Happy Trails To You Until We Meet Again....................

Daisy is Ready to Fly Again.......

And So Are We........................................................
We have spent nine days in NJ.What a great final stop on our way to fabulous NH.

We got to see many friends and have some great meals.Especially our visit to a favorite portugese restaurant in the "iron bound" section of Newark,NJ.We've gone for years and always have fabulous meals and lots of San Gria!Lunch with an old boss of mine from the "Trump" helicopter days was nice.Always enjoy seeing him and his lovely wife.We were parked at our favorite Earle Naval Weapons Depot in beautiful Colts Neck NJ.Horse country.We had fantastic bagels while there.Something we don't have in NH, so it is a real treat.More friends,

more dinners.Great ones.And yes we paid the price of gaining some pounds.Well worth it.We had a visit from my brother and his wife one afternoon.More dinner!Daisy was having a great time taking long walks around the heavily wooded base.She has been there a few times and has some familiarity.There are tons of deer walking everywhere since they are protected on the station.They mad Daisy crazed.So did the many squirrels.The deer would come out in the evening by the dozens.Lindy went to Manhatten on saturday to see a show with her friends from UAL.I had a friend visit who I hadn't seen in some twenty years.He was a mentor of mine in the late fifties, early sixties.He was a helicopter mechanic for the Port of NY Authority.I was fanatical about helicopters and Bob would let me help clean them and sit in them.He'd share his lunch and show me a lot of things on the Bell47J he maintained.He had no idea how much he influenced me in going into aviation.A great man.He was one of three major influences in my teen years and I had the pleasure of taking him to lunch and thanking him for his contribution in my life.We will stay in touch and not let all the years go by again.I hope I can have a positive effect on some young person in an aviation career as Bob did on me. So, we had a great time and plan on stopping next year and every year.

We departed early sunday morning for the 408 mile drive to NH.Arriving in our driveway at 7PM, we were very happy to be home.We spent the entire day monday unloading our "stuff".

On tuesday morning, we drove the seven miles to "Daisy's Landing" our new storage hangar and heliport.Sometime in May, we'll wash it, and clean it so it's ready to go on short notice.Afterward we returned to the house and unloaded a very full Toyota truck.That load in it increased over six months 'til it was absolutely full and heavy.I will detail it now and rotate tires as well as oil & filter changes.It is turning 100,000 miles in the next few days!We've got everything put away and can now take it easy and enjoy being in our house after six months.

Daisy even got a bath today.She had a weird reaction when we first arrived at the house.She appeared nervous and unsure of the house.Six months away was way to long for us and apparently for her as well.She worked it out pretty quickly. We walked her on familiar areas and she pretty well started to recognize her neighborhood.So this will be our final blog for the trip.Until next year, have a great summer and we'll see ya, ......................................on the road.

Final Statistics:

Total Miles- 7,201

Total Fuel-946 gals, plus 57 (need to refuel in NH later)= 1,003 Gallons Diesel(Also ran APU and Hydrohot heating from this total)

Refuel Stops-15

Highest Diesel Price- $3.18/Gal

Lowest Diesel Price- $1.97/Gal

Average Diesel Price- $2.32/Gal

Average Miles MPG- approx 7.2 to 8 MPG (Allowed for APU & Hydro Fuel burn)

Walmart Stays-3 Nights

Number of Military Base Stays-6

Number of Bases Visited-4

Away From NH-Just Under Six Months

Bases We Stayed: Davis-Monathan,AZ ,( Stayed at D-M east & Westbound), Barksdale AFB, La, Earle Weapons-US Navy, NJ,

Nellis AFB,NV, Ft.Bliss,TX, Tinker AFB, OK,

Bases Visited: March AFB, NAS El Centro, Kirkland AFB, Luke AFB