AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 24

FLYING LIFE
It's all about
the journey
GA travel often makes us slow down
and enjoy the ride
FOR MOST OF my childhood, my grandparents lived in Dover,
Tennessee, a one-traffic-light town about 150 miles away from
where I lived. Whenever they would come for a visit, though,
it would take them five or six hours to get to our house. I could
never understand this, as I've always been a let's-get-there-fast
type. But, for two people who grew up during the Depression
era, traveling anywhere was a luxury to be enjoyed. It was never
just about getting from point A to point B. They would usually
begin the trip by stopping off at their " lucky " gas station to buy
one lottery ticket. Then, they'd take the literal scenic route along
the Natchez Trace Parkway rather than hopping on Interstate
40. Finally, they would pop into the Pizza Hut buffet in Jackson
before making their way to Memphis to see us.
You'll get there when you get there.
Make sure you enjoy the journey along
the way, especially the unplanned parts.
For those of us in general aviation, our trips tend to be like that-
part sightseeing, part travel. Because of fuel needs, weather, and
airspace, it's rarely a straight line from departure to destination. I
recently had a flight that would have made Grandma and Grandpa
proud. For Christmas, I bought my 10-year-old daughter tickets to
the Women's Softball College World Series in Oklahoma City. One
of my friends and her daughter decided they wanted to join us, so
we loaded the girls in the backseat of the Cessna 172 with enough
candy for their entire fourth grade class and promised to have them
to the hotel in time to enjoy the pool before we went out for dinner.
But weather forecasts being what they are, we found ourselves
dodging rain before we even made it halfway. So, we stopped in
Conway, Arkansas, to get more fuel for the deviation and to take a
look at the weather. It wasn't good. A larger line of storms was building
and wasn't getting out of the way any time soon.
You know how they say patience is a virtue? Well, it's never been
one of mine. Rather than waiting on those storms to pass, I started
looking for alternatives, calling everyone within 50 miles to see if
they had a rental car. No luck. Next, I tried to convince the poor guy
working the FBO to loan us one of the three airport SUVs to take to
24
AOPA PILOT / September 2022
BY NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER
Oklahoma. (Surely, they didn't need all those cars?) But no, the airport
cars are only for local use, Evan at the front desk told us.
In hindsight, I'll always be glad there were no good alternatives
that day because we were forced to do something I'm not very good
at: slow down and enjoy the scenery. Evan was kind enough to loan
us an airport car for a local drive, so we ladies found ourselves a
diner called The Purple Cow that exceeded all our expectations,
especially when they brought out the purple milkshakes at the end.
There is nothing that will make a child smile quite so much as ice
cream. After we moseyed through town and laughed until we cried
about what would happen if we tried to make a Thelma and Louisestyle
getaway to Oklahoma in the airport loaner car, we made our
way back to a fueled-up airplane and a storm-free route to our destination.
By the time we landed, it was too late for a swim, but no
one seemed to mind too much as the day had been a strangely wonderful
departure from the norm.
The trip home a few days later wasn't much better, except this
time, we found ourselves in Mountain Home, Arkansas, waiting out
the weather. So, we had a leisurely lunch at a great local pizza spot,
and the little FBO had a full-body massage chair, much to the delight
of our daughters. My friend and I took a long walk up and down the
empty taxiway and talked about everything and nothing, like old
friends do. Even though she never complained, I worried that she
might have been a little put off by the lifestyle of general aviation,
with its unplanned delays and flexible schedule. By the time we
landed back in Olive Branch in the early evening, a student pilot was
about to take off on his first solo. Instead of rushing off to her car to
get home, my friend just put her bags down and stopped to watch.
" Look at that, " she told her daughter. " That's pretty cool. That pilot
is taking off alone for the very first time. "
They say that life will continue to teach you the same lessons
over and over again until you learn what you are supposed
to. I guess that's what keeps happening to me. Maybe someday,
I'll learn what Grandma and Grandpa knew so well. It's not just
about the destination. You'll
get there when you get there.
Make sure you enjoy the journey
along the way, especially
the unplanned parts.
myaviation101.com
NATALIE BINGHAM
HOOVER is a CFI, CFII, and
multiengine instructor with
more than 3,000 hours of
dual given.
http://www.myaviation101.com
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022

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