The Liberty Gazette
January 9, 2024
Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely
Linda: Well, hello, 2024! How shall we shape you? We got off to a great start with a shindig at the posh penthouse home of Ben Price and Linda Pickens-Price. Linda, you may recall from previous installments, was a member of the Flying Queens basketball team from Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, the phenomenal, most-game-winning-record-holders. Last February, the Flying Queens Foundation proudly hosted the grand opening of their shiny new interactive museum. Plus, air show celeb Debby Rihn-Harvey donated her Baron which is now on a pedestal at the entrance. If you haven’t been there yet and will be going to or passing through Plainview, be sure to make a visit. The designers of the museum should win some kind of award because it reflects the uniqueness and standard-setting legacy that is the Flying Queens.
They are a women’s college basketball team, and they got their team’s name and a tremendous amount of support from the local FBO owner at the Plainview airport, Claude Hutcherson, who used to fly the ladies to all their away-games in his fleet of Beechcraft Barons and Bonanzas.
Linda Pickens-Price’s personal story is an inspiration. The little girl who was born into poverty, dirt floors, no indoor plumbing, and a difficult and sometime scary home life, has led an exemplary life, rising above pain and disadvantage, using her athletic skills (she played center for the Flying Queens) to gain access to a college education, then spent her career giving back to children in need. She became one of the most influential women in Houston as she worked to improve the CPS system. It was an honor to be counted among her delightful friends welcoming the new year and the endless new opportunities ahead.
One of the questions we often hear when we run into friends we haven’t seen in a while is, “Flying much?” Our answer is always the same: “Never enough!” That led us to think about the new year; new flight plans to make, new adventures to seek, new stories just waiting to be told. I’m betting Mike will want to continue racking up more badges for landing at airports in AOPA’s badge program. In the last quarter of 2023, we were focusing on airports in the state of Louisiana, because that’s one of a couple of states that invests more into celebrating and encouraging personal flying. I think we’d like to do more fly-and-bike trips as well. We made so many of those trips throughout that government-sponsored-Wuhan-flu-nonsense and had a great time. We researched airports with bike-friendly roads to parks and trails nearby, loaded our bikes and picnics in the back of the airplane, and shot out into the wild blue yonder to find adventure, fresh air, and exercise.
So where will we fly to in 2024? With over 19,000 landing facilities in the United States (airports, heliports, sea plane bases), we may never check off every single one, but we’ll have so much fun trying!
ElyAirLines.blogspot.com
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