Day 22: Memphis - Atlanta

Picked up our plane from West Memphis Airport this morning which is actually on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi and headed off on our second last trip of the holiday. The weather was beautiful not a cloud in the sky and the radar looked clear all the way to Atlanta for our short 2.5 journey.

Not long into the flight though we could hear other pilots flying in and out of Birmingham Alabama which was along our route talking about overcast skies ahead and sure enough the clouds started to build.

Luckily we were left with enough of a gap to squeeze through the clouds and the ridge of hills outside Atlanta.

Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta home to Delta Airlines is the busiest airport in the world.

Padraig a friend of mine from college picked us up at the airport and we headed back to his house to relax with a few beers in his private bar he built himself at the back of his house

Day 21: Memphis

This morning we were up bright and early once again to check the weather for our route towards Atlanta, Georgia. The radar displayed a line of thunderstorms and heavy precipitation all along our route moving in a north-east direction. We were going nowhere at that point, so the plan then was to monitor the radar to determine if we might possibly be able to leave later in the afternoon once it had passed. We were both disappointed about the weather being so bad as we were supposed to meet Daire’s friends Padraig and Tammy in Atlanta so Daire made the call to let them know that we might not be able to make it to Atlanta today.

The weather in Memphis however was hot, sunny and very little cloud so we headed out and got some lunch. Upon checking the radar on numerous times throughout the day the final decision was made that we would wait till tomorrow morning before leaving for Atlanta. Yesterday on arriving in Memphis we had visited Beale Street and Graceland so there wasn’t an awful lot else to see here. To pass the next few hours we had bought a deck of cards in Vegas that were still unopened so we played Black-Jack and taught each other some card tricks.

Endless games of American Football are aired on TV here on Saturdays so with that on in the background (of course) we played cards for most of the evening. We planned another 6am start tomorrow to ensure we get to Atlanta early enough and so we could spend some time with Daire’s friends.

Day 20: Dallas - Arkadelphia (Arkansas) - Memphis (Tennessee)

It's been a long day and this computer has finally broken me after crashing twice so forgive me for the short photo descriptions....

Leaving Dallas

Fuel stop in Arkdelphia Arkansas

These crop sprayers are everywhere and they dont have any radios so its important to keep an eye out for them.

Sharon refueling while I relax

The journey to Memphis

After landing we headed for Graceland

Elvis' Living Room

TV Room

Pool Room

Casual Wear

Car Collection

Elvis is buried beside his parents and grandmother. There is also a memorial to his still born twin brother.

We finished the night by heading to Beale St in Memphis for dinner and a few drinks

Now I need some sleep, another early one tomorrow as we head for Atlanta, the forecast isn't the best so need to be bright eyed for some storm dodgin.

Day 19: Dallas

The plan today was to do some sightseeing around Dallas so after breakfast we strolled in the direction of the historical district area of the city. The first stop was at the memorial to John F. Kennedy a monument of an open tomb representing the free spirit of Kennedy.

A couple of pictures of Downtown Dallas:

Just around the corner from the memorial is the Texas School Book Depository, the infamous building where from the sixth floor Lee Harvey Oswald shot and assassinated President J.F. Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963. The sixth floor is now a dedicated museum to Kennedy and the hours that led up to his assassination. It is such an interesting place to visit and a fitting tribute to him. We spent nearly three hours in the museum listening, reading and watching video footage relating mostly to the day of the assassination. We were both consumed by everything on display, especially all the evidence that pointed to Lee Harvey Oswald including finger prints found at the site of the shooting beside the sixth floor window and the photo of the precise moment that Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald. Jack Ruby was convicted of murder and was sentenced to death, however at a later date this conviction was overturned and he died of cancer prior to his retrial.

No pictures were allowed to be taken inside the museum itself, the picture below is in the entrance hallway leading into the museum.

The very last window on the right, on the second floor from the top is the window from which L.H. Oswald fired at and assassinated President J.F. Kennedy.

Just directly outside the Texas School Book Depository building is the grassy knoll and corner of Elm and Houston Street where two of the three shots fired hit the President in his limousine as it drove by. These two spots are indicated on the road today by two white crosses. Just prior to us taking pictures of these white crosses other tourists were in the middle of the road dodging the passing traffic to get their pictures of the site. We were happy to take the pictures from the footpath instead!

Grassy Knoll in background.

Me with my eyes closed standing beside one of the two white crosses.

The second white cross a little further down the same road.

The plan for the evening was to visit Stockyards Rodeo in Forthworth about 30 miles from Downtown Dallas where our hotel is. The brochure describes the evening filled with bull riding, bareback riding, barrel racing, tie down roping and plenty more so the excitement was building until Daire realised that today was Thursday and not Friday. The Rodeo is only on Friday and Saturday evenings so that was the end of that. Instead we strolled into the Historical District Area, had some Mexican food and of course dessert when we were already full. I suppose we are still on holidays and plenty of eating is par for the course.

Good news for Daire today as he got his contract from Brookfield for Ryanair and his start date is now December, exciting times ahead! He might not be frequenting the streets as such for much longer!!

Day 18: Pecos - Coleman - Dallas

The highlight of our trip today from Pecos to Dallas was our stop in Coleman Texas. Its a small town about 100 miles south west of Dallas and it was exactly as I had imagined a small Texas town would be, one street, all the men wearing stetsons and Colman Bluecats (The high school football team) flags all around town.



We were also given the airport courtesy car which was about 40 years old and 50 feet long but I think I still look pretty darn cool.

Unfortunately Coleman isn't known for its wide selection of restaurants so we had to settle for a DIY lunch in the plane.

We made up for it though that evening in Dallas with two huge steaks so no fear of losing the extra winter pounds we've put on over here!

Day 17: Lordsburgh-Van Horn-Pecos

(Pics tomorrow camera left in the plane again, sorry!)

A low pressure had descended across our route of flight today so from the moment I stuck my nose outside the hotel door I was really cold. The sky was still stunningly blue, however more clouds were present and the flight itself was very bumpy.
We were collected from our hotel and chauffeur driven to Lordsburgh airport by Donna who works there (thank you so much again for all your hospitality).

After refuelling, adding more oil and searching for my fleece jumper we were all set to go.
Of course at altitude it was even colder and as we flew nearer to the mountains the bumps got worse, am sure not even noticed in a 737, airbus or even a Lear-jet but in our PA-28 it’s a different story. We decided to land at Van Horn airport as a result to give an hour or so for the weather to improve. It was hard to believe we had landed there a week earlier and the heat was stifling and today I had my fleece on and ran from the ramp into the terminal to get out of the cold!! We stayed on the ground for about an hour and the clouds dissipated so we got going again.
Although the bumps didn’t ease up much the weather otherwise was perfect all the way to Pecos. The reception at Pecos was the same as Lordburgh and all the other uncontrolled airports we have landed at the last three weeks. The welcome mat was out again and another courtesy car was offered to us for the night. Once the aircraft was chocked and tied down we headed straight to find a hotel.

Once that was sorted we decided to take advantage of having the car so we drove to the Carlsbad Caverns. We had landed around 3pm in Pecos and didn’t realise that the drive was an hour and a half to the Caverns so by the time we got there they were unfortunately closed as the winter opening times had just started. We were obviously disappointed so decided to drive up the mountain and have a look around the visitors centre instead. These caverns are similar to the Ailwee Caves in County Clare except on a much larger scale and with many more spectacular stalactites, stalagmites and columns. Upon arriving at the visitors centre, which was really busy with tourists we heard that there was a bat flight happening at 6pm at the entrance to the main cavern so we decided to wait the hour as seen as we had driven all this way.

There is a stone amphitheatre built at the entrance to the cavern where the bat flight programme is held so at about 5.45pm the “Bat Guide” (Rebecca) arrived, introduced herself and proceeded to tell us all about the infamous bat flights that occur there. Experts that study the caves there reckon that there are roughly 350,000 bats in the main cave at this time of the year and the Bat Flight itself occurs about 6pm each evening when all the bats spiral out of the cave entrance in anti-clockwise fashion, form a column and then separate into groups that disappear for the night to feed. There were approximately 90 tourists in the amphitheatre awaiting the flight of the bats. Rebecca answered numerous questions relating to the bats, their habitat, feeding habits and the excitement rose while the sun was setting.

Come 7pm we were all still sitting there awaiting the bats. Many people were now huddled under jackets, jumpers, hats, scarves as the cold of the evening set in. About 7.15pm some of the bats, about 30, started to appear but nothing like the numbers we were all expecting. Come 8pm people were leaving in droves and all disappointed that the bat flight hadn’t happened. The reason was the low pressure that had haunted the entire area that day. Bats are seemingly sensitive to changes in pressure and therefore the no show! So no Caverns and no Bats. We drove back down the mountain at 30mph the limit after dark and the hour and a half back to Pecos. Definitely was funny that nothing seemed to go our way today nevermind tomorrow we fly on to Dallas can't wait! Go away low pressure!!!!!

Day 16: Las Vegas - Lordsburg (New Mexico)

Well we finally dragged ourselves away from the blackjack and buffet tables for long enough to get back in the air. Up before the sun again in order to miss the afternoon bumps as we head through the valleys of Arizona and New Mexico.

Leaving Las Vegas wasn't as straight forward as our route in as the ATC guys didn't give us vectors(directions) to fly, instead left it up to us to find our way while remaining outside of their airspace. It made for some interesting flying trying to remain below 5000 ft with mountains up to 8000 feet around us!

We managed to make it out though and back on to our track this time following the Colorado River out of Las Vegas.

The Colorado River divides two timezones so I had a great time crossing over and back asking Sharon what time it was.

Tucson Arizona

We had initially planned to make it as far as El Paso but it was starting to get very bumpy, one second climbing at 800 fpm the next dropping by the same so we decided to stop in Lordsburg for the night.

Donna the manager at the airport who we had met when we stopped for fuel on the way to Vegas was once again very helpful and gave us her truck to go look for and check into a hotel. She also brought us out to see a Coatimundi that had been chased up onto the Airport roof by the resident dog. Apparently they are very rare animals, her father who has lived in the area all his life had yet to see one and was coming out for a look so we were quite privileged to see one in our first few minutes in New Mexico.

Both starving after our long day we headed for some food

Goodnight from Lordsburg, hopefully Dallas tomorrow.