November 28, 2014 - Johnson City, Tennessee
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| My sister moved to Johnson City, Tennessee a couple of years ago and just recently my parents did to, so it was time for a visit. It's a seven hour or more drive from Baltimore to Johnson City. But in the RV, I figure it's two and a half hours. We had the big Thanksgiving dinner with family at our house on Thursday. Friday morning Lynnette and I got up early and headed out to the airport. It was cold so I had to preheat the engine. We were airborne by 8:45 AM or so. |
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There was no snow on the ground around Baltimore but as we headed west, we soon encountered it near Frederick. The weather brief had said clear all the way to Tennessee; however, the in-flight weather said there was a snow cell just to the southwest of DC. And you could sure see it from the air. Fortunately it was just a cell and we were able to scoot around it to the north and west. It's visible to the right of the picture.
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| Heading down the Shenandoah Valley. There was a broken layer at 4,000 feet most of the way down to Tennessee which I hadn't anticipated. But it wasn't a problem; we stayed above it to remain in calm air. The headwinds up high weren't as bad as forecasted, although they were about 20 or so. |
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Johnson City airport dead ahead. This airport was the closest to my parents and sister. It reminded me a lot of my home airport, Essex Skypark: no FBO, just a runway and some hangars. They did have self-service fuel at 80 cents less than in the Baltimore/DC area.
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| Tied down at Johnson City Airport. |
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| Lynnette with my parents and their dog Fergus. |
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Johnson City airport from the ground.
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We had a nice visit with my parents and sister, then departed Saturday afternoon. I knew that the temperature Saturday afternoon would be warm -- in the 50s -- and counted on that so I didn't have to preheat my engine.
Like the trip down, the trip back was pretty much over a broken layer the entire way. We climbed up to 7,500 and cruised.
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| By the time you get to the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley you are roughly halfway to Johnson City. The rest of the way is mostly narrow valley; i.e., places you could make an emergency landing. Plenty of towns and airports were along the way. Unlike the case when heading more southwesterly through West Virginia which is very remote and hilly country. |
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| We enjoyed a monster tailwind most of the way home. I'd say we probably averaged 230 mph. The trip home only took one hour and fifty-five minutes. The trip down was two hours and forty-five minutes. |
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| At one point -- admittedly I lowered the nose a little -- we did over 250 mph. Woohoo! |
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| Once we reached the Shenandoah Valley I descended below the layer where the air was kind of murky. |
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| Looking west. We arrived back in Essex Skypark and had enough time to unload the plane and put it back in the hangar before it got dark. Nice trip! Made possible by the RVs speed. |
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