Sunday 1 June in Marysville OH: Morning Musings On The Final Leg

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Editorial Note

As we begin this day, we'd like to thank you, our readers, friends, and family for your good thoughts and wishes during our voyage. Your messages -- whether sent through the blog comments, or phoned or emailed to us individually -- have given us cheer and encouragement and helped us a lot.

As primary writer, I apologize for the entries that had too much unexplained airplane jargon. I only realized rather late in the trip that our readers include many more non-pilots than pilots, and I probably should have left out some of that stuff or taken more time to explain what we were talking about in plain English.

As you've ready, you've followed not just a flight but the people on it -- some or all of whom you've never met and perhaps never will. We owe a tremendous debt to the dozens of helpful people we met along the way. We have recognized the best of them with a ceremonial ballcap that makes them members of The Order of the Dragon: like the mechanic who helped us fix our starter near Memphis, the staff of the Comfort Inn in Walla Walla who took care of us for FIVE DAYS and found ways to help us extend our stay, the soggy young man at the airport in Spearfish South Dakota who hauled our aircraft into the hangar in heavy pelting rain before it could turn to hail that might have damaged our planes.

A flying adventure like this looks different to each one on the journey.

Maybe you expected that relevant flying stories are about what happens after you lift off. Flight planning antics, motel meandering, courtesy car cramming, stuffed dragon divination, decision-making dynamics and fifty ways to find a chiropractor might not seem important. We could have posted a couple of pictures of the scenery from the air, and left it at that.

Every day, whether we flew or not, we woke up with the intention to fly if we could. Every day, that started with checking the weather. And every day came the tougher part: checking in with our personal limits to decide what would be the safest course. There is a phrase in the federal aviation regulations that says something like: "The pilot is responsible for familiarization with all aspects of the flight." That takes in a lot. Our ability to have a safe, enjoyable, spectacular time between takeoff and landing depends entirely on how well we do all the other things between landing and takeoff.

So we hope you've gotten some appreciation of both halves of the equation.

We are less than three hours from home, and we can all feel it.

It's breakfast time in Ohio...and then time to check the weather. Again.

Judy Bradt

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Comments

[Marion]

almost home
A grand adventure, and one that you will all remember! I look forward to seeing the next note that says everyone is safely home, and will eventually get caught up on the postings I've not managed to read yet.

[Mom Bradt]

Well done, all
Congratulations to the entire team for a spendiforous effort and accomplishment. The pix were amazing, and will bring back many memories. It was great living the trip vicariously....I'll never have this to look back on otherwise. I admire your group skills and careful consideration for each other. It was a fabulous group experience, and I'm sure you're all much richer for it. Here's to more happy flying.....hugs...Mom Bradt