Night Landing at Whiteplains Plantation 7-30-2010 Cessna 182.avi

Bob Gillmann landed friday night in his C-182 after a long cross country flight.

Barbara & Festus Trip Update - Upper Peninsula

This is the UP to locals - Upper Peninsula of Michigan – kind of like Alaskans refer to the continental United States as “outside”.

Escanaba is located on the northern shore of Lake Michigan, which I continue to refer to as the ‘ocean’ because it looks so big.

After seeing the Great Lakes, all other inland waterways now appear much smaller to us!

To our surprise and delight, this area has that wonderful small town family feel. Everywhere we go we see families, sometimes with 4 – 5 children in tow, enjoying the parks, fishing, biking, playing ball, or doing something together. Funny, sometimes you don’t notice something until it seems unusual…….

This Don Solis with four of his grandchildren at a family gathering that we were privileged to attend.

Joey and Don just returned from Alaska with red salmon – ready for the barbeque grill! Yum.

Okay – notice the Snow Blower for sale in this front yard? Haven’t seen one of those in years!

And here’s another seldom-seen icon: a real live US postal service employee delivering mail to houses. We had a great conversation with him – he’d spent a couple years in Alaska in the 60’s and is looking to retire in October. God speed.

Here is a typical street on that postal delivery route. I love the old trees and sidewalks. That’s Festus on his bike way over there on the right side.

The local park offers lots of beach area.

And every Thursday night there is a ‘concert in the park’.

Lots of bike lanes around the marina.

This is a water mower! We got a real kick out of watching this go back and forth across the marina.

The park area includes a small marina.

Small town America in Michigan – made even better because the weather is 80 today. Of course, there was a tornado warning two days ago that accompanied some serious rain, so again, it’s a matter of timing…..

Barbara & Festus

Up on the UP

All About Cylinders

Mike Savvy has an excellent presentation on how to inspect aircraft cylinders.  See link below

.http://www.savvymx.com/index.php/all-about-cylinders

Trip Report #1 - Barbara/Festus

Photos of the Woolsey Airport at Northport, Michigan

Now, THAT’S a lot of grass to cut!!!

East-West runway.

North-South runway.

And the charming facility that serves as the terminal.

Barbara/Festus

45⁰N - 80⁰W

Trip Report #2 - Barbara & Festus Burchfield

Visiting the USCG Auxiliary!

There’s this little town called Escanaba on the UP (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan, a shipping port and safe harbor for mariners since the 1860’s.  In a small town of just over 13,000 residents, there is an impressive 400+ acres of pristine public parks and recreation areas. We found Escanaba welcoming and very charming on this beautiful summer day.

At the public marina, it was hard to miss the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 25’ Safe Boat docked not far from the Sheriff’s boat.  We asked about it to a nice lady on the dock who immediately gave us the name and phone number of the Auxiliarist to call about the boat. (Where is that ever going to happen again?)  So we called the number and introduced ourselves as Auxiliarists from South Carolina.  He says, “Do you have time?  I’ll be there in 5 minutes.” 

And that’s how we met Paul Bissell, IPFC, SO-OP and FSO-OP for Flotilla 47-09 Bays de Noc, the northern end of Lake Michigan.  The bay's name comes from the Noquet (or Noc) Native American people who lived there.

The Coast Guard issued boat comes with full maintenance, inspections, and lots of training provided by the Coast Guard station in the AOR.  About three years ago the Coast Guard began a standardization program and that’s when Flotilla 47-09 received the SAFE boat.  The crew members love it’s speed and they really work the boat.

Paul tells us there are 22 flotilla members;  two are Coxswain with three more in training, and five are crew with four members in training.  So get this – in the FOUR months of summer operations (“ice in – boat out”) they log over 600 hours of underway time.  Wow.

The proficiency and physical requirements to coxswain/crew on the SAFE boat are considerably higher than the usual Auxiliary coxswain/crew standards.  The Coast Guard is very exacting.  Paul tells us, “There is no place for arrogance in the Auxiliary.”  He says, “The Coast Guard puts us through the grinder” in training, but they’ll show you and teach you everything you need to know.  “We learn new things and become better.”

Paul and Festus talking “shop” about operations.

I think Festus likes the boat!

From the shores of Lake Michigan,

Barbara & Festus Burchfield

Road Trip Report from John Gardner

Lunch at the Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix AZ

New Well Phase II

New well was dug Tuesday. Short video of all that was involved. From what I hear, this well is almost dry. A second well might be drilled just down from this location. TBD

Video by: Don Cook

This is way better than working‏

John Gardner is on a road trip from SC to CA and back to SC.  We received this picture from him today. I wonder why he would think that this is way better than working?

Another Whiteplains Young Eagle Flight today!

Steve Sanderson flew three Young Eagles this morning.  The kids live in Florida and were here in SC visiting relatives. Their cousin is a fellow medical student at USC with Micah.  It looks like they really enjoyed it. After the flight they received a Young Eagles Certificate, Log book and a coupon for free private pilots online course from Sportys Pilot Shop.

If you are a member of the national EAA, you can also fly Young Eagles.  Share the joy of flight with a young person.  You'll enjoy the experience.   

Phase I update - Road sealing

Work did not move along as quickly as expected today. As a result work was
not fully completed in phase I. Work will continue on Thursday morning. This
will move the schedule forward one day, and we will need to stay off the
phase I streets one extra day. Expect work to start on phase II on Friday.
Pass the word, and if you have any questions please call me @ 730-8090.

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    Whiteplains Announcements

Road Sealing Whiteplains 7-13-2010

Road sealing took place this morning for the second time. If you wonder how they do it, check out the video.  As you can see in the video we had no shortage of supervisors to help out.  Short video of some of today's work.

Video by: Don Cook

Reminder: Tomorrow (Wednesday) they do Phase I section. Don't forget to move your car.

(Whiteplains Plantation Announcement)
Roadway Sealing Starts Monday, July 12^th
At the last Board of Directors Meeting, a project to seal and re-stripe all roadways and taxiways in the neighborhood was approved.  Beginning Monday, July 12^th at 6:00 a.m. we will start the project.  A map showing the sections that will be done and the date for each is posted at each entrance, subject to change due to weather.  For the best results we are asked to not drive on the sealed area for 24 hours.  This will also minimize tracking on concrete driveways and ramps.  Sections will be marked off with cones once the work has started. 
When your section of road is to be done, please plan to park your car in an unaffected area the evening before if you need to travel, and plan for package deliveries, trash pickup, etc.  Please turn off sprinkler systems to avoid wetting the roadway early in the day.
If residents need to use the runway for access to their property, please exercise caution.  When having to drive on the runway it is prudent to turn the radio off, roll down your windows, and use your emergency flashers.   4-way flashers let outsiders know that it is not normal to drive on the runway.
We are confident that the minor inconvenience will help extend the life of our roads.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact:
Jeff Cargile, 730-8090 or Jim Wheat, 960-5929

 Double click on map to see full size.

Micah and Dennis Ramsey trip to Alaska

Here's some pictures from my recent one week trip to Alaska:

http://picasaweb.google.com/micah0303/2010AlaskaTripN171MF?authkey=Gv1sRgCPu0weGeiov0fA#

Route:

SC99 - Newberry SC (fuel) - Longview TX - Sedona, AZ - Hillsboro, OR - Port Angeles, WA - Ketchikan, AK - Juneau, AK - Ketchikan, AK - Hillsboro, OR - Rawlins, WY - Kennett, MO - SC99

Stats:
7093 miles traveled plus sightseeing
29.3 hours flown
348 gallons 100LL

4th of July 2010 - Gilbert, SC.mkv

Some people from Whiteplains helped out at this years Lexington Peach Festival that was held Saturday in Gilbert. Thanks to the Como's, Cook's, Gardner's and Raintree's for helping out. It was a lot of fun, and the weather was great this year.

Pelion, SC CTAF Change

PELION, SC–Unicom & CTAF > 123.0℈  Effective July 1 2010

Whiteplains Calendar July 2010

SCBC
July  11  Sailsbury (RUQ)
July  25  Anderson (AND)

Other Dates:
July  3  Gilbert 4th Of July Celebration  Gilbert Park