Myrtle Beach McCraw Thanksgiving Holiday Trip

The McCraw Family spent the Thanksgiving holiday at a huge condo in Myrtle Beach.

The first day, the weather was wonderfully warm. We wandered the beach...


wandered the streets -


did some fishing!

Just kidding, of course....took this photo to show Richard - think it will fool him?


Found a nice place to sit out some rain - at the 2nd Ave Pier...



Back at the condo - this was the view from the porch...this would be really cool in the summertime - lazy river and fun water towers.



Of course, there were hours of puzzle solving skills....


All done!


Then there was some craft time with the Ladies....


See how cute our snowmen turned out?


One puzzle was not enough....Kevin picked this one up and it was a doozie!!


Sadly, had to trek back north for work this week .....but we all got a nut-cake fruit-cake from Granny.....wow, yum, yum, yum.....I know you're laughing, but this sucker is terrific!

Hop over to Glory Days for a weekend update.

Christmas Box Fun - Samaritan's Purse

My sis introduced me to the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Child program - what a great way to send a gift to a needy child!

It's easy and fun - just get a ordinary shoe box - for fun you can wrap it in pretty paper.


You get to choose the age group of child for your box - and whether it's for a boy or girl. I chose a 10-14 yr old girl - since I didn't have many girls to buy gifts for over the years!

I just picked up lots of school supplies, some fun toiletries and a little candy.

After I sorted it all out, I was afraid I had gotten too much for the box!


But, amazingly, it all fit in snug!


I wrote a nice little note to the girl - telling her a little about myself. And I included a stamped envelope in hope that she will be able to write me back.




Two boxes ready to go!



Then off to the local drop off location - the Pittsboro Baptist Church.

Go on - you've got a few more days - do one yourself - it's good fun!

Last flying day before the big avionics upgrade

We're having all the original avionics (radios) removed from the "new" airplane starting today. So, Sunday was our last flying day for a couple of weeks.....booo,hooo.

We made it count, though! We flew over to Siler City to pick up some fuel - I snapped this photo of the newly painted compass rose. I was at the controls and just held the camera up and took the photo....now I wish we were a little lower to the ground. Oh, well - next time around I'll get a closer shot! Before, you couldn't even see it from the air - it's certainly brighter now after all that work!


We flew two Mooney's down to New Bern for a nice lunch! Dick/Lindy and Randy joined us in their nearly identical Mooney. (Ours is on the right, can't ya tell??)


We had lunch on the deck at Christoph's on the Water about a mile from the airport. Beautiful setting - food was okay. View from my chair.....


Back in the air - to Asheboro to drop off our Mooney at Air Associates for the radio work. Isn't the fall color pretty?



Here are the "before" shots -


It will be nice to have some radios we can trust! More later!

Busy Saturday

Forgot that I had snapped this photo on Thursday before we left for dinner at Robert's apartment....I took the desert - Triple Strawberry cake (a close approximation to what my brother Eddie always got for his birthday cake). Strawberry cake, thawed sweet strawberries spread between the layers, and strawberry icing. Moist and yummy!



That, of course had nothing to do with Saturday......

It was a glorious fall day. Must. Go. Flying.


We headed to Lumberton for the EAA Chapter 1487 Fly-in. Just your average bunch of airplanes - plus this special motor-glider. It is really cool - the propeller folds into the nose cowling and the gear retracts to make it one streamlined glider!


Pretty day....



A short flight home - and it was time for our next adventure.....Dick invited us to go ballooning! We had been "chase crew" before - but this time we were to be the passengers.

First, Dick released a helium balloon to gauge the wind speed/direction.


Next, the balloon envelope had to be set up


Isn't it bright?


Next the cool-air blow-up. Traci was a new volunteer-helper.


The balloon almost blown up


There we are - ready, set, go!


Up, up and away!


Dick at the controls. Of course, there is just up and down!


It really is a beautiful vantage point.


Pat knew we were going to be up - so he got in his motor-glider and circled us a few times.


Cool to look straight down!


Soon it was getting dark - we landed smoothly in a little pasture. The crew was there shortly and quickly moved the balloon over into the road for deflation.



Going....going....



Almost gone!

Dinner with Robert

We were invited to Robert's apartment last night for dinner!

He did a great job as host - served us a great baked ziti and Caesar salad. Nice dinner conversation with a couple of his friends.

He has a blacklight over a game table - he turned it on and my shoestrings lit up! Now there's a sight you don't see every day!

Re-painting the compass rose at the Siler City Airport

Several years ago, the nice ladies from the local 99's Women's Pilot Club designed and painted this wonderful compass rose on the ramp at Siler City. It is used by the mechanics to "swing" the compass in the airplane (adjust the accuracy of the compass). The cardinal points (N - S - E -W) were surveyed and marked, then the ladies drew out this complicated design in pavement parking paint.

Over time, it has deteriorated badly - so the Town asked that it be repainted.



What follows is a series of photos over the course of two days. I would like to thank the following "volunteers" - some of whom were "guilted" in to helping out just because they happened to be at the airport!! (Note they're all male this time around!!)

Wayne Andrews
Mike Neher
Bill Houston
Noel Fallwell
Barry Hayes

Also note the beautiful blue sky!! What wonderful weather we had over the past couple of days!

Just page thru the photos to see as the work progressed -




















All done!!! We're all moaning and groaning about tired legs and sore knees - but it sure is pretty!! Now we just have to decide what to put in the very center - probably the identifier for the airport. Glad that's done for a few years!