Summer Blurb #5 - Tennessee, New Mexico, and the West
26 August 2022 | Petaluma, CA
Alison Gabel

As August wanes, so too does Woodstock's American Summer, now on the edge of the final leg home.
We left Martha's Vineyard under a cloudy sky and had a great trip over a whole lot of states, because for some reason the states in that part of our country are very tiny, mashed together, and oddly-shaped. It's confusing at any given time to know which state you're over. I can only recreate the route thanks to a Rand McNally road map book I bought in Beverly, MA, which became my best friend in the plane as we flew over historic and beautiful places. We crossed a smidge of Rhode Island, the bottom of Connecticut, the SE corner of New York, diagonally across New Jersey, into Pennsylvania which took us south of my dad's birthplace in Wilkes-Barra, Pa, over our airbnb in Lancaster, over Gettysburg, then back and forth between Virginia and West Virginia (which has a very jagged border) and finally into Tennessee. In the Rand McNally book we started on p. 11, then 10, 35, 32, 45, 44, 48, and ended on 21. We flew over a whole lot of 'bergs, 'villes, 'towns, and a few 'tons.
Tennessee seems to be the home of a lot of springs, both warm and hot, some have gorgeous resorts built around them and one even had its own airport. The landscape on this whole leg was truly stunning - the green was relentless, the forests dense, the rivers full. The farmhouses from a few thousand feet look idyllic, nestled in rolling hills.
Our first destination in Tennessee was Knoxville, home of a friend of Allan's from grad school in Tucson some 30+ years ago. Allan found an adorable airpark on a spit of land in a river, a short, grassy strip with water at both ends. He aced the challenging landing, which really means we didn't end up in the river. Eugene and Donna met us, noting that they never knew this little airport existed, which is why the folks at Sky Ranch Airpark call it "the best-kept secret in town."
Our hosts had what they called a "funtinerary" prepared for our short visit, and as a result I now have a better appreciation of Knoxville, TN. We started with dinner overlooking a nearby river, where a high school prom group posed for photos, the girls yanking and smoothing their minuscule dresses incessantly, pushing hair strands into place and nervously assuming perfect selfie smiles. Meanwhile the boys, looking generally uncomfortable and out-of-place, stood around with blank looks and waited for the moment when the moms, proudly holding multiple phone cameras, hollered "smile!" The boys apparently don't spend a lot of time in front of a mirror perfecting their selfie smiles, and mostly just stood hunched over with arms flapping at their sides. The next day, after a wonderful breakfast on Eugene and Donna's huge screened porch (you MUST have a screened porch in hot, humid places, I've learned) we headed for a 9-hole par 3 golf course and whacked small white balls all over the grass. I had a few good strokes that made the exact right "crack" sound and once I even landed on the green, which is apparently a good thing. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed watching my husband demonstrate his excellent skills at this odd game, while Eugene kept us laughing with his sharp wit and delightful laugh. Donna, who has only been playing for a year, was very encouraging, and made my first attempt at golf not seem so dismal. I'm pretty sure we didn't keep score.
The funtinerary continued with a late lunch followed by a gorgeous walk through the woods at the Ijams Nature Center, which is a "312-acre urban green space" and is beautifully run with lots of hiking trails, activities and a gift shop. We then took a drive through historic Knoxville, which is very cool, and ended our outing with a beer sampling at a local brewery, where you get electronic wristbands that you hold up to a reader under each of the 5,000 beer, wine, cocktail and mocktail taps. You can dispense as little as a half-ounce - just a taste - or as much as you want, while the wristband tallies the take and runs a tab. And finally, home for a great salmon dinner.
A short one-hour flight south the next morning took us to Fayetteville, TN to finally meet a branch of the family we hadn't yet had a chance to meet - Allan's nephew Cody's brood of kids (4) and wife Delanie (1). Allan's sister Virginia and her husband Andy were also in town, so it was a great family gathering. We hung out at Cody and Delanie's while the kids showed off their skills at various things from video games to axe-throwing. Yes, actual axes, and a lot of other things that you can whirl at a big wooden wall Cody built in the grassy backyard. I tried my hand at axe-throwing, a sport I'd had a hankering to try since I found a brochure in Dayton, OH a few weeks earlier. I'm pretty crummy at axe throwing, it turns out, but so was everyone else since the axe was fairly dull. It just made a thud and fell to the grass, with the exception of one hard toss by Cody that actually stuck. But the other objects, which all have fancy names, were pretty satisfying. I stuck three in a row on my first try, but managed to miss the target entirely on the next round, sending one of the objects over the fence and into the chigger-and-tick-infested field next door. It joined another object that Tommy had accidentally tossed over, so in days to come the boys will go out and hack through the grasses until they find said lost objects. Apparently picking ticks and chiggers off children is a normal thing in these parts, and I applaud their spirit of adventure. I have personally never had a tick, nor have I met a chigger, and would very much like to keep it that way. Now, for those of you concerned: Cody teaches great caution and responsibility in these tossing sports, supervises all activities, locks all objects safely away when not in use, and is 100% a good dad.
Delanie made a great dinner for all ten of us, and we retired to the hotel in nearby Fayetteville. The next day after the kids got home from school Allan took them all flying, one by one. Young Sophie took a pass, deciding first that maybe just taxiing around would be fun, and then deciding to sit it out entirely, but Isaac, Tommy and Ellie all went up, and even Cody took a turn. It's beautiful country to fly over! The kids loved it and no doubt have lots of bragging to do at school in the coming days. We ended our visit with a nice dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. (Yes, Mexican food in Tennessee, and it was very good.) Now, we are happily acquainted with our Tennessee family.
The next morning we continued westbound, over western Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico. (pp. 21, 20, 7, 42, and 33.) The terrain and vistas were incredibly varied on this six-and-a-half hour flight, from mountainous to flat, from lush green to soft pinks and tans. The monsoon season is in full swing in the southwest, and the mesas and deserts are alive with green grass and fields of yellow flowers, I've never seen the desert so pretty. Our destination was a quick overnight stop in Los Lunas, NM (Spanish speakers: this is not a typo - for reasons unknown, that's the correct spelling of this town) where former Air National Guard friend Mark and his wife Daryl live on an airpark. For years, they have graciously hosted any passing airborne Gabel that needs a place to land and rest up for the night, and it's so convenient to just taxi right up to their house and park on the lawn. This time, since Mark's airplane was gone for maintenance, Woodstock had the luxury of staying overnight in the hangar, which was good, since the monsoons can douse the field with little notice.
We took a short drive to have dinner at an old New Mexican favorite, Teophilo's, to satisfy our craving for New Mexican Hatch red chile sauce, which is unmatched in the world, and very addictive. After an early breakfast of oatmeal generously sprinkled with Ceylon cinnamon and walnuts (thank you, Mark!) we loaded up Woodstock for a possibly challenging flight to the Bay Area north of San Francisco. Daryl equipped us with homemade chocolate chip cookies, which I think she got up at 4am to make. We are so amazingly lucky to have such great friends in our lives - that's the thing we have most realized on this trip.
The "possibly challenging flight" took us over mountainous terrain in New Mexico, over Las Vegas, Nevada which had a forecast of ugly, wet monsoon weather, over Yosemite, California (more mountainous terrain) and thence across the barren Central Valley to Sonoma, CA, where our car awaited. We had multiple "outs" if the weather or terrain proved uncomfortable, but the entire day went flawlessly. Other than a fairly boring stretch over Arizona and eastern California, and another dull hour over Central California, it was a beautiful, mostly smooth, weather-free flight.
We landed at tiny Sonoma Skypark Airport (p. 8), flying over Dean and Lesle's house on short final. They had to fly to Denver, so we would regrettably miss having a visit with them, but they'd moved Stumpy from their house, where it had been collecting dirt and waiting patiently for our return, to the parking lot at the airport. So, reunited with a car, I unloaded all my stuff and Allan fueled up. We said farewell, as I was headed to Petaluma to reclaim the camping gear I'd left at Joy's, and he was off to San Jose to have lunch with another Ops-Sci grad school buddy and thence home to Oxnard.
But as it turned out, he flew back to Petaluma after lunch because Oxnard apparently thinks it's still June. Even in late August it's plagued with June-gloom fog and overcast skies, and Allan missed his narrow afternoon window of sunshine before it closed back in. So, we spent the night at Joy's delightful house in Petaluma while she was in The City (San Francisco) working. We're grateful, again, for generous friends who sometimes literally give us the keys to their kingdoms.
This morning Allan will re-attempt the final leg home, hoping to snag that open-sky slot in Oxnard this afternoon. I'll stay another night to spend some time with Joy, then drive Stumpy home tomorrow. And that will sum it up! 5 weeks, 5920 nautical miles, 20 airports, 30+ landings, a gob of expensive gas, a million fabulous views, lots of new experiences, a beautiful wedding, a ton of great friends, and way too many calories.
Thanks for following along, and many thanks to our gracious hosts and dear friends that made this trip simply unmatched. And now we'll settle into our tiny boat-home in Oxnard and enjoy the fall. Cheers!
LOTS of great pictures in the latest photo album in the Gallery!