MPG

Just a short post to sing praises of my car purchase. We've filled it up with gas 4 or 5 times now and our lowest MPG has been 25.6 for a tankful. As it works out, we're still filling up the Malibu once a week, just like we did the Avalanche, but now a tankful costs 35 bucks instead of 60. We're on track to save 50-100 dollars each month on gas burned just commuting between home and work. BTW, me and my wife carpool, so that save us gas, and overall environmental impact too.

Still, $35 for a tankful. This car has a 16 gallon tank and uses regular unleaded. We've been putting about 12-13 gallons in it every Thursday. I remember the good old days with my '97 Grand Prix GTP that used premium unleaded and was just appalled at having to spend 20 bucks to fill its 18 gallon tank! I think premium gas was about $1.30 a gallon at the time. BTW, that car got about 16mpg in town and about 30 on the open road (it was a 3.8 liter supercharged motor).

Bought a car to save gas

"They" (probably Edmunds.com) say that it's good to go car shopping on a rainy day, so we did. We ended up buying a 2007 Chevy Malibu to replace our 2002 GMC Envoy. We figured that since the Envoy was coming up on 6 years old, and we didn't need it AND the huge Chevy Avalanche which is newer, we would get something smaller.

We originally went to look at Cobalts (think "updated Chevy cavalier") to add a more fuel efficient multi-passenger vehicle to the garage/driveway. Well, the ones in stock at Lonestar Chevy on 290 either didn't have the options we wanted or had too many and cost more than we wanted to spend. We decided to look at the Malibu just to see how their prices where. They had a nice "golden pewter metallic" sedan that had what we needed on it and the price wasn't TOO much more than what we had figured we wanted to pay on a Cobalt. Anyway, to shorten the story, because it was Memorial Day, they had extra rebates going on, we had an extra rebate waiting in the wings from the GM card we use. The guy brought out the list price of the car, which matched what I had looked on line before and said, "Well, there's list and I want to make a little commission so let's see what we can work out whether it's 1%, 2% etc". We told him truthfully that we could drive to our old dealer in Navasota and order anything we wanted for exactly $100 over invoice, so how about 100 bucks. He said "ok" and that was that. So, about 50 signatures later, we had a Malibu for about $3000 under the msrp/sticker price, THEN subtracted $5800 in rebates and they matched want we wanted for our trade in. We took enough to pay off what was left on our Avalanche, and left with a TINY remaining loan on the Malibu.

So, that's the first time that either me or Melanie have EVER bought a car off of a lot. We have always before ordered our cars with EXACTLY what we wanted on them, so it was quite an experience for us. All in all, we're pleased with the results, and while the Malibu is a bigger car than the Cobalt, the rated gas mileage is the same. Oh, and although the color is "golden pewter metallic", it's prettier than it sounds. It's actually a silver-grey that looks like it has a hint of blue added in and it looks different depending on the ambient lighting.

I've also decided not to go to Oshkosh this year. I want to use those vacation days for something else this year. Also, we voted to increase the flying club deposit this year for just about the same amount that it costs to attend Oshkosh for a week, so skipping the cost of Oshkosh will leave more money for flying and hopefully performing an Angel Flight this fall.

Check out my MySpace page too.

????? Oshkosh 2007 ?????

Time to start thinking about Oshkosh this year. My buddy says that he's going again but doesn't know if he'll be camping or not. If his wife goes they'll either have a hotel room or a camper. Plus she doesn't fly AT ALL so they'd either drive or fly commercial. I was thinking of bowing out this year just to save the vacation time and money (although it's not a very expensive vacation) so I'll have to wait and see. Another friend on the wait list for the flying club (note the new URL) is talking about riding his motorcycle up there which sounds like fun, but a Honda 599 really isn't much of a touring machine for a 1000 mile trip! Hmmm. I wonder if you can rent a 'wing somewhere.... Bill would probably know. Hmmm.

Oh! And I met my goal to average one angel flight per quarter in 2006 by flying my 4th mission this past December. Money is tighter than it was when I first started doing this but hopefully I can keep it up and do 4 more this year. Wish me luck!

Myspace

I can't believe I'm doing this!



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The Instrument Pilot's Prayer

Oh controller, who sits in tower
Hallowed be thy sector.
Thy traffic come, thy instructions be done
On the ground as they are in the air.
Give us this day our radar vectors,
And forgive us our bad radio technique,
As we forgive being vectored thru final.
Lead us not into a thunderstorm,
But deliver us from adverse weather.
For thine is the approach to minimums,
The missed approach procedure,
And the published holding pattern
Until our Expect Further Clearance time.

Roger. - Anonymous

Time flys...

Unfortunately though, I haven't been flying much although I've been busy. Since my last post I've been to California twice, once for pleasure and once for business. I've been riding the motorcycle to work when the schedule permits but I haven't been on any pleasure-rides. I'm riding it to work all this week and it's the coldest temps I've ridden in to date. It was about 40 this morning and I did pretty well but I can see why folks in freezing temperatures have heated clothing, grips, and seats. We ordered a black Givi a240 windscreen that hopefully will arrive in time to install it this weekend and I expect it to help somewhat with the wind. Still, today my legs were the coldest but I didn't put my liner in my overpants either because I knew it would be too warm this afternoon for the ride home and I didn't want to go to the trouble to mess with it. I'd need it for any longer rides though. I plan to do some IFR approach practice on Microsoft Flightsim during the holiday, then get a buddy to be my safety pilot in a real airplane. Flightsim can't completely simulate what it's like in the clouds but it's real good for working on procedures and timing. If you can get some practice with the "flow" of an approach, it really helps when you get in the real plane, and saves some money in the process!

Renewed my medical

I renewed my medical yesterday. I decided to get a second class medical this time so I can use my Commercial certificate if the need arises. The vision part was HARD but I passed it somehow so I am now legal to use my Commercial Pilot privileges. So, if you need an airplane ferried or you need to be flown somewhere in your own airplane, let me know!

Yes, I'm keeping it.

Yep, I'm keeping the car. We just need to clean out the garage at home, which we've been needing to do anyway, maybe move the motorcycle and trailer over to the other side so the car will be on the less-traveled side of the garage, and then we'll be ready. Then we can go get the car from my Dad's. We'll then see where it goes from there. I'll probably just simply clean the engine first and then try to put a plan together for getting it in driveable condition again. I guess I had better to check eBay for a Helms manual!

Just for fun, I've started a new blog page. It's called My Gripe for the Day. I plan for it to be a place just to complain. I think it'll be interesting to see just how much I complain about stuff!

Since this blog is called "Flying and other stuff", I thought I should mention flying. Yesterday I went flying for the first time since the end of July. My coworker's dad was in town from New York and she wanted to surprize him with a flight. He has some time in light planes in the past so she thought he'd be cool with it, and he was. There's not a whole lot to see around Houston but I showed him where we work, Minute Maid Park (where the Astros play), the Battleship Texas and San Jacinto monument, and the Kemah boardwalk. As an added bonus, we got to see the Sanyo blimp that was flying around Kemah. That was an added treat. I had really wanted to get some practice in before I took him flying, but I just didn't have time. Still, it was a smooth day without too much wind and I got one of those takeoffs that you couldn't even feel the wheels leave the ground and the landing was very smooth, so I was very pleased! I still feel that my commercial certificate helped me a lot in flying smoothly and professionally with new passengers. I'm going to renew my medical certificate in 2 days and I plan to get a 2nd class medical, so maybe I can actually use my license to make my first penny in the next year!

Then again....maybe I won't

Maybe I won't sell my Camaro. I stopped at a couple of small car shows with 67-69 Camaros at them and while the cars looked good, NONE of them were close to original, especially in the engine/transmission department. The more I look, it appears that I have something pretty special and I might should hang on to it.

In the grand scheme of things, I sort of have a "secret" all original, one-owner, no damage 1967 Camaro. With just a little work it could be ALL original, and then it would be time to call the auto-mags and see if I can get a little celebrity status! : ) THEN it might be time to sell it!

Stay tuned.

Selling my car

Maybe I'll put some Oshkosh stuff up eventually. I've just been super busy. Still I wanted to post a little sampler of what I'm going to be selling in the near future. It's my 1967 Camaro SS/RS 350. My mom bought it new in March of 1967 and I just don't have the time nor resources to hang onto it. Here's a picture:

I'm back from Oshkosh

The trip up was easier than last year and we arrived without much trouble or fanfare. I'll try to post a few details later this week (you know, when I'm at work) but for now let's just say that the Cessna LSA proof of concept vehicle was cool, but maybe not as cool as the Cessna NGP flyby. And the F-22 Raptor display was the most awesome fighter display that I've ever seen. The F-15, F-16, and others don't have ANYTHING on the Raptor except maybe the purchase price!

Come back in a few days and check for an update.

Oh, and I tried my new motorcycle jacket. The mesh design is awecome and MUCH cooler than riding with my other jacket. There was also a lot less wind drag which made it much easier to relax on the bike at freeway speeds and higher!

Ready to fly for another year

I finally completed a new club check yesterday, so I'm legal to fly club planes for another 12 months. I took everything out of my flight bag and put it all in the expandable bag on the back of the motorcycle. It fit great, even the headset, so I may have to do that more often when going out to fly.
I love flying and I love riding my motorcycle, so any time that I can combine the two it's a good day!

I ordered a new jacket to suppliment/replace my original Tourmaster Transition. I know it is brand new, but I've already decided that it was just too hot for the summer. I'm keeping it for now because it's an awesome jacket, but by tomorrow I should have a new Cortech GX Air mesh jacket with leather panels. I ordered it this weekend and UPS says it's on schedule for a July 12 delivery. Yes, it's yellow and black to match the bike. Tourmaster and Courtech are the same company, but the Cortech branded products are tailored with a more sporty style than the Tourmaster products. Assuming that the weather stays ok, I should have bike, bag, and jacket at the flying club meeting this weekend. After the meeting, me and another club member are going to have lunch and discuss any final plans for Airventure 2006!

Back from Colorado - Part 3 (of 3)

Salida was fun. My wife had a friend up there and she gave us some good ideas of stuff to do. She took us rafting on the Arkansas river and told us how to get to an old ghost town up in the mountains where we saw a lot of neat stuff and fed chipmunks out of our hands! We also rode the Royal Gorge train and visited the park.

It was finally time to go home. We had been watching the weather and while it was clear in Pueblo, there was a line of rain reaching across Texas from a stalled cold front. It was showing on radar east of Abilene which was where we planned to stop for lunch. We got to the airport around 9:30, paid for parking and fuel, loaded the plane, and turned in the rent car. We took off and headed toward our first stop of Abilene as we climbed to 9000 feet which kept us above a scattered layer of clouds. We had a pretty smooth flight and shortly after 3 hours, we had the field in sight and started to line up for landing. After an uneventful landing we taxed over to Abilene Aero and parked. A lineman was there at my door with a red carpet that he placed on the ground for me to step out onto! Very cool. The facilities were great and the people were very nice. We went over to the terminal where we had a very good lunch and then returned to pay for gas and get a new preflight briefing.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, the trip home was pretty uneventful and our luck held. The long line of thunderstorms across the state had broken up completely and there was just some stuff north and south of our course on radar. We departed to the east and started our climb to 9000 again. I had planned our course to go sort of north of Waco to miss some rather large MOAs (Military Operator Areas) between us and Houston. Well, about 10 minutes into the flight, the center controller called us up and said that he had an ammended clearance when I was ready to copy. I grabbed my pen and said, "Go ahead." He then said that the MOAs were "cold" (inactive) and we were cleared across them direct to College Station. He then added, "That route will keep you out of all the weather all the way to Houston." He was right. While we watched stuff build to the left and right of our course, we cruised along in the clear above all but one or 2 small ones that we punched right through without any bumps. All this time the frequency was saturated with the controller and airplanes continuously getting vectors around the building weather near both Dallas and San Antonio. Meanwhile we cruised along in smooth comfort and watched towns and airports drift by below.

As we got to College Station we received a few small course changes and a descent to get us on the STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) in to Hooks. Finally, about 20 miles out Approached asked if we wanted an approach or wanted to continue for the visual approach. We were below scattered clouds to we elected for the visual and via the GPS, pointed the nose straight at the airport. A short time later we were back on the ground at home, glad to be breathing the "thick" Texas air, but still missing the LOW humidity back in Colorado!

After all we went through and the unconfortable condidtions around Amarillo, I was amazed to hear my wife say on the drive home, "Next time we're giving the kids Dramamine on every leg!" Yes, you heard me correctly...She said "next time"! After the stressful flight up there, I thought we had taken our last trip as a family. Apparently not!

Next up...Oshkosh!!!!

Back from Colorado - Part 2

Where was I? Oh yes, stuck in Amarillo watching the radar. Anyway, I forgot exactly how long we were there, but after watching the radar and talking to FSS it looked like we had a window of opportunity to get to Pueblo. The briefer pointed out a gust front where the doppler was showing an extreme shirt in wind speed/direction. He said to be careful with that.

We got back in the plane and started it up. The wind was still blowing pretty hard but the bad weather looked to be east of our course. While we were doing the runup, ground control called us to to say that a Cirrus SR22 reported severe turbulence at 11,000 over Dalhart. Well, that was the gust front, and that's the route we were taking so we sat and thought about that for a couple of minutes. The boys were already falling asleep, so I said, "Let's go see what it's like and we can turn around if it's getting too rough." We took off and the up/down drafts were still pretty strong and I was thinking, "This might be interesting." We kept going and while it was not worse than moderate turbulence, we were still getting tossed around quite a bit. Even with the manifold pressure and propeller RPM at the bottom of the green arcs in the guages, we were still bumping into the yellow arc on the airspeed indicator. I was worried about stresses on the airplane at a couple of points so to slow down and stabilize it a little I dumped the landing gear. That helped so as it smoothed out I put the gear back up. I wasn't having any trouble keeping the airplane under control, but it was gettin worse. I actually told my wife, "Listen, if we get tossed totally sideway or even if you go upside down, don't freak out, we'll be fine. I don't expect it to get that bad, but wanted to say it just in case." Finally as we neared Dalhart it got a little rougher. I was keeping the airplane at maneuvering speed at this point, which is the speed you use to minimize the chances of overstressing the airframe. Suddenly, BOOM!! We must have hit the center of the gust front because we had a huge bounce that actually unseated my headset from my ears! Fortunately that was the worst of it. It actually started smoothing out after that and it got smoother and smoother as we neared Pueblo. We kept watching the rain in the distance but were able to stay away from it without any effort. We finally started talking to Pueblo approach and started our descent. We had trouble picking out the airport since we were unfamiliar with the area, so even though we were in visual conditions we elected to track the localizer inbound until we saw the airport.

One funny note about the landing... On short approach I noticed a big jackrabbit run across the runway. After we landed and got the plane tied down, I mentioned the rabbit to my wife. She said, "You think that was funny? I looked almost straight down as we approached the runway and there just have been 20 of them scatter in all directions just before we crossed the numbers!"

So, after a long day and some interesting moments, we had finally made it to Colorado where we tied down the plane, picked up the rent car, and headed out to Salida where we spent the next week. More on the return trip next. It'll be pretty boring compared to parts 1 and 2!

Back from Colorado - part 1

We had a fun time in Colorado. Like one of my neighbors said, "When you take the kids its a trip. When you leave them at home it's a vacation." Well, we had a good trip. My wife and I have a vacation planned for later this year!

I'll say that as for cross-country trips though, the part from Houston to Pueblo was probably the least fun of any I've done yet. It started out pretty good with us leaving Houston early and beating the weather. We had one tiny cell that we went around near Waco on the way to our first stop in Amarillo, TX. But once we started flying over the hills closer to Amarillo, it felt like we got on a roller coaster. At 9000 and later 11,000 feet we had up drafts that would pick us up 200 feet before I could get the ascent stopped. The kids were sleeping at this time, but I was still trying to be gentle and avoid the hill-topping rollercoaster feeling coming back down to our altitude. Keep reading, it gets better... We finally started down to our landing in Amarillo. I'll get to the point and say that as we got close to 6000msl, it started getting really rough. We were bumping around and I was keeping busy just maintaining some semblance of control : ) Well, about 4 miles from the airport, bouncing around 200 feet at a time, the up and downs were too much and both boys who were awake at this point got sick. Yep, that kind of sick. So, my wife kept busy trying to keep them calm while I SOMEHOW managed to get us on the ground. Oh, did I mention that winds were 26 gusting to 35 and of course not right down the runway? Oh, and that a 737 landed a couple of minutes in front of us, so that didn't help too much on the stability near the runway!

After all that, we finally got it on the ground and got the plane parked. If you are a fellow Southwest Flying Club member, rest assured that the kids car seats caught all the "overflow". We changed the kids clothes, cleaned out their car seats, and then I drove into town to get some motion sickness medicine for the boys while they found something for lunch. Sounds appetizing doesn't it?

Because of fronts moving through the area, we ended up being stuck in Amarillo for a couple of extra hours while we waited for a break so we could get to Pueblo. More on that leg and our encounter with a "gust front" in part 2....

Miles and flying

I'm up to 181 miles on the bike. Have ridden it to work 3 or 4 times, and will likely do so tomorrow. Then it's staying in the garage for a week while I do some flying. I'm taking the 182RG up to Pueblo, CO.

I have ridden it, and it was good.

The rain finally stopped and I was able to take the bike home. I rode around the Honda of Houston parking lot to get the feel of it first. It was pretty similar to the Ninja 250 that I rode in the class last week. The riding posture was just a little more upright, there's a little more weight, and don't forget the power. Although the bike overall is twice as powerful as the Ninja, it's still VERY manageable and I think even easier to ride at slow speeds because the throttle is smoother than the training bike I rode. It will JUMP if you goose it a little so I had to watch out for that, but again, the bike is so rider-friendly that it wasn't any trouble at all.

After riding it for 35 miles this weekend, I felt confident enough to ride it to work this morning on the HOV lane. No cars beside me and only 1 or 2 places where traffic might merge, but there wasn't any this morning. The side streets off the HOV weren't any trouble either. There was a big hole in the road to miss just outside my building, but I had seen that last week in the truck so I was ready for it. Traffic was pretty light overall and everybody gave me enough room. It also seems like if you wiggle in your lane a little, the cars behind you think, "Uh oh. This guy looks a little iffy." and they give you more room!

Rain, rain, go away....

The bike is paid for but it just won't dry up. I already have something to do this evening and the rain chances are still 60% or better, so it's looking like Friday at this point to get the bike home.

You know, it seems like there was some other hobby that I'm really into.....what was it? Oh yeah, FLYING! I haven't flown in over a month! I better get out there and practice a little before taking the family on vacation on the 16th. I'm due a club check this month, so maybe I'll just grab an instructor and kill a whole bunch of birds with one stone this weekend or the next.

I'm licensed to drive on 2 wheels.

I did it. I passed the DPS vision and written tests. You need to get 14 out of a possible 20 questions correct on the written to pass. The computer ended the test when I got the first 14 questions correct. 15 dollars, a signature, 2 thumb prints, and a photo later, I had my temporary class-M license. The plastic version should arrive in 3 weeks.

Next is to pick up the bike. I don't have time today, plus it's supposed to rain most of the day. Hopefully Wednesday or Thursday I'll have time. Stay tuned.

Passed the MSF Basic RiderCourse

I passed the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Basic RiderCourse at Awesome Cycles yesterday. Now I just need to go pass the written test at the DPS office. For those of you outside of Texas, that's the Depart of Public Safety, which is like the DMV in other states. It's up to you to figure out why ours is different. Anyway, After doing that I can go pick up my yellow 2004 Honda 599 that's waiting for me at Honda of Houston.

Insurance is ready, financing is ready, and we just have to get over there. I don't have time to go get it tomorrow after work, but maybe I'll have time Wednesday. My last unknown is that I've ordered frame sliders for it and they likely won't get here until Thursday or Friday. Do I feel confident enough to practice on it and then drive it home without the sliders? I'd give that a "yes" but if something happened and I dropped it, boy my name would be mud! I'll let you know what happens.