April 16, 2016 - Flight Home from Johnson City, TN

I departed Johnson City Saturday morning.  Weather was perfect:  warm, light winds, not a cloud in the sky.  Mugsy had told me there was an RV fly-in just on the other side of the mountains at Twin Lakes Airport (8A7) in Mocksville, North Carolina so I decided to stop there for a few hours on the way home.   94 nm ESE to be precise.  Just a short hop in the RV.  Johnson City sits at the western base of theBlue Ridge Mountains so turning east I was immediately in them.  Soon I encountered big Lake Wautauga.
   
This is new territory for me.
   
Probably still a little too cool up here for boating.
   
Continuing on through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
   
Safe on deck at Twin Lakes Airport.  (Picture by Bruce Raymond)
   
RVs in front of the little terminal building.
   
Overhead Twin Lakes Airport after departure.
   
Passing downtown Winston-Salem.
   
Flying east northeast over tree covered North Carolina.  Kind of boring.
   
Passing by a little private grass strip.
   
   
Passing by a power plant including dam, reservoir, and railroad to bring in coal.
   
I saw the beginning of a big, long Lake running west to east so I descended to investigate.
   
It's going in my general direction.  Let's follow it!
   
Yanking and banking over the Lake.
   
Turns out it is the John H. Kerr reservoir.
   
The inevitable dam.
   
Now it's a river.
   
But it's getting bigger.
   
Now it's Lake Gaston.  Fast fishing boats dead ahead!
   
Lots of vacation homes on the Lake.
 
Finally, the Lake turned into the Roanoke River and turned to the southeast.  So I broke off, climbed, and continued almost due east for Norfolk.
   
I passed by a little grass strip where they have glider operations.  Sure enough, I spotted a glider thermalling overhead.  And a towplane/glider taking off.
   
I passed over Newport News Shipyard and spotted three big aircraft carriers under construction.  Can you see two of them in this picture?
   
And there is the third.
   
Looking northwest up the James River.   Jamestown, where it all began in 1607, is visible in the distance on the right side of the river.
   
Looking southeast across Hampton Roads at the Norfolk Naval Base, home of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.
   
A good look at Cape Henry with Virginia Beach just visible around the bend.  And of course there is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
   
Approaching Adams Island and Cape Charles.
   
Descending to get a better look at the barrier islands.
   
 
   
 
   
XXX
 
   
Abstract art.
   
These islands are completely deserted this time of year.
   

I didn't see a single boat or person the entire way.
   
 
   
This picture is a little dark but if you look closely at the center, you can see some brick chimneys.  The house they belonged to is long gone.
   
Slightly inland looking out at the ocean.
   
After I left the barrier islands, I headed direct Essex Skypark and motored home.  It was still mostly unpopulated the rest of the way and very scenic.
   
 
   
 
   
 
 
   
 
   
 
P44
   
A little sportsman shack out in the middle of the swamp.
   
 
Passing over Cambridge, Maryland on the way home.  That is the Choptank River.
   
A giant mansion and estate under construction.
   
 
   
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