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 | Friday, September 28, 2001
Fueling the Avro at Antique Airfield near Ottumwa, Iowa.
Wow, Omaha was great! We had a very enjoyable stay near the old market district and were very pleasantly surprised by that wonderful downtown area of Omaha.
We were up bright and early this morning in Omaha for departure to Blakesburg, Iowa (very near Ottumwa, Iowa if that helps any of you) and the Antique Airplane Association?s Headquarters at Antique Airfield. We said ?good-bye? to the great folks at Elliot Aviation, the Fixed Base Operation [F.B.O.] who took such good care of the plane and us at the airport. The cool air had produced a hazy ground fog near the Omaha airport, but we had clear blue skies for our take-off and climb out.
We headed due east and enjoyed a satin-smooth ride, gliding over the velvety terrain that looked like a lush green carpet dotted with small groups of grazing cattle and sheep. This is Grant Wood country and looks very much like many of his paintings.
What a welcome sight Antique Airfield presented! The little Avro Avian had been yearning for a grassy field on which to touch down and this was the first of the entire trip. Local press greeted us, including the Ottumwa Courier and Channel 8 who drove eighty miles down from Des Moines. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Taylor gave me a much-needed warm cup of coffee just as I climbed out of the cockpit. We looked over the recently flying Pietenpol airplane the association owns and enjoyed a nice lunch with the Taylor?s and Mrs. Herrick (Greg?s is originally from Ottumwa and his mom still lives there).
Greg Herrick is the trip sponsor and his mother lives near Ottumwa. Her name is Dori and this is a picture of she and I at Antique Airfiled.
This is the motor home we have with us for some stops. It has music and a nice public address setup. Pat Courtemanche drives it and helps out a lot. He's a great guy to be doing this for us without any compensation.
The visit was much too short and shortly after 12:00 p.m. we were back in the air on our way to Lansing, Illinois, just south of Chicago and the Class B airspace that is off-limits to VFR flight right now. The air temperature continued to drop as did the cloud ceiling. There was a threat of rain here and there, but we continued the trip without visible moisture on the windscreen. By the time we landed at Lansing Field, I was shaking from the cold and could hardly climb out of the cockpit. We were happy to find that the Avro Avian would be housed in a 1924 vintage hangar visited at one time by both Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, albeit not her transcontinental flight of 1928.
The friendly folks at the F.B.O., treated me to hot coffee and the warm nuzzlings of ?Bear? the resident chocolate Labrador, who I think is the true airport manager. He also has a big furry assistant manager (the cat) who spends most of the day catching rays in a cozy cardboard box in the window.
We left the airport in our rented PT Cruiser for downtown Chicago and the Drake Hotel... what a fabulous vintage hotel in the heart of Chicago! A prolonged hot shower made me feel human again and a nice dinner topped of the evening. Off to bed and an extra day in Chicago planned for tomorrow Wouldn?t a day of R & R and maybe even a little shopping be nice?
This is "Bear", the Lansing, Illinois airport dog. He's just a year old and grabs everything and runs with it.. including my goggles!
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