May 12, 2007 - All Grass All Day PA
The Trunk Monkeys put on an All Grass All Day Tour in honor of Diana, who is flying her Missouri-based Citabria on the mother of all All Grass Tours:  the entire eastern half of the U.S.  We met this Saturday at Grimes Airport (8N1) at 9AM.  I was the first one to arrive, followed by Diana, then Dick and Mark (with Herb in back) arrived overhead in formation, and did a nice break over the field.   Grimes field was a sea of dandelions.  The sky was a little hazy but the winds were light and it was sunny and warm.
Left to Right:  Herb, Diana, Mark & Dick. 
That's me on the left. 
Our first stop was Vansant Airport (9N1), about 50nm east of Grimes.  There we met by Gill and his son Marcos, who I had met last year at Gastons.  They were flying a strange-looking Citabria; I believe the designation was 7G172C.  It also had this strange protrusion underneath the nose.  Here we're posing in front of a Great Lakes biplane. 
Vansant is probably the only airport there is where you can rent or get instruction in taildraggers like a Champ, Cub, Super Decathelon, Great Lakes, Tiger Moth and Stearman.  They also have an active glider operation.  Finally, the airport is a popular destination for Bikers, who enjoy a barbeque they set up behind the FBO.  My kind of airport!
Diana and her baby blue Citabria. 
Taxiing for takeoff at Vansant. 
Pre-takeoff runup. 
I was Trunk Monkey number four.  Mark had the lead.  We usually fly in very loose right echelon, then switch to line astern when approaching the airport. 
Herb took this nice airborne shot of Diana and her Citabria.   We are heading west towards Kutztown. 
Pat joined us enroute to Kutztown in his Scout.  At Kutztown we were met by John in his High Explorer, Jay in his Super D, and Pete in his Citabria.  We were up to nine planes! 
Gaggle of pilots gradually working their way to the on-field restaurant. 
Kutztown has a great on-field restaurant.  Aircraft parking is on a grass patch just out front.  We were able to get seated right away, despite having a large party and no reservations. 
 
The restaurant parking area.  I think they even had a guy out there directing parking.  Four of us parked on the other side of the runway, which I deeply regret now, since we could have had a great shot of all nine planes. 
Diana took this nice shot of the Citabrias with the restaurant in the background.
Everyone stopped to watch John take off in his High Explorer.  He was off before reaching the landing threshold!
This is the same shot before crop and zoom. 
A nice-looking Waco parked outside the FBO.
We finally left Kutztown and headed for Morgantown (O03).  Two years ago, this was the meeting place for the first every All Grass All Day tour.  My memories from that day was that at 8AM, it was a deserted grass field.  Not today!  There were gliders all over the place, a couple of planes in the pattern, and people on the ground watching the Air Ops.  I think they enjoyed seeing the seven brightly colored taildraggers.
It's hard to see in this picture, but we are taxiing back through a taxiway cut through a soybean field. 
Looking left while waiting for a glider to be cleared off the field.
And looking right.  There is Gil's Citabria 7G172C on my right.  I still can't shake the notion that there is something wrong with the nose of that plane.
Mark and Dick showing how it is done. 
Our next stop was Keller Brothers Airport (08N).  We are taxiing back to the ramp area. 
We were all struck by how scenic this airport was, and decided to stop and look around.  Everything about this airport was perfectly maintained.  All the hangars and buildings were farm red and the grass was neatly manicured and trimmed. 
Group picture:  Left to right:  Herb, Bill, Dick, Diana, Tom, Gil and Mark. 
John Sibole, who is an aerobatic and helicopter instructor and owns that nice hangar in the background, brought out a cooler of soft drinks and water for us.  He said he had learned to fly tailwheel in a Citabria and seeing us fly in brought back fond memories.   
Gil going for the ConUS Challenge claim.  Diana is clearly not happy about that. 
Mark looks back to see if the Citabrias are still there.  (Photo by Herb).
The plan was to continue west to Bermudian Valley (07N) but regretfully, I had to get back to home base.  Herb took this shot of me leaving Keller Brothers. 

Later on, I found out the rest of the Trunk Monkeys called it a day at Keller Brothers.  Diana, who was heading northwest, ran into weather ten minutes after leaving and had to land at Farmers Pride.  But she was well-treated and it sounds like it worked out pretty well for her.  That's part of the attraction of the long cross-countries -- they're always an adventure and you never know what to expect. 

To get back home to Essex Skypark, I had to transition through Martin State Airport's Class D airspace. The Glenn L. Martin Company (eventually becoming part of Lockheed Martin) used to own this airport and built the big seaplanes for the U.S. Navy.  My dad flew the big Martin P5M Marlins during his Navy career.  All the P5Ms were built here.  Anyway, today they were having a Seaplane festival.  You can see that big seaplane floating in the water down there.  Martin had their own seaplane ramp. 
Chalk up another great flying day.  I was in the air 4.5 hours which surprised me.  I didn't think I flew that long but I guess it just went by fast because I was having so much fun.  I was glad for the opportunity to fly with Diana and show her how much fun we Citabria drivers have on the east coast.  As always, it was great to fly with the Trunk Monkeys. 
 
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