Myrtle Beach!

Caution - Man running (with) power tools

To the BEACH!  - September 8, 2007

Nora and I thought taking One Whiskey Romeo to the beach for an afternoon would be a great way to celebrate our anniversary.  So with all of 40.8 hours on the clock Nora climbed in, buckled her harness and off we went.

E  The trip should have taken us less than an hour but I wanted to top the tanks off first so we left 28A at 8:45.

F 15 minutes later we landed at Lancaster (LKR) for fuel and a quick bio-break.  That is the Catawba river passing under the nose.

E After blasting off from LKR it was less than an hour to North Myrtle Beach (CRE).  This picture was taken in route, someplace over South Carolina.

F In a little less than an hour flight time we were touching down at CRE.  There was a lot of talk about how rude the ATC is there and to expect to have to deal with a possible write-up, even when doing everything correctly.  That was not the case, I was prepared and all went well.  A friend offered us the use of his "Beach Car" that he keeps there for just such trips.  All it cost us was half a tank of gas.  The FBO retrieved the car and had it cooling for us by the time we got the airplane tied down and were ready for it.

E Nora was a bit dazed by being at home for breakfast and after a leisurely but FAST trip we were on the beach soaking our feet by 11 AM.  We walked for miles, hand-in-hand down the beach before realizing our stomachs were calling for food.  (Next time don't leave the snacks in the plane.  Duh!)

Although we had the car, it really wasn't necessary, if you don't mind walking a few miles.  However we did use it to scope out a bunch of different restaurants, finally letting our discerning palates select a non-descript Mexican place that served GREAT food.

F The return flight was uneventful.  We stopped at RQU to top the tanks before heading back to 28A.  It turns out that there was a big fly-in going on and as we were fueling this Sky Raider started up, taxied out, and departed.  Boy that thing is massive!