Seattle

The flight to Seattle was interesting. At one point, there was an area of taupe terrain, rock, I am guessing. There is nothing growing on it and it appears to be the result of glacier activity as there are deep furrows in it. A little farther along, evergreen trees appear on it until they are solid and thick. Then we spot snow covered mountains in the distance, but it is hazy and hard to photograph them. Ahead on the left is Mt. Rainier and it dwarfs all the other mountains. It is simply massive.
Seattle is our ultimate destination, from here we will wind our way back home. Here we are up in the top left hand corner of our nation.  Over the past two years many of us have seen a huge chunk of our great country by air and what an interesting place it is.  

David in Boeing 40 in Spokane

 

 

George met the plane and has arranged for hotels and transportation.The passengers made rental car reservations and Neil got a ride to the main airport where he left a car. He will return home tonight and bring his family to see the plane tomorrow.  Sheryl, Gene, Jake and Peggy are to take the hotel van and they wait while the others leave. Just as the van arrives, after almost an hour, Jake spots the plane being moved by a ground crew and runs to stop them.  It is too late, they have broken a pin that locks the tail wheel.  Jake and Gene begin to manage the situation, while Peggy and Sheryl take the van to the hotel. They arrive tired and bedraggled just as the blissfully unaware remainder of the crew gather in the lobby to leave for dinner.  Needless to say, dinner was delayed.
After several confabs, it was ascertained that we had a new part on board, but a mechanic could not be on the scene until 1PM the next day. George, Blake and Gene decided to go out early and do the repairs with the mechanic to inspect the work when he arrived. Then we were off to dinner at a nearly restaurant located on a golf course. George, who spends a lot of time here, working for Boeing, had chosen it. Peggy was on the computer arranging for transportation to Fayetteville, AR where her mother lives and did not join us. A while later she texted that there was a fire alarm at the hotel and she had to evacuate. It was not so bad though as she enjoyed seeing the hunky firemen who showed up. Thankfully, it was a false alarm and over by the time the rest of us arrived.
The tail wheel pin was fixed by 1PM. It was a fairly easy day for the rest of us until 4PM when the passengers started arriving. We ended up with 14 people who were friends of George or David. Sheryl and Jane were in their stewardess uniforms and served the cabin. David and Gene were pilots. We introduced ourselves and the pilots and announced the pilots were our "cousins" as we are not allowed to marry. The flight over the Puget Sound area was just breathtaking. There were a lot of interesting light effects on the water and land as the sun would break through the clouds. The city appeared as a magical white castle against the darker sky.
On Monday morning we are down to five: Gene, Jake, David, George and Sheryl. Kay, Blake and Jane have taken morning flights for home. This is a free day for us and some go to the Museum of Flight, while others attend to the bookkeeping from our trip to this point.  Tomorrow George stays here to work and the other four head to Aurora, Oregon.