To New Mexico and Santa Fe!!
 |
| over Texas in the Beech |
A much better day than yesterday, that’s for sure!
Sweet Vicky and her mum pick us up in the pitch dark at 6.30
and take us to our aeroplane.
the illuminated wind sock at Menard airstrip
Flippie gets the plane ready and by 7.10am we are up in the
air! Vicky and her mum wave us good-bye and Vicky takes this great video of our
take off. Thank you both so much for your kindness!
Our first sector lasts only 25mins as we dip into San Angelo
to refuel. We warm ourselves with some coffee and cookies (no breakfast again)
and get going after only a short stop.
 |
| at San Angelo finally! |
The flight of nearly 3 hours now takes us over the vast
empty countryside of north-western Texas with its extensive farm land and ‘nodding
donkey’ oil pumps.
The patterns of the round shaped fields with its irrigation
machinery and the colours of the soil was captivating and I take plenty of
shots.
Until Phil finally manages to put on the heating…pew, that feels better.
We are cruising between 8,500 and 10,000ft and we noticed
that the outside air temperature was -10 degrees! What a contrast to the places
we had only been a few days before!
Luckily the flight is much more stable and calm at this
level and I manage to catch up on my diary and enjoy just watching the scenery
whilst Phil and Flippie discuss farming and air traffic issues in the front.
Then the land suddenly changes. We are entering the state of
New Mexico. High snow-capped mountains appear on the horizon and the land
gradually rises to 7000ft amsl.
 |
| first sight of the mountains and canyons of New Mexico |
It’s time to prepare for a landing at Santa Fe – our destination
for today. Flippie makes a perfect approach –filmed on gopro but too long to
upload here – and we are down!
 |
| the snow mountains of Santa Fe! |
One look at the refueling boys tells me, that
this place will also be freezing cold and I put on my down jacket when I open
the door. Bright sunshine and gin clear skies though promise a lovely day.
 |
| welcome by the cosy Jet Center FBO at Santa Fe |
As there is one hour time change it’s now only 11 am!
Brilliant. A friendly FBO lounge welcomes us with hot coffee whilst three Hueys
do a low level fly past.
By lunch time we arrive at the noble looking Inn of the Governors
in the old city of Santa Fe. Despite a very late official check in time of 4pm
we are kindly offered our rooms and dump our luggage.
 |
| plenty of pueblo and adobe style hotels here |
Phil and I busy ourselves with a tour of the town where we
remember a few places from our honeymoon drive through the States – 14 years
ago. It's spring time and the flowers and blossoms are wonderful to see!
It’s still a very quirky, hippie place full of arts and crafts shops and
great pubs and restaurants.
Flippie stays in the hotel and prepares for the next sector
to the Grand Canyon and Monument valley and catches up with phone calls and
other business.
 |
| beautiful art deco and some old wood carving |
We regroup in the early evening for dinner and discussions. The
first plan for now is to rest and sleep and NOT to get up too early….
No comments:
Post a Comment