Woke up to the sound of Jim’s two daughters, Molly and the younger Lucy, yelling at me to get up. I immediately laugh, then tell them I will get up in a sec. They continue to push the issue and of course they win, so I jump up and brush my teeth am then served plastic eggs, bacon, and toast (with some invisible juice as well…of course). I’m always up for entering the random funny make-believe worlds in kids minds. We laugh and fake-eat and then Jody, Jim’s wife, calls everyone up to get ready to get on the bus to school. The bus actually picks the kids up right in front of their house – couldn’t be more perfect. The youngest child and only son, Jimmy, is running around like a mad man – full of life, laughs, and boyness. The bus pulls up and immediately the front door bursts open and the two girls run to jump up into the bus and into their days. Too funny. And cute.
I grab a quick breakfast and then after Jim’s made some work calls, we jump in his car and head to the airfield. It's about a 20 minute drive, and as we pull up to the airfield I feel as though I'm in a movie. Huge airplane hangars everywhere. Stark. Simple. Beautiful. It's a very cold but sunny and clear morning. Temps were about 26 - not warm. We get the plane out and Jim runs through all his pre-flight checks on the plane and its instruments. All set to go. Jim starts up the plane, but...wait a second. It's not starting. The propeller doesn't want to turn over and startup. Damn. Jim tried to start it for about 10 minutes, but after no success, he then called over a battery charge from a mechanic. Another 10 minutes with the battery charging the plane, but still the plane isn't starting. Oh man. One more try. What's that smell? Something's burning. FIRE!! The mechanic yells out and panic hits me. The engine is now on fire, and smoke is coming out of the side of the front of the plane. I jump out of the plane as quick as if I sharted and needed to run away from an awkward date. I run about 20 yards away from the plane, alongside the mechanic, and Jim is now using his fire extinguisher to get the flames out of the engine. I'm nervous this entire time, because I have no clue what can and cannot explode. Luckily the fire goes out quickly and we all look at each other in relief and shock. Another mechanic comes over and tows the car into the fix-it hanger. I'm not feeling good about this. Flying in a plane that was just on fire doesn't sound like a good idea...at all. The mechanic takes the entire front of the plane apart and cleans everything extremely thoroughly. He didn't miss a part. He then tells us that the engine is completely fine. After the cleanup, we pull the plane out and the mechanic shows Jim how to start it in such cold weather. It starts up on the first attempt by the mechanic. Doh. Guess Jim just needed to learn the cold-weather-start-process the hard way. Relieved and now excited again, we get in the plane and off we go. It was a three hour delay in our departure time, but we aren't phased. I'm just happy to get up in the air.
Flying in a propeller plane isn't so bad. The ups and downs are sometimes quick and unexpected, but for the most part it's very smooth and relaxing. Our plan is to fly to Memphis for a late lunch, and then continue on to Austin for the weekend. A PERFECT ending to my year. I have great friends in Austin who we are staying with, and the stop in Memphis could not have been better. We got off the plane around 4:30pm and jumped quickly into a car on the tarmac. Many small airports have cars available for pilots to use for a few hours while in town, which I didn't know before this. What a great perk! We drive about 8 minutes into town and order some of the best ribs I've ever had in my life at
Rendezvous, which is a Memphis rib institution. Wow. We had to eat quick because the car needed to be back by 5:30pm (when the airport attendant left), so we devoured our food and were back at the airport just in time. We refueled the plane and then checked the radar, which now showed a huge storm front in between us and Austin. Damn. Jim wasn't happy about this, but he plotted a course around the storm and we decided to go for it. Traveling at night in a small plane into a storm didn't seem like the best idea, but Jim felt confident once we made the call to go for it. Luckily the flight ended up not being a problem, other than some heavy rains at one point, and before I knew it we were coming down into a beautifully lit up Austin, Texas. The total flight time was about 7 hours (3 to Memphis and 4 to Austin). Whew. What an adventure. We pull into this private little hanger at the main airport in Austin, and it was hard not to feel privileged. Traveling like this, without any TSA or lines, makes much more sense than what I've done in the past. We order an Uber taxi and the driver takes an hour to get to us. Ugh. Apparently the taxis in Austin are horrible, and he is no exception. We eventually get in the car and I practice my Spanish with the driver en route to the city. We get to my friend's, Jenny and Scott, apartment around 11pm and wait for them to come home from the Nutcracker play, which they went to earlier. Around 11:30pm they come in - full of life (and many drinks) and incredibly excited to see me and meet Jim. I also went to college with Jenny, who is now a dermatologist. She was always one of the smartest women I have ever met, and I'm so proud of her for doing so well right now. Her husband Scott is an amazingly fun, funny, and positive character. Always love being around him. We have some drinks at their apartment and then head out into Austin around 1am, just in time for last call at the bars. Comedy. The bars are packed and although the clientele is younger than us, we have a good time. On the way home we grab some insanely amazing mexican food from a truck parked on the street, and we were all finally in bed by 3:30am. What a day!!!
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