Taking Tiffany Home
Trinity Center

September 1, 2001

Mission 106672 appeared on the Angel Flight web site and I signed-up for returning Tiffany to her home in Redding from Palo Alto.  I had seen Mt. Shasta close-up when Joel and I flew up to Seattle.  I offered this up close and personal view to Amy, and she agreed to accompany me on the mission.  Since I had reserved the Cutlass for the entire day, I looked for some activities for us in the area.  I first looked at Dunsmuir Municipal Airport at the foot of Mt. Shasta, then my attention tuned to Weed Airport a little further north.  My research turned up nothing of interest which was easy to put together for a day trip.  I looked a little further west to an airport set on the side of a lake.  Trinity Center was to be our destination for the day.  I let Joel know about our trip and at the expense of the pilot who cancelled their day trip somewhere, Joel was to join us at Trinity.  We were set for a great day.

Taking Tiffany home

The weekly flights from Redding to the Lucile Packard Children Hospital were needed for this little girl to correct a spinal defect brought about by her mother's drug use during the pregnancy.  What kind of person would inflict this damage upon their unborn child?  Amy and I were dumbfounded at how a person could not only do this once, but twice.  Karen, an amazing person, had adopted her brother's children and was seeing them through the numerous medical visits and surgeries.  These surgeries, Karen told us, were starting to really help, although she was quick to emphasize that a long road still lay ahead for them.

The weather followed the pattern of every Bay Area's summer day - the fog rolled in during the evening and 'burned off' sometime before lunch time.  To arrive at Palo Alto Airport for our 10am meeting, Amy rose early and we drove down to Reid-Hillview Airport.  I didn't really want to fly the short 16 mile hop IFR.  Reid is set along the foothills of the mountains just 6 miles from the busy San Jose International Airport.  Departing IFR comes with its usual delays and I didn't want to sit on the ground at Reid for 10 minutes for an 8 minute flight.  Mother Nature listened to my wishes, and the fog's retreat was timely for our arrival.  Aunt Karen and Tiffany were ready and waiting at the Airport Office.  After signing the mandatory Angel Flight waiver of liability, we started packing the bags into the baggage compartment.  Tiffany sustained a small bump on the head when Karen accidentally swung a bag around.  The bang was large enough to keep Tiffany perfectly content to sit in her car seat and not talk to anyone most of the flight.

I called up the tower: "Palo Alto Tower, Cessna 9968B holding short runway 31, and we're an Angel Flight today."  Usually tagging myself as an Angel Flight caused some confusion within the ATC ranks, but it looks like the word is spreading and this time, ATC ensured our little treasure was going to get home comfortably.  I was amazed how they put us ahead of the line and would have had us even taxi around another aircraft if it was physically possible.

The Flight To Redding

The Palo Alto Airport is set within the very busy Bay Area airspace puzzle.  This required that after take-off, we turned right and headed over the Bay keeping below the aircraft flying into San Francisco.  We contacted Bay Departure for 'advisories' and despite being exceptionally busy, managed to work me into the system calling out some traffic including a 737 flying just in front of my nose 500' above.  Can you say wake turbulence?  I slowed down and waited, but no swirling air affected us.  We set up a heading of about 340 degrees for Redding and Tiffany settled in with her little toy friend.

The flight out to Redding was uneventful, and while we could see some remnants of the fires hanging in the air, none was visible, nor would any of the fire-fighting areas cordoned off lie in our path.  The Redding Airport was undergoing a significant amount of construction.  They were resurfacing the main runway and a portion of the second runway.  We landed on runway 30, then did a 180-degree turn on the runway, taxied all the way back to the runway threshold and proceeded to be waved across the construction area by a guy in a cowboy hat.  Tiffany was home again from another round of tests.  While I organized some fuel, and Karen was on the phone to get a ride home, Amy struck up a conversation with Tiffany.  Tiffany's face lit up when she spoke about her kitty-kat.  Amy just knew how to connect with the shy little girl - I guess this comes with years of experience and is certainly a good indicator of future motherly behavior.

Over The Hill To Trinity Center

Getting out of Redding proved more interesting than the arrival.  This time, before crossing the closed runway 34 , we had to wait for a Cessna to vacate the one-way taxiway.  Then we waited for numerous huge trucks to cross in front of us before the cowboy look-a-like waved us across.  Our take-off instructions had us back-taxi on runway 30 to departure off runway 12 so that we didn't over-fly the workers - it favored the wind too.  As we turned on the left downwind, Mt. Shasta rose up in front of us.  We headed directly to the Trinity Center Airport to meet up with Joel.  We climbed up to 6,500' as the mountains climbed just 1000' feet lower.  The visibility dropped substantially flying over the hills, but the airport was in sight.  Our numerous calls on the CTAF were not replied.  We set up for the 45 degree entry, joined the pattern, landed, and taxied up and parked next to Joel's rented Archer.

The airport is in great shape and is lined with houses each having a spot for the their airplanes.  As we parked, Joel walked up to meet and greet us.  It was around lunch time, and after chatting with some other flier-inners, we managed to bum a lift to the Yellow Jacket Restaurant - a small hamburger joint.  A good plan not to walk since it was pretty hot.   I had a Chinese Chicken salad which really hit the spot.  On the table too were onion rings, french fries, a cheeseburger, and a chicken breast - lots of soda too.  I struck up a conversation with the owner and was given a brief history and lesson on the behavior and psychology of these little animals.  The wasps do not sting as much as they bite.  In fact, while we were there, we saw some Yellow Jackets eating food.  Much of the food they consume is stored and taken home to their little ones.  Amy browsed around the antique shop across the road, and we then headed up the road to check-out the 'world-famous' Labor Day Weekend BBQ.

The BBQ and Other Fun Stuff

I guess we arrived one day early.  The big BBQ was to be held the following day.  A huge pit was filled with burning wood to create a bed of hot coals.  Wood fuel is added to the fire at regular intervals until about 5pm at which point the coals die down a little.  Then the coals are covered with tree bark and sand over which the insulated meat is placed.  Then more sand and more fire.  This is all done the night before and 600 people descend on the BBQ the next day to chow down on the scrumptious food.  In the interest of safety, the local fire truck was on hand with the water gun set up to ensure that the nearby trees could participate, especially in this season of fires.  The locals were quite the friendly types and explained it all to us and even allowed me, the city boy, to throw some wood into the pit.  Hey, I helped make the fire!  :)

We walked across the road to browse the museum.  I didn't find it particular interesting although Joel seemed to have an interest in the history of the area as well as the utensils, tools, and guns.  I figured that in 10 years or so, they'd have a Thinkpad in the cabinet.

From the museum, we headed on down the street towards the lake.  This took us past the approach end of runway 14.  The lake showed the effects of the dry weather and non-rainy season.  The water level was way down exposing the tree trunks on our bank and the walls of rock on the other shore.  I snapped some pictures which I really like, but see what you think.  Joel and Amy had ventured down the rocks to put their little toesies into the lake.  I was finally convinced to join them.  There were no other alternatives as the banks were coated with a yucky green algae.  Apparently there are swimming beaches further north, but we had no means of ground transportation and so that wasn't an option.  It was around this time that the heat got to Joel and he quickly turned his jeans into shorts by way of his mini-leatherman and at the cost of a cut on his thumb.  It was really fun watching the metamorphosis - quite hilarious actually.

Always the planner, I was watching the time, and figured it was time to start heading out.  We planned to stop at Livermore Airport for dinner.  We walked back to the airport, popped into the restroom, and called Cattlemen's to make a dinner reservation.  We agreed Joel would depart first since he had the slightly slower plane, so we let him taxi and complete his run-up before we started up.  We also agreed to stay on the CTAF frequency to ensure we both got off OK.  Once in the air, we switched to an air-to-air frequency and chatted about our position and direction of flight.  Then we switched to Oakland Center for flight following.  The 200 miles ticked down slowly after the long hot day in the sun.  Amy started out reading a book, but finally couldn't resist the temptation of little nap.

Get in my belly!

We started a descent over Travis AFB (not just some air force bases) and called up Livermore Tower on an extended base entry.  Joel opted to fly to a well-known reporting point.  My shorter route and faster plane allowed us to get to the airport in enough time to refuel and watch Joel land.  Our timing seemed perfect for an 8pm dinner.  We walked over to the restaurant, got a drink, and were seated soon after.  Pete's Special is a steak which Cattlemen's serves consistently well.  This was the only time mine wasn't up to par.  The salad and bread were good though and the soda quenched a well-earned thirst.  During dinner, I wondered about my night currency status.

The FAA requires that to carry one or more passengers 1 hour after sunset, the pilot must have performed at least 3 night take-offs and landings within the previous 90 days.  I wasn't sure if I had done this and I didn't have my logbook with me.  This meant that it wasn't legal for me to fly home with Amy.  I considered making her walk home, but later decided to fly around the Livermore pattern three times to regain my legality.  While I was having fun in the air, Joel was filling the Archer with AvGas for the short hop home.  I taxied in as Joel taxied out. I shutdown the engine as is good practice when anyone comes near the plane.  Amy hopped in, and we followed Joel to the runway.  Joel, to ensure his night currency too, was going to fly around the pattern twice - his third would be at Reid-Hillview.  Unfortunately, Silvia wasn't with us today and Joel was flying solo.

Homeward bound...

A tranquil flight home and we landed on runway 31R ending a 5.2 hour flight during which we helped a little girl go home for the weekend.  Little Tiffany has a long road ahead of her, but it is reassuring to known that the tests and surgeries are helping her slowly get closer to normalcy.  Our small reward was spending a fun-filled day at the lake.  A superb day, so much better than we had thought, and an Angel Flight to boot.

Click on image to view full size image

Tiffany taking a nap.

Tiffany looked so comfortable.

Joined at the wingtip.

The ramp was going to fill up the next day for the fly-in.

The Yellow Jacket Restaurant.

Satisfied and well-fed...

Amy up close with a Yellow Jacket.

It took me a lot of convincing for Amy not to bring this guy home.

Grrr...  I is man...

Hilton getting back to his primal upbringing...

The fire pit.

OK, yours is bigger than mine.

Feeding the fire.

The locals allowed me to 'help' them, and enjoyed laughing at/with the city-folk.

Whoop whoop, pull up!

No, we're not that low on the approach - looking down runway 14.

Amy at the lake.

What a view!

The lake view with marina.

Look carefully and you'll see Amy and Joel on the sand and a contrail in the sky.

Amy and I getting our feet wet.

This was the only was for us to get our feet wet and maintain our dignity.

My artistic eye.

I like this picture.  The green algae contrasts with the blue lake.  Very pretty...

Shnip!

Joel removes his clothing.

A great picture!

I love this picture.  This area is covered in winter.

Another great picture.

Need I say I love this picture too?

The big drinkers.

We still have to get home, so let's stick to those cokes.