It is hard to believe that summer is halfway over, before long I’ll have to be packing up for the drive back down to Daytona. Until then I have plenty of traveling to do before the semester starts. At the end of last month we made a quick day trip out to Minnesota, Indiana, and back home (HEF-RST-IND-HEF) to pick up a new car trailer before our trip to Boston next week for the Buick Club of America Nationals. Like all the other trips, this one was amazing and a friend and Embry-Riddle Grad (Kevin G.) was sitting in the front seat flying! We left out of Virginia in the morning and rocketed out to Minnesota for a quick stop before heading down to Indy to spend the afternoon. The new trailer looks amazing… it is a 2 car trailer able to securely transport cars to and from locations. With the new  trailer hooked up to the truck, it pulled out for the long drive back to the east coast and we were headed back to the airport. As we pulled back into MillionAir a surprise arrival passed overhead. What was it?? The new Boeing 747-800 made about a 15 minute stopover in Indy before headed back to Seattle, WA – landed, taxied back and took off. Not really sure what the reason was behind the stop, but it was awesome to be in the right place at the right time to see it. From there we boarded the plane and headed back home after a great day crisscrossing the Midwest… awesome to say we went out and back before dinner.

Now that we are back home in Virginia we had to get going on cleaning the cars up before the show next week. My dad and I started the in-depth cleaning on the 1987 Buick GNX. The GNX is a unique vehicle because it was the only year of production, only 547 were every made and this one…. only has 680 miles on it (yes six hundred). It spent its 24 year life sitting on the dealer showroom floor and then sold in 2011. After changing all the fluids and getting the vehicle serviced we began the detailing for the concourse show. If you haven’t dealt with old cars, they will fight you all the way to the end but when finished the car looks amazing. In addition to our car, 3 more cars are making the trip to Boston for the show. Our friends are bringing their cars from the 1930s and 40’s. With a total of 4 cars going, we are sure to have a great time and hopefully we can bring some iron home in the form of trophies. After a few long nights in the garage, we are wrapping up the cleaning and we are starting to wind down before making the drive to Danvers, MA (north of Boston) for the week starting Tuesday (July 5).

So, looking towards the month ahead… as I mentioned earlier we are going to Boston for a week then I am headed to Maine for a few days. From there I come home and then start preparing for the flight out to Oshkosh for AirVenture 2011. A friend Eric Florence and I are taking a 2008 Cessna 182 Turbo featuring the top avionics Cessna/Garmin offers for the trip. Like the other trips this summer this one is bound to be a blast – let’s hope for great weather. Between trips I we will have about 2 weeks to prepare and get some flying in before making the weeklong trip to Wisconsin. This summer is combining everything I enjoy… cars, airplanes, friends and, of course, the occasional Nationals game.

If you have any question about Riddle or anything else feel free to shoot me an email or Facebook message and I will be happy to answer the questions you have.

Talk to you later,
James