October 27, 2020 Birthday Trips

The Liberty Gazette

October 27, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Happy birthday to us! We have so much in common, even our birthdays are one right after the other. Since we celebrated early with fly-hike-bike trips, venturing west a few times, we figured it was time to point the nose east. 

With the back seats folded down in the Elyminator, we have plenty of room to stack two bike frames, topped by four wheels, with flight bag and backpacks filling the nooks and crannies. Since it’s just us, and the bikes don’t weigh much, we can take on full fuel, which gives us over five hours before we’d use it all up. That’s longer than our sitters can sit anyway. 

The flight to Lafayette, Louisiana in our Grumman Cheetah is slightly over an hour, above the I-10 traffic all the way. I often wonder if the people down there in their cars scowl at us for the sign across the bottom of our plane: “STUCK IN TRAFFIC?” 

Speaking of slower vehicles, we got a chuckle out of the Citation jet that Lafayette’s tower controller sequenced to land ahead of us. Maybe they were on a maintenance flight, as the controller directed me to fly an extended downwind leg while this jet took so long to reach the airport on final. When I finally turned final, the controller gave the obligatory, “Caution: wake turbulence,” and followed up by advising me that the Citation was only traveling at 100 knots. Laughter burst forth from my co-pilot, who blurted, “Can you imagine what that Citation pilot is thinking right now? Thanks for broadcasting my slower-than-a-single-engine-piston-aircraft-speed.” 

Yes, we throttled back for a jet. That’s a first. 

On the ramp, we quickly snapped the wheels on our bikes and pedaled toward historic downtown Lafayette. We considered patronizing a restaurant, but we had brought a picnic lunch, so we rolled on, enjoying the sights through downtown, and ending up on the University of Louisiana Lafayette campus. Girard Park was the perfect place to find a picnic table in the shade and be entertained by frisbee throwers, children, and dogs. 

After swallowing the last morsels, I texted our dear friends who had recently moved to Lafayette from Houston so they could be close to grandchildren when the husband retired from his dental practice. His wife, Rebecca, is a fellow author and has written several excellent children’s books. “The Dry” is one of them. 

They’d weathered Hurricanes Laura and Delta much better than the poor folks in Lake Charles. From the air, Lake Charles is a quilt of blue squares. But our friends didn’t have any damage, and Rebecca picked us up at Girard Park and took us to their new home for coffee and conversation. She has built an enviable hanging fence garden, and they have a puppy named George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart’s character in “It’s a Wonderful Life”). But I’ve run out of space, so I’ll finish this story next week. Till then, blue skies.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 20, 2020 Airport to Alamo...bike style

The Liberty Gazette

October 20, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Last week, Mike wrote about flying and hiking and our steps from historic Stinson Municipal Airport along the Mission Reach trail system. A few days later, we flew back to Stinson with our bikes. We had a lovely time cloud-busting and were welcomed back by one of the friendly line guys with Stinson’s Gate One FBO, who chocked the Elyminator while we tied down the wings. 

After ordering fuel and unloading, we rolled through the beautiful 1930’s terminal, crossed Mission Road, and we were on our way to a glorious ride. Well, at least for a couple of miles, until Mike’s bike broke. 

Mike: At first, I thought I was doing something wrong in shifting, because the gears seemed to be off. I could only shift in a couple of gears. I tried to locate the source of the problem, but realizing we were wasting precious time and getting nowhere, we chose to call it a day and hobbled the old Mongoose back. 

Linda: The timing worked out okay, though, as we drilled more holes in the sky on the return and arrived home a smidgen early for a web conference I was attending. 

While we weren’t super happy about not flying the next day, we took the day to shop for a new bike for Mike and to vote early. The bike shop was running about a week behind on repairs, so if we wanted to ride, he’d need a new bike. Back to the hangar to unload the old ‘Goose and replace it with his spiffy new wheels. The next day’s forecast looked pretty good. Not the early morning forecast, which was fog-laden, but certainly we could be wheels up by 8:30 or 9. With nothing planned to rush back for, we could spend the whole day cycling around San Antonio. 

The picnic lunches and water bottles in our backpacks added a little weight, but it wasn’t too bad. It’s just a little over ten miles along the Mission trails from Stinson airport to the Alamo, with the latter few miles being the bike lanes of South Alamo Street. Unfortunately, the place to secure our bikes wasn’t nearby, and the idea of “required” face masks while wandering the grounds around Alamo was a major turn-off. So, we said hello to Teddy Roosevelt on his horse, snapped a selfie in front of the Alamo, and meandered back. 

We peddled back down the generous bike lanes of South Alamo Street, through the Blue Star Arts Complex and numerous parks. We drank all the water, lightening the load, and enjoyed a picnic lunch in a shaded park along the San Antonio River. The light breeze helped cool us in the 91-degree sunshine. 

Roundtrip, we treaded 20.55 miles. Skies were clear leaving San Antonio, but by 7:30 in the evening, descending to our home airport, the fog would roll in soon. Next time, we’ll go east. We’ve discovered “ridewithgps.com” and some routes from Lafayette Regional Airport, which looks like a great fly-and-bike trip.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 13, 2020 Fly, Hike, Bike

The Liberty Gazette

October 13, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Flying and hiking, what a combination. But finding easy access to a trailhead near an airport is difficult. Often, when we land, ground transportation of some sort is needed to get to local attractions. When I read about the Stinson Loop Trail, a feeder trail to San Antonio’s Mission Reach walk along the San Antonio River, it beckoned me. 

For two consecutive day trips, the Elyminator whisked us across the state in about an hour and a half. We contended with storms moving into the area which caused a bumpy ride the first day. Gusty winds met us at Stinson Airport, but on the ground, that wind relieved some of the highly humidified hot air on the trail. The second day, the weather was better, and we scooted across the sky at higher and cooler altitudes. 

San Antonio Missions National Park became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015. The distance between all five frontier mission complexes is about eight miles along the San Antonio River Walk. The northern most mission is the Alamo, and at the south end is Mission Espada. Where the Stinson trail meets the main route is just north of Mission San Juan Capistrano, which we walked to the first day. The next day, we took the path north to Mission San Jose. 

We discovered that regardless of footwear, long walks on concrete takes a toll on the body. Pavement is best suited for bikes, which we plan for future trips. 

We were rewarded with picnicking in a spacious courtyard as a peaceful breeze rustled through the trees, watching the buffalo grass gently wave. Mission San Jose’s stately steeple rose into an azure background punctuated by pillow-like white and gray hued clouds. Stone arches cast shadows on limestone walls painted purple by flowering sage bushes.  

Along the banks of the San Antonio river, benches and picnic areas provide rest stops for contemplating while watching egrets and herons go through their daily routines. Boulders along the Stinson Loop trail did the same. They’re coated with a special sealant that I’m sure is meant to prevent graffiti artists from defacing them. 

Each mission is unique. Mission San Juan Capistrano is small in comparison to Mission San Jose. Many of the walls at San Juan have fallen. The chapel is basic with a flat façade that houses three bells. Inside, the sanctuary is narrow and minimally appointed. Mission San Jose boasts a visitor center with set hours. When we entered the front gate, we were met by a massive walled space occupied by a traditional church. The surrounding wall itself also provided structure for the former residences for the mission’s inhabitants. 

Only a few other folks milled about while we were there, so much of the time, we had the entire complex mostly to ourselves. After completing our three-hour trek, the Elyminator whisked us home. We spent approximately the same amount of time getting there and back as touring the missions and drinking in history. Airplanes are great for making day-hiking trips. 

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

October 6, 2020 Autumn Flying

The Liberty Gazette

October 6, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: We’ve had several days of great flying weather. Inside the Elyminator is more comfortable when temperatures are not in the 90’s. In fact, the 50’s and 60’s are great. That’s a big reason why this is the time of year for the best fly-ins in this part of the country. While some have been cancelled (or might ask guests to plaster a cover over their faces), flying, and the camaraderie that comes with it, are still possible.

We recently installed some major upgrades to our instrument panel. These new devices open more opportunities for approaches our airplane wasn’t previously equipped to fly. Not that departure and enroute are unimportant, but it’s the approach to landing that can get sticky in weather. If the ceiling or visibility are too low, well, you’d better have equipment that will get you down to the runway safely, or plan to land somewhere else. 

The Elyminator used to have the old-fashioned instruments we call “steam gauge.” We had a portable GPS receiver, but not an installed one, and that makes all the difference in the world when it comes to what you can and cannot do, legally and safely. So not only did we bite the bullet for the latest model of one of the Garmin aviation navigation units, but we added several other instruments as well that give us important, legal-to-rely-on-in-weather information. That’s a game-changer. It means we’re not restricted nearly as much by the weather now.

However, even with fancy new gadgets, we stay away from big monsters like thunderstorms, hail, and high winds. 

We took advantage of a few days off work recently to fly some day trips to San Antonio’s Stinson Airport. That’s the second oldest (continually operated) airport in the U.S. The city of San Antonio has a tremendous trail system. The Mission Trails take you to all the missions. You can hike or bike around beautiful scenery. And after four years of hard work, the Stinson Trail opened last year to connect Stinson Airport with all those awesome trails. 

We packed a picnic lunch and after landing at Stinson, we walked out the historic terminal and crossed the street to Stinson Trail. Here begins the path to adventures. We made our first one to Mission San Juan Capistrano. It’s relatively small, some of it is ruins, but the walk is only about 3.5 miles. Great exercise! 

The next day, another picnic, this time at San Jose Mission, a much larger mission with more buildings intact. That day, we recorded a seven-mile hike. The bikes are coming out for the rest, since they are farther from the airport. 

We also discovered that San Antonio has kayak chutes. We’re keen on a trip to REI or somewhere for foldable kayaks to fit in the airplane. The real test will be – can we get both, bikes and kayaks, in the airplane? We’ll report back when we find out.

Meanwhile, look for Mike’s thoughts on the awesomeness of San Antonio’s trails next week.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com