiting for Ike

We are watching and waiting for Ike. A hot sunny day today with mostly clear skies, would never know a big hurricane was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. We haven't done much to prepare, Dale did get some gasoline to run the generators in case we would lose power. It looks like the storm will go in Northeast of us and we will be on the drier side. Guess we have to wait and see what Mr. Ike has in store for us.

Lunch With The Birthday Boys

Today we drove to Houston for the annual "Birthday Boys" lunch with Dale's good friends Mr. Pena and Mr. Jenkins. Dale and Walter celebrate birthdays only a day apart, but they include Mr. Pena in their group celebration. We had lunch at Carrabba's Italian Grille and enjoyed catching up with each other. It had been a year since we had been together, lots of things had happened in our lives. We brought pictures from our Australia-New Zealand trip to show our friends.
Dale and I made a few more stops around Houston and then headed home.

Visiting New Texans

We headed to Kingsland, near Marble Falls to visit our Kansas friends, Jim and Jean
and to see their new Texas real estate. The flight was smooth and clear after we climbed above the clouds. They recently purchased a home in an air-park to spend those brutal, harsh Kansas winters in sunny, warm Texas.......we hope! We landed before lunch, Jim greeted us out at the runway and directed us to his new hangar. We toured their home and decided it was time for lunch. We headed into Marble Falls for lunch at the River City Grille and lots of conversation. After lunch Jim took us on a tour of the area, we also went down to "The Rocks" on the Llano river. We went back to their home and discussed their plans for the place and had a good visit. We left around 5 pm, the thermals were bad and Dale had to climb to get it to smooth out and cool off, we landed around 7 pm and headed home.