Flew to First Flight Airport and the Wright Brothers Memorial today with my German daughter Janina and her boy friend Flo. I knew that the battery on my plane was starting to go, but I thought that if it would start the Six one more time that I would be able to make "Just One More Flight". Well more on that later… I also can't believe how close we are to the take off date for the Abbey Animal Final Fixit Mission in St. Croix (October 20th the the 27th). If you look back over the last several months, you will see all the preparation it took to make this mission take place. I have to Thank All of You who have made this possible. The next two weeks will be "crunch" time. I have already started making lists and itineraries to help keep me on tract.
Janina was an exchange student that stayed at our home for a year while she completed her last year of High School here in Virginia. We have done this six times and have been greatly rewarded each time. If you haven't had a chance to host an exchange student well… you should. The program is called Youth For Understanding (YFU), it was started after WWII as a way of communicating between the different countries (so that wars are less likely to start from Misunderstandings). It's a great way to have an exchange of cultures and at the same time life long relationships are born. Our lives have been greatly enriched because of this experience. You can check out their website at YFU.com. Typically these students come to the house "wide eyed" and wondrous and become a part of our family forever… even calling us "Mom" and "Dad"… as well as Brothers and Sisters to our natural children. The hardest part is letting them go back to their "other" family at the end of the year. One of the best parts of the experience is having them come back to visit year after year. We haven't seen Janina for several years and it's a pleasure to have her back in the house, even if it's only for one week!
So there we were down there at this air strip, that has no runway lights, and we have about 75 minutes of light and the old battery just won't get the Six started. After the light goes away, we would need to abandon ship and head home by snail or stay the night. So I looked at the situation and did the only thing I could think of… called AAA for road side assistance. Needless to say they turned me down but they were able to give me the name of a local tow service. I called them and persuaded them to come out and with a battery pack. While the driver was there, we got to talking and decided that he would like to go up for a ride at some time in the future… you never know where you will find a future pilot! Anyway, we hooked up the battery pack and the Six sprang to life. We were able to take off just as the light was beginning to run out… Whew! Another adventure to talk about… needless to say I ordered a new battery as soon as I got home.
Back to work, need more coffee… Bye for Now, Robin
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