Bill's RV Project

July 9-11, 2010 - Weekend Getaway Franklin, North Carolina
The long-awaited day is at hand. Lynnette will fly in the RV for the first time. The plan was to leave Friday afternoon for a weekend getaway to western North Carolina. We picked the destination from an article in Pilot Getaways magazine.

She is bravely smiling. My plan was to climb to 8500 feet as soon as possible, to get to the smooth air. Weather looked OK. There was a front to the west paralleling our route of flight but we should be able to remain clear. I was using the XM Weather capability on my GPS 496 for the first time.

There was a little bumpiness climbing to 8500 feet but once we got there it was nice and smooth. It was really strange flying conditions. Because of the haze and the scattered cloud layer below, I couldn't the ground unless I looked straight down.

Lynnette handled the flight down very well, reading her book and playing Soduku. It was almost like being on a commercial flight.

We had to angle to the east down by Charlotte a little to avoid some weather, but three hours later we arrived overhead Macon County Airport (1A5) in Franklin, NC.

It had rained prior to our arrival. The FBO facility on the left was very modern and nice. Neil, the FBO manager, was very friendly. In fact, he offered the use of the white hangar for the RV for the weekend at no charge! An Enterprise rental car was waiting for us.

We were staying at the Balsam Mountain Inn, a scenic 45 minute drive away.

The front of the Inn.

They had a big porch where it was nice to hang out in the rocking chair and enjoy the mountain view.

The Inn had a nice restaurant where we enjoyed dinner and breakfast.

We spent all day Saturday driving around and sightseeing. The weather was much better today: sunny, warm with cumulous clouds. There were a number of waterfalls.

This waterfall was particularly good.

You could walk behind the falls.

We drove over to the southern entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and visited this Mountain Farm which was interesting.

Pork was their main source of meat.

We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway for awhile and saw a lot of view like this.

We did a little hiking at the Balsam Mountain/Heintooga ridge. This is the parking area at the trailhead.


The trail was about a mile-long, and it was all up-hill.

But the views from the top made it all worthwhile.





They had a little visiters center at the trailhead where Lynnette met this friendly bear.

We left Sunday morning. This dusty Staggerwing was in the hangar where my RV stayed. Note the flat tires. They said this Staggerwing hasn't flown in over 20 years, but the owner won't sell it. Sad. A great plane like this deserves to fly.

As we climbed out, we flew by the area we had hiked. I'm pretty sure that's the trailhead parking area in the center of the picture.

The weather was much better for the return flight: blue skies with a few cumulous clouds below us.

Flying to Franklin, we had gone around the west side of the Washington DC airspace. On the return trip, just for something different, we flew around the east side. That's Patuxent River Naval Air Station off my right wing. That's where the Naval Test Pilot school is and where the Navy does all its flight testing.

We crossed the bay on a northeast heading.

Lynnette suggested we stop at Kentmorr and have her sister join us for a soft-shelled crab sandwich in the nearby marina restaurant, so we did. It was a glorious day to be out and about. There were tons of boats on the water and people doing outside things.

Lynnette and Brenda at the marina restaurant.

A Decathelon had flown in after us.

I had finished polishing the RV's right side the week before. Getting it ready for Oshkosh.

It was just a short ten minute flight home to Essex Skypark from Kentmorr. Here's a good shot of the Bay Bridge. All in all, Lynnette's first RV flight was an outstanding success. She is willing to go on future getaway trips!

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July 9-11, 2010 - Weekend Getaway