Clear Prop! Destination: New Market, VA

After being grounded for a couple of weeks by bad weather, I finally caught a break yesterday afternoon and zipped out to the airport for a flight.

Dashboard Dinosaur says "Let's do this!"

But first we had to wait for this Citabria to get out of the way.

I didn't mind, though. I want one. Citabrias, like bow ties, are cool. Note the C-5 in the background.

Houston, we have clouds.

Fortunately the clouds were not storm clouds (yet) so they were not a factor as I flew along below them. They only became a factor when I had to cross a couple of mountain ridges and the clouds were close enough to the mountain tops to be a VFR no-no. So what to do?

Hey, there to the east is Highway 81. 81 goes to New Market. 81 runs through the Shenandoah Valley--no mountains there. So I dropped into the valley over 81 and commenced IFR flying: "I Follow Road". See the North Fork of the Shenandoah River meandering?

Look--a rainbow. Rainbows--like Citabrias and bow ties--are cool.

And here's Woodstock, VA.

Farther on down, I found New Market, VA's little airport. They hid it well between a grove of trees and a chicken farm, but I found it.

Landing at New Market, I found the place to be deserted. So I shoved my plane off into a corner and began to the place out.

Looking around, I found this neat sign that pretty much sums up rural airport operations:

Eventually a fellow rode up on a lawn mower. It was Tommy, the airport worker, who was mowing the lawn down by the hangars. He was a nice guy and when I asked about food within walking distance, he obligingly drove me into town to get a burger. Thanks, Tommy!

Tommy tells me that they do skydiving here. I may just have to come back and do that.

After a while, I took off again and headed east, taking care not to overfly the chicken coops. I did overfly this pond full of cows, though:

It's like a cowcuzzi.

Next, I followed Route 21 through the mountain pass over to Luray.

Made a quick full stop and turn around at Luray just to do it, then took off again, heading back for home.
Here's a dam on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River.

The river again, with mist over the water as it meanders.

Eventually I made it back home at dusk and made my last landing of the night.

And it was a nice, smooth "no dinosaur" landing, meaning that I settled in softly enough not to topple the dashboard dinosaur.

Hey, you've got your standard of excellence, I've got mine, ok?