October 14, 2012 - Private Picnic/Fly-In | ||||||
| I was invited to a picnic at this guy's private airstrip over near Cambridge. It was another beautiful day, although there was some wind today. Across the Back River from Essex Skypark is this grove of trees which are starting to show some color. | ||||||
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I flew over what used to be Talisman
Airstrip, which had three grass runways in a triangle. Now they are
overgrown and you would never know it had been an airstrip. | ||||||
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| I was ahead of schedule, so I throttled back and took pictures of fancy waterfront estates. | ||||||
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| Must be nice. | ||||||
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| Passing the Choptank River bridge with Cambridge on the other side. | ||||||
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A resort hotel on the water in
Cambridge. | ||||||
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| I found the grass strip easy enough but it looked awfully short. The strip was not on the sectional and not in AirNav.com. I had been told it was 1400 feet long. I wondered if I'd be able to land there. | ||||||
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| The owner's Cessna 172 is visible at the west end of the runway. | ||||||
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| To complicate matters, there were trees at the east end. It took me two tries, but I got the RV down. I was on the ground by the windsock in the middle of the strip, and then I leaned on the brakes. | ||||||
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Looking west at the house and picnic
area. | ||||||
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| The owner, Dave, throws this picnic annually for all his employees, family and friends. He really puts on a big spread. | ||||||
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After I landed, four more planes
showed up and did a fly-by. | ||||||
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| Lee does a low-pass in his Kitfox. | ||||||
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| The other planes had no trouble landing on the short field. Of course, the Kitfox is for all practical purposes a little STOL plane. | ||||||
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Nice looking RANS. | ||||||
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A fancy shark slide for the
kids. | ||||||
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| Hot food was available in the building and there was an open-bar on the left. (No, I did not partake) A couple of flat-panels TVs were showing the Ravens beating up on the Cowboys. | ||||||
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| Looking out at the Choptank River. | ||||||
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| Looking back at the house. | ||||||
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The picnic is in full
swing. | ||||||
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| I thanks Dave for the invite and hospitality, then took off, did a low pass and headed north for a little river run up the Choptank before heading home. | ||||||
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