Bill's RV Project

Sure enough, it started breaking up around Frederick. I wanted to get high so I could go fast and burn less gas so I climbed through it.

I flew down the Shenandoah Valley. Here is New Market airport, where I soloed my glider back in 1997.

One of the many Auburn football traditions is the Tiger Walk. The crowd lines up on each side of a road leading in to the stadium. The players and coaches walk through the crowd in their street clothes to enter the stadium; it's kind of neat to see the players up close.

There are probably a couple of thousand people on hand for the Tiger Walk including the Tiger mascot, Auburn band, baton twirlers, and cheerleaders.

Auburn football is really a family activity. Notice the little girl to the right of the woman taking a picture; she is dressed like a Auburn cheerleader.

"Aubie" the Tiger is Auburn's official masket. There he is, just left of center.

The players entering the field was equally spectacular.

At halftime, the field was covered with cheerleaders from some national cheerleading organization. Although Louisiana-Monroe started out well, they were eventually overwhelmed by Auburn who has a really good team this year -- as of this writing they are undefeated and going to the SEC conference championship and perhaps the BCS National Championship game.

Jack, Joe and and myself at the airport after the game to do a little flying. I took Joe and his friend -- also in the Aviation Management major -- up for rides.

The next morning, Jack and I headed for hom. I dropped Jack off in Spartanburg, then continued north. The weather wasn't bad, but there was a broken, sometimes overcast layer which prevented me from going high.

The famous Luray Caverns are underneath that tree covered mound.

The grass strip in the middle of this picture is called "Suzy" and is just south of Clearview Airport. I have driven by it many times on the way to Clearview where I buy my aviation oil. I finally decided to have a look at it from the air. It's fairly close to the SFRA restricted zone so I had to be careful.

October 2, 2010 - Auburn Football Game Auburn, Alabama
My old high-school buddy Jack's son is attending Auburn University and taking an Aviation Management major. He asked me if I wanted to fly down and go to an Auburn football game. I said, Sure! After takeoff from Essex Skypark, I really got tossed around flying over Baltimore. The turbulence was as bad as I have ever encountered in the RV. There was an overcast layer around 3000 feet, but Weathermeister.com said it was supposed to break up as I headed west.

Sure enough, it started breaking up around Frederick. I wanted to get high so I could go fast and burn less gas so I climbed through it.

By the time I got to the Shenandoah River, there was hardly a cloud in the sky! The turbulence was just a bad memory.

I flew down the Shenandoah Valley. Here is New Market airport, where I soloed my glider back in 1997.

What a difference a few miles make. It was overcast over Baltimore. Now, the sky was absolutely clear of clouds except for that little cloud straight ahead.

I landed at Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport (KSPA) and met Jack.

I got to meet Jack's other son -- Jack Ryan -- who was a kid when I last saw him and is now a young man and already established on a career.

Jack and I took off and circled over downtown Spartanburg before heading southwest.

A pleasant hour or so flight later, we were overhead Auburn University Regional Airport. We landed, met Jack's son Joe, and I took Joe for a quick flight.

We spent the night in Jack's son Joe's apartment room -- poor guy, had to put up with two middle-aged men snores -- then went to the Auburn game which started at 11AM. Here is Jack and son Joe outside Jordan-Hare stadium.

One of the many Auburn football traditions is the Tiger Walk. The crowd lines up on each side of a road leading in to the stadium. The players and coaches walk through the crowd in their street clothes to enter the stadium; it's kind of neat to see the players up close. There are probably a couple of thousand people on hand for the Tiger Walk including the Tiger mascot, Auburn band, baton twirlers, and cheerleaders. Auburn football is really a family activity. Notice the little girl to the right of the woman taking a picture; she is dressed like a Auburn cheerleader.

"Aubie" the Tiger is Auburn's official masket. There he is, just left of center.

The Auburn Band.

You may have figured out by now that orange is Auburn's color.

Joe adn I outside up close to Jordan-Hare stadium with the ubiquitous band in the background.

"War Eagle" is the battle cry of fans of Auburn Tigers football. The entire day, everyone greets everyone by saying "War Eagle". Then just before kickoff, they releasie a big eagle from the upper deck. The eagle circles over field center until some guys on the ground throw down a piece of meat, and the eagle immediately plummets down to the meat, and the crowd screams "War Eagle!!!"

I don't usually get excited over marching bands, but Auburn's band entrance to the field was truly spectacular. Here they are coming out onto the field.

They just kept emerging until they filled up the field to the 30 yard line.

The players entering the field was equally spectacular.

Football is big here in Auburn, Alabama. The stands were packed for a game against Louisiana - Monroe -- not exactly Alabama, Georgia or Florida.

At halftime, the field was covered with cheerleaders from some national cheerleading organization. Although Louisiana-Monroe started out well, they were eventually overwhelmed by Auburn who has a really good team this year -- as of this writing they are undefeated and going to the SEC conference championship and perhaps the BCS National Championship game.

After the game, yet another tradition is to toilet paper Toomer Square, so we checked that out.

There was so much toilet paper, the ground looked like it was covered in snow.


Jack, Joe and and myself at the airport after the game to do a little flying. I took Joe and his friend -- also in the Aviation Management major -- up for rides.

The Auburn airport terminal. Brand spanking new and very nice.

Inside the new Terminal with the Auburn Tiger.

Joe looks like a natural pilot.

Your's truly having fun flying his RV.

It was hard to believe Jordan-Hare stadium was full of people earlier in the day. This is also a good picture of the Auburn campus. Auburn is a college-town, dominated by the campus.

We climbed above the clouds and Joe had fun flying the RV around.

Joe was a natural stick.

This Auburn University Citation jet landed while we were up flying. Auburn owns three of them. Nice!

The next morning, Jack and I headed for hom. I dropped Jack off in Spartanburg, then continued north. The weather wasn't bad, but there was a broken, sometimes overcast layer which prevented me from going high.

I climbed up once but the layer looked pretty solid so I came back down. Even with the XM satellite weather on my GPS, I couldn't be sure there would be holes to get back down up north. It turns out I could have easily, but hind-sight is always 20/20.

I passed by this little community nestled on top of a 1000 foot ridge.

The Blue Ridge mountains off my right wing as I fly up the Shenandoah Valley.

The famous Luray Caverns are underneath that tree covered mound.

A little grass strip.

The grass strip in the middle of this picture is called "Suzy" and is just south of Clearview Airport. I have driven by it many times on the way to Clearview where I buy my aviation oil. I finally decided to have a look at it from the air. It's fairly close to the SFRA restricted zone so I had to be careful.

The Baltimore Ravens practice facility. I made a nice landing at Essex Skypark, concluding a great weekend. If you ever get a chance to go to an Auburn football game, take it!

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October 2, 2010 - Auburn Football Game