Diana,
Go for it. In 2003 my 16 year old son and I took our Maule on a 26 day, 15,000 mile trip around the border of the entire lower 48. We flew 123 hours, landed at 63 airports and camped under the wing all but 4 nights. Took 11 hours of video and over 500 photos. It was a personal celebration of the 100th anniversary of powered flight.
Flying between 500 and 1,500 feet above the surface,we followed the border very closely...beginning in Washington Mo, flying to Gary, Indiana and then going clockwise around the nation's outer border. First along the shoreline of the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, down the Atlantic coastline to Marathon Fla. Back up along shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico, the Rio Grande, up the Pacific coastline and the Canadian border back to the Great Lakes. Then looped along the lake shore to N/E Wisconsin down the eastern edge of Lake Michigan to Gary, Indiana and back to Missouri.
We built a 16' by 12' map of the entire U.S, made from WAC charts. Mounted it on plywood, coated it with polyeurathene, framed it and built it into the wall of our hangar. The entire route is traced in red marker and each stop shown by a gold star. Many happy hours have been spent studing the map and reliving our adventure with friends.
An incredible trip. We stayed at grass strips, dirt strips, mountian strips, on the ocean shore in Oregon, even on the desert floor near the Saldon Sea in southern California. We had the time of our life. I kept a daily diary and turned it into a 51 typewritten page journal.
Our visits were too numerous to list but included Kitty Hawk, the Navy Museum in Pensacola, flying down the Hudson River in NYC. below the skyscrapers, circling the Golden Gate Bridge, seeing friends and family along the way. We left the border to fly over the Grand Canyon and to spend 2 days at Glacier National Park, returning to the border after each diversion. We met so many wonderful people during our flight. Listened to coyotes howl, bathed in mountian streams and slept under silent stars. Endured nights camping during severe thunderstorms in Upper Michigan, a freezing night along the Canadian/Vermont border, 106 degrees in the Californial desert. Nothing like coffee, bacon and eggs...early morning at isolated locations.
Like you we had no timetable and flew where and when we wished. Only used the radio along the coastline when flying under major airport traffic areas such as JFK, MIA, LAX etc. Went for days at a time without turning on any radios. Maybe I'll post my journal here one day. Hope you will do the same.
My son, who had a student licence at the time, did about 70% of the flying and became a darned good Maule pilot by the time we returned.
The trip was the culmination of a 31 year old dream which had once been anticipated as a trip around the nation, riding jumpseat, in the cockpit of many different airliners.
Not sure too many folks have done what we did or what you are about to do. We live in Missouri also....maybe be will meet one day.
Prepare for the experience of your life.
Bob
p.s. You can email me at
[email protected]
