Bill's RV-7 Project

It was still a little cool, even though we well into the south.

Looking south at the Waccasassa Bay Preserve. Lots of salt marshes and tidal creeks.

Looking south at the Key. It's amazing how different it looks from the air as opposed from the ground on the roads. On the ground, you have no idea that there is so little habitable land or that there is so much water around.

Approaching Cedar Key, I announced on the radio that we were five miles out. A woman immediately asked if we needed transporation. I said yes. Judy, the local taxi driver, met us at the airport and drove us to the Bed & Breakfast. Very convenient.

January 17, 2014 - To Cedar Keys, FL
It was a frosty 27 degrees when we arrived at Essex Skypark Friday morning around 8AM. It took awhile to pre-heat the engine, load the plane, run the engine to warm it up further, and gas the plane up. Whitey, one of the airport regulars, asked me where we were going. "Florida Keys. Isn't everybody?" We were finally airborne around 9:30. We took the usual route to avoid the SFRA (DC no fly zone), when heading south: across the Chesapeake Bay, down the Eastern Shore to the Choptank River entrance, then angle across the Bay again southwest to St. Marys Airport (2W6) near Patuxent River Naval Air Station. That got us clear of all the SFRA/Class B/Restricted airspace and it was smooth sailing to Florida. Unfortunately, we were up a seriously strong headwind. My no-wind cruising speed at altitude is usually around 170-180 mph. At first our speed was 150 or so which I thought was bad. But then it gradually declined to 130. We were crawling! That's just wrong for an RV. If I'd been in the old Citabria, of course, I'd have been overjoyed to be making 130. Compounding the disgraceful slow speed was the nature of the flight itself. Central Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina are nothing but trees. Boring! After almost four hours of flight, we landed at Barnwell Regional Airport in South Carolina, about 80 miles WNW of Charleston. I had picked this airport in flight planning for its relatively low gas prices and because they had a courtesy car. Plus they had perpendicular runways so we landed right into the wind. (Why do a crosswind landing if you don't have to?) Barnwell was a nice airport; perfect for a cross-country stop. We fueled up and relaxed in the comfortable FBO lounge before resuming the journey.

It was still a little cool, even though we well into the south.

Thankfully, the headwind died down on the second leg of the trip and our groundspeed picked up dramatically to 170 mph. In less than two hours, we had the Gulf of Mexico and today's destination in sight: Cedar Key, Florida.

Looking south at the Waccasassa Bay Preserve. Lots of salt marshes and tidal creeks.



Our first good look at Cedar Key. The runway is visible at top left center. The main part of town bottom left center.

Close-up of the main part of town where all the restaurants and bars are.

Looking south at the Key. It's amazing how different it looks from the air as opposed from the ground on the roads. On the ground, you have no idea that there is so little habitable land or that there is so much water around.

There's the runway down below. Not very long, with water at each end.

Looking south. Approaching Cedar Key, I announced on the radio that we were five miles out. A woman immediately asked if we needed transporation. I said yes. Judy, the local taxi driver, met us at the airport and drove us to the Bed & Breakfast. Very convenient.


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January 17, 2014 - To Cedar Keys, FL