Pacific Coast Jazz Artists

Virginia Thorsen, 1950’s

camperd — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:33:01 +0000

Virginia Thorsen with her Taylorcraft

Virginia Thorsen – was a member of a women’s flying group “The 99’s” (www.ninety-nines.org). She co-owned this plane with 8 other women. She also had an interest in Native Americans and their art and often flew to the various Indian reservations in Arizona, landing on dirt roads – what a life! She was also slated to compete in the “powder puff derby” (womens racering) but their backer pulled out This photo was taken in Arizona. Thanks Rob!

Day 16 – Tucson, AZ

camperd — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:18:04 +0000

Finally made it to Tucson, hanging out with Donna’s brother David and his wife, Lori. Love their home, weather is perfect. Had some down time and checked out the PIMA Air and Space Museum. Check it out yourself:

Dave & Lori

Zip and Ringo

Getting ready to go home – guess what? We have a flat tire!

Can we change the tire? No - had to wait for a real mechanic to come in on his day off!

Day 18 – We’re home!

camperd — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:05:22 +0000

After a multitude of “things” including a flat tire when leaving Tucson yesterday, we are here. Whoda thunk there were no mechanics available until 3 pm, and that was a special call-in… The good thing is that we’re safe and we actually had 3 nights with Donna’s brother and his wife in Tucson. FABulous turn of events.

Trying to fix the tire

Can you fix it?

We will update in a little while. Just getting our feet on the ground and aclimated and catching up on the stuff that’s URGENT. Major delay Saturday into Sunday so we’re here. Check back tomorrow – not only did we have delays but the hosting company for this server moved, or something, and they lost a bunch of my photos so I have to reload them…. stuff from previous pages.

The cats are SO happy to see us!

Pilot’s Log

camperd — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:08:46 +0000

PILOT’S LOG – DAY ONE

Rough start . . . club plane that we had on reserve was not available due to an inconsiderate member who couldn’t return the plane on time . . . now we’re 2 hours late getting underway to Roswell in a different C172. This one doesn’t have the nice gps, the long range fuel tanks , or the much desired auto-pilot. I’m pretty steamed.

First stop is Falcon Field in Phoenix for gas and some vending machine munchies . . . no time for lunch or a decent break . . . got the gig in Roswell to make and the leg to Phoenix took longer than I had planned.
Halfway between Phoenix and Roswell . . . we’re not going to make the gig . . . progress is slow . . . smoke from fires causes us to detour and we can’t get there before dark. I’m not comfortable flying an unfamiliar route at night with little visual cues to work with . . . so we’ll put down at Alexander Muni in Belen . . . about 40 miles south of Albuquerque and call it a night. The guy in Roswell is understanding and says we’ll try again soon. We’re both starving and exhausted . . . it’s been a long day.

PILOT’S LOG – DAY TWO

Refreshed, ready to go 9:00am . . . a stop at Roswell for fuel and we’re heading for Spinks Field in Ft. Worth. The Fly-In Musicfest is tomorrow and I’d like to get there today.

Making ok time today but not going to make Spinks before dark. Going to stop at Sweetwater’s Avenger Field and make the rest of the trip in the morning. The landing is a little hairy here . . . 15 knot headwind gusting to 25 . . . but it goes smoothly with minimal cursing.

PILOT’S LOG – DAY THREE

9:00 am and we’re off to Ft. Worth. There’s a cloud deck moving inland and I’m worried. At 7500 ft. we’re well above it . . . but getting down through it could be a problem. We drop down to 2000 and that keeps us just below the cloud layer all the way into Spinks . . . We made it!
The festival is really cool. Lot’s of neat aircraft . . . great music from lots of different artists . . . I’m promised a ride in an Extra 300 . . . and am really excited . . . but at the end of the day the Extra pilots are worn out and we reschedule for tomorrow. I can hardly wait

PILOT’S LOG – DAY FOUR

Cloudy, overcast and not a day for aerobatics so we stay on the ground and watch football. Chargers win . . . all is well.

PILOT’S LOG – DAY SEVEN

Austin to Dallas Love Field. An easy flight under ATC all the way. Plenty of time to rest up for the gig tonight . . .

Great gig at the Brooklyn Jazz Cafe’

PILOT’S LOG – DAY EIGHT

It’s Thursday and we’re taking the day off. Walked around Dallas a bit and looked at some art and stuff. Had dinner with some of our new friends and then went back to the Brooklyn to check out the band that night. It’s a great room and we’ve worked out a weekend gig for me here in December . . . but I think we’re going to fly commercial for that trip

PILOT’S LOG – DAY NINE

Today I had my first experience with soaring. Our new friend Gabriele is a glider pilot and instructor with the Texas Soaring Association. We drove out to the gliderport where I first got a little ground instruction . . . it was windy . . . 15-20 knots gusting to 30 . . . with little of the warm rising air needed to stay aloft for any duration . . . but that didn’t stop us from taking two short tows to 3000ft.

A lot of firsts for me today . . . first time strapping on a parachute (required for acrobatics) . . . first time flying a glider (with Gabriel talking me through it) . . . first time flying in formation (while under tow) . . . first time upside down in an aircraft (a few easy 3g loops) and two landings (first one pretty good, second one so-so).

I had a great time and I’m definitely going to check out the local soaring when I get back to San Diego.

PILOT’S LOG – DAY TEN

Flying to Beaumont from Dallas today. A cloud deck keeps us below 3000 ft but otherwise an easy 2 hr trip. There’s a weather system moving through and thunderstorms are in the forecast. I’m worried about getting stuck here tomorrow after our Suga’s gig. We’ll try to get out right after the gig and put some distance between us and the weather front.

PILOT’S LOG – DAY ELEVEN

Suga’s gig at noon . . . nice place . . . good food . . . great people. Straight to the airport and into the plane. Cloud deck is low again and I can see a few ugly black clouds forming. Conditions are not ideal but I make the decision to go ahead fully prepared to turn around if things get ugly.

Flying through scattered showers at 2500 ft . . . into a nasty headwind . . . looking for lightning . . . but we make it to Spinks just after dark for our only night landing of the trip. One hour later the bulk of the front passes over us . . . torrential downpoar . . . lightning . . . we had made it just in time!

PILOT’S LOG – DAY TWELVE

On our way to Albuquerque. Got a late start this morning while waiting for the last vestiges of the weather front to move east. We take off into a brisk headwind of 20 knots . . . which continues to beat us as we travel west. Groundspeed is only about 75 knots and we’re barely moving faster than the traffic on the freeway below us. Winds lessen as we move west but we’re not going to make Albuquerque tonight. We’ll stop in Roswell and finish up this leg of the trip tomorrow.

PILOT’S LOG – DAY THIRTEEN

Only 2 hours from Roswell to Albuquerque and it’s a beautiful day. I’ve got a clinic this evening and then tomorrow we’re off to Tucson to visit with Donna’s family. We’re getting close to the end of the trip and we’re both ready to go home to our cats.

PILOT’S LOG – DAY FOURTEEN

I guess it wouldn’t be an adventure if there weren’t a couple of snags along the way. This morning the FBO calls me to report that while fueling the plane they notice the lower part of the engine cowling has a large gap in it – the shock mounts for the cowling were old and worn and a couple had failed. We’ll need to hole up until they get it fixed as having an engine cowling fall off during flight would be a bad thing
looks like we’re here till tomorrow.

Last Flight - leaving Tucson, saying bye to Dave & Lori

PILOT’S LOG – DAY FIFTEEN

FBO had the cowling back in shape before noon and we’re off to Tucson. It’s a beautiful day to fly and we cruise high over the various mountain ranges between Albuquerque and Tucson experiencing only a little light chop along the way. Lots more traffic around Tucson than I expected. Commercial, GA, Military all using the same airport . . . we taxi behind an F-16 to parking . . . another easy afternoon a flying is done. Only one leg of our trip remains. Come Saturday we’ll headed home.

Day 15 – Leaving Albuquerque, NM

camperd — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:15:11 +0000

Just a quick update – we have a fixed plane and Bradley is loading our gear into it now. All is well and we hope to be in Tucson tonight – hopefully to arrive just before dark. We will stop in Demming for fuel and on our way…

Dave's Bar in his house - so cool!

Ringo & Zip

PS at Midnight: We are safe and sound in Tucson at Donna’s brother’s home. All is well. We’ll head back on Saturday morning. Bradley will be sitting in at Plush Lounge in Tucson with Mike Troupe and his band Friday night from 6 – 8 pm.

That’s probably about all we have to say about that portion of the trip but Bradley is working on his Pilot’s Log and we’ll add that tomorrow.

Day 14 – still… Albuquerque, NM

camperd — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:04:36 +0000

Well, here we are on Day 14. We’d love to be on our original schedule but we had a hiccup of major proportions today – don’t worry – it could have been worse. The cowling has come loose from the engine portion of the plane and we’re stuck in a hangar at Albuquerque FBO, Cutter. They’re so great; they were the ones to call us this morning and tell us about it so now we’re waiting on the parts so we can continue to finish the trip. After speaking to Dave & Lori tonight I know that they were planning to see us tomorrow but alas, we just cannot get there soon. We may get out tomorrow or if the parts come in late in the morning or the mechanic has issues with the replacement and fixing, there just won’t be enough time in the day for us to get there – SO – we’re hanging loose. Being patient, AND ever so grateful for the blessing of that piece of the plane not coming off during flight and causing us to make a landing in a field some place unknown… stay tuned. AND we’re grateful for the blessing of good friends Barbara and Thomas – without them, this would be a very expensive turn to the trip! (Not to mention that they are fun to hang with). The adventure in many ways has just begun!

Oh – AND – we had a “tour” of a beautiful little dual engine plane about the same age as the one we’re flying in that goes about 2-3 times as fast. Bradley’s next goal will be to learn how to and get certified to fly this one – THEN we’ll do a trip like this again and again, gladly!

Shelly – we will be in Seattle (flying commercial!) for that turkey dinner. You know the drill!

Our best to all of you.

Depending on when we get out on either Thursday or Friday, we may or may not be able to update this blog until we’re home but hopefully can. Email us if you want a one-on-one update.
Thanks!

PS The Holiday Lights are next! And don’t forget to get those free downloads!

Day 13 – Albuquerque, NM

camperd — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:06:43 +0000

Great and easy flight from Roswell to Albuquerque today. BEAUTIFUL weather. Not much to look at but we made it through the pass between the two mountains just fine. Barbara and Thomas were kind enough to invite us into their beautiful home and take us all the way over to Rio Rancho (we had to pack a lunch… ! … just kidding). Their granddaughter Sarah was in the group of more than 25 children who attended a wonderful workshop that Bradley put on in their school tonight.

Day 12 – Flight to Roswell, NM

camperd — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:48:14 +0000

We’re finally getting our stay Roswell, NM. We arrived here too late in the day to go to Pecos Flavors Winery for dinner, but we found a so-so sandwich in our hotel, The Best Western Sally Port Inn & Suites. Wish you could see how cool this town is, there’s a place to buy “Alien Stuff” EVERYWHERE and we thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the UFO Museum.

I may crash but I don't burn!

In front of the UFO Museum, Roswell, NM

A preserved Alien?

From here we head to Albuquerque. Have to be there for a Clinic/Workshop with the kids from Rio Rancho Schools on Tuesday night. Stay tuned!

Day 11 – Sugas Deep South Cuisine & Jazz Club, Beaumont, TX

camperd — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:59:03 +0000

Sugas Deep South Cuisine & Jazz Club, Beaumont, TX – FABULOUS! Not only did Bradley play here, but we both go to have the food. It’s incredible. Highly recommended – get Fodors here! Click here to read more about them and to see their menu.

Playing at the Sugas Brunch

There’s weather all around us so we’re going to try to get out of here as soon as the gig is finished and get to the plane. We need to make a couple hours of flying today so we aren’t doing all of it tomorrow. We arrived at Spinks Airport just fine although we did fly through some nasty rain at one point. Once we landed, the rain really started up and we walked through the rain over to the same hotel where we stayed for the Musician’s Fly-In the week before. The Hampton Inn. Great place – highly recommended. Newer, very quiet. Found dinner at McDonald’s and plan to head out as early as possible tomorrow – heading for Albuquerque.

Sunset on our way to Spinks airport, Ft. Worth, TX

Days Nine & 10 – Fort Worth, TX

camperd — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:26:09 +0000

No flying, a down day then a trip to a Glider Port for Bradley to take his first Glide(s), followed by a drive to Fort Worth to ready for the gig at Scat Jazz Lounge.
Gabriele Caccietti and the guys at Texas Soaring Assocation were kind enough to give Bradley a couple of goes in one of their ASK21. Here are some photos:

Checking it out in the hangar

Take off that hat; wouldn't want it to hit the cover

Inspecting the plane before taking off

In the glider and ready to go..... final words.......

THEN THERE WAS A GREAT NIGHT AT THE SCAT JAZZ LOUNGE:

In front of Scat Jazz Lounge, Ft. Worth, TX

Gary Hickson & Felicia - adorable!