Two Pilots & an LSW: Gaw-gia!

So, 4:30 a.m. I may be getting too old for that. Except that excuse doesn't work since the guys who had to take the airlines to where we were going had to leave the office at 2:45 a.m. and as of me writing this at 11 pm still haven't made it home. I have minimal complaints!

The flight to Hinesville, Georgia (close to Savannah, way down there) was fine. Nice weather, we were fully loaded, it was early, but it was easy, and we even had a little tailwind. No complaints. At one point someone asked me if I could make it through that "hole" in the clouds if I needed to get underneath the layer. I said "Oh yes, without a doubt." Then I looked closer, and that wasn't a hole in the clouds, it was a mountain poking through the clouds. That would be a terrible choice of a "hole" to try to hit. ;) Cumulogranite.

We landed at "Wright Army Air Field", which got interesting as the day went on. I kept hearing these thuds, booms, it sounded like a small city not far away was being bombed. Sure enough, they had an armament range nearby, and the airport, which was surrounded by restricted areas on one side, was right on top of the action. All the restricted areas were hot, including one that is 1 mile off the end of the runway. So you take off, and you crank a turn to the right asap, or you bust the hot Restricted area. They made sure to tell you a dozen times. I wonder how many times they have to report that bust, because it would be super easy to not turn enough to get out of the way. It's a semi-aggressive turn for a loaded twin right after takeoff just a little bit in the air. I kind of liked it.

I was sitting in the main area when I looked up and saw something taxiing by, and I did a double-take and said "Hey, that's a drone!" Sure enough, they have a hangar full of "Grey Eagle" drones or unmanned vehicles. Those things are bigger than they look in pictures. Surprised me. But it was cool. I saw several of them going by throughout the day. They also had several formations of Army helicopters. I enjoyed them too.

There were palm trees in Hinesville, and it was 60 degrees. Considering that's about 60 degrees warmer than we've been used to lately, this was lovely. ;)

For lunch I went to a little hole in the wall fresh seafood place. They sell fresh seafood for you to take home and cook, and they serve lunch/dinner there too. You can even pick out the item you want from their counter display on ice and they'll cook it right there for you for an extra $2. I got a fresh grouper sandwich. And it was good. When I asked for unsweet tea for a drink, the lady said "Oh, honey, we don't have unsweet tea, but I can add water to the sweet tea." Hahaha! Gotta love the south. I said no thanks, and went to McDonald's drive-through to pick up the unsweet tea on my way back to the airport.

There were a couple of King Air pilots there who were tools. They left the courtesy car with zero gas in it and the low fuel light on after keeping it for hours and hours. Then they tried to get the line guy to not charge them for the ramp fee, even though they hadn't bought any gas there, because they got gas "last time" they were here. They argued, and argued, and the line guy didn't budge. Finally they left and I said "Pilots can be cheap sons-of-guns". He said "Those guys in particular. I won't give in to them. They're driving a King Air around. They can afford our light ramp fee if they won't get gas, and it helps us out."

And then I got home. We made it home not too late, 7:20 pm or so. While I was at 3,000' and descending in the plane, I got a text from Kaylee, saying she had tried to frost all her own cupcakes, and it did not go well, and they were all messed up, and she didn't know what to do. I asked why she did them all if it wasn't going well and she said "I panicked." I said "Panic is NEVER good." Life Lesson #2. ;) Anyway, after a little concern, I told her I'd help her fix them. So after getting back from southern Georgia, I drove to Meijer to pick up frosting supplies. It feels a little weird, but it works for us. Steve wanted food, so I picked him up something, and then when I got home, Kaylee started scraping off the existing frosting, I started making a new batch of frosting, and then we practiced a few times with the old frosting in the little frosting gizmo I got until she got it down pretty well. She then frosted the 34-35-36 (I can't remember now) cupcakes by herself, with a nice swirl pattern of chocolate and vanilla. They actually turned out to look pretty cool this time. Justin left us these trays that she wanted to use, and all together it looks very nice. I actually feel pretty good about those things. I think we did good! It was a lot of work, covering two evenings, but...she's happy with them, and I think they're pretty cool too. Chocolate/vanilla swirl batter with chocolate/vanilla swirl icing, all homemade. When's the last time you made your own frosting? Yeah, and it's good, too. Lots of butter and half and half and confectioner's sugar. Take that. ;)

Here's something I love about my daughter. She was frosting two cupcakes with just plain vanilla frosting. I asked what was up with that. She said she has two girls who complained to her about her cupcakes. She told them what she had made, and they said "We don't like chocolate. Why would you put chocolate in there at all? Can you at least put just vanilla frosting on them?" Kaylee said she stopped and looked at them and said "Well. I'm so sorry that the special cupcakes I've already made myself by hand for my own birthday aren't good enough for you. But yes, I can put vanilla icing on them, and you can eat them or not." She said they apologized. Instead of getting her feelings hurt or coming home and saying "Mom, we need to make a couple of vanilla cupcakes, okay?", or anything like that, she just let them know they were being rude, and moved on with it. I half think the special two vanilla cupcakes just serve to point out their lack of manners. If someone serves you something you don't like, say thank you and choke it down, or say no thank you and pass, but complaining about it? Seriously, girls!

So I sort of feel accomplished today. Up at 4:30 a.m., trip to southern Georgia, home in time to shop for food supplies, rescue sad looking cupcakes and turn them into very nice cupcakes, which I have to take to school by 7:45 a.m. tomorrow by the way (oh yay), and downloaded pictures and everything. ;)

Now I'm just not sure how this weather pile-up is going to affect us getting to Florida tomorrow. It seems to be in the way. I'm hoping I can get on top of it or go around it or something. It's fine here, it's fine there, but in between it is most definitely not fine. Here's hoping this doesn't get all messed up for us and her...

These first few are just watching the sky wake up with the sunrise, at 15,000'.

Red sky at morning...

Mountains poking through the clouds in the distance.

"My" plane is parked on a ramp with palm trees. I like palm trees.

Inside the FBO. Nice and bright and airy. You can even see my plane out there.

The FBO guy gave me this keyring for this car. He said "It's an old cop car." I said "Does it GO like a cop car?" He said "Oh yes, it's an interceptor. It GOES." He was not wrong. ;)