The $100 (Veggie) Burger

Yesterday was just too perfect a day to not go flying. Not to mention that I needed to christen my new flying shirt from Greg ("I'm a pilot. Frightening, isn't it?!"), one of my best friends was keen to be my wingwoman, and the restaurant at Cambridge (KCGE) was calling.

Laura had been up with me in the Tiger a number of times, so I warned her that the experience of a Cessna 152 would be somewhat different. The first time I flew it, Rich told me to "get ready to strap on an airplane." It's true, and the intimacy of flying a two seater is awesome.

It was only after arriving at the airport did we realize that Laura's high-tech camera had no memory card, and my high-tech camera was still sitting on my coffee table. Thank goodness Venable recently upgraded my blackberry to one that includes a camera phone. The quality could have been better, but the memories are the same.

We had a pretty run out through the corridor and across the bay. Laura did a fantastic job, as always, of practicing her pilotage skills and ensuring my GPS and compass bearings were not leading us into either the FRZ or the Baltimore Bravo restricted air spaces. We soon joined a busy pattern at Cambridge, and left N25883 parked among various other Cessnas and Beechcrafts as we made our way to the restaurant overlooking the airfield.

I had introduced Laura to the concept of "the $100 burger" on our flight over. I.e., when pilots fly somewhere to eat, add the cost of the flight, and you quickly find yourself enjoying a $100 burger. In our case, it was two $50 veggie burgers. And two drinks (both in mason jars). We took off around 4:30 and headed back across the bay. The water was the calmest I'd ever seen it. We attempted in vain to spot a whale, decided a tanker was civilian not military, and agreed that massive clusters of "white things" on the water had to be sea gulls. Laura managed to capture the sun just as it was beginning to disappear behind the clouds.

An easy landing at Gaithersburg was the perfect end to a perfect Saturday afternoon. As I tied 883 down, I still missed the Tiger, but I love the L'il Red Dragon too.