Lurray Caverns, Virginia

Being a plane owner, Russ no longer settled for going to places we could simply drive to.  He selected places where we could get there easily by plane when it would have been an all-day event otherwise. 

                                               

For this weekend's adventure, we flew to the airport closest to Lurray Caverns.  (The caverns offered shuttle transportation from the airport to the caverns.)                                                 

While Russ has his instrument flight rating, this was the first time I'd flown with him where I couldn't see anything.  It was really unnerving for me to be flying through clouds knowing we had mountains on both sides of us and that a wrong reading of his instruments could lead us "to fail to maintain altitude"  (FAA "investingation speak" for crashing into a solid object.

Russ did his best to distract me from the weather (while still keeping a close eye on the instrument readings.  Here he showed me his "namesake" for the navigational beacon.  (Notice our airspeed was much slower than it had been with the tailwind when returning from McGuire AFB a couple weeks ago.)

But this is what I saw when we finally descended below the clouds.  The area was beautiful with the fall foliage in an array of colors.  I was glad at this point that I hadn't asked him to head back to our starting point.

 

 

It was pretty cold in the caves, so I was glad I'd brought an extra jacket.  But it was pretty need to see all the features with the electrical lights wired in.  There was a point in the tour when the guide turned off the lights for a minute.  It reminded me of Tom Sawyer being lost in the caves.  "Head toward the lights" takes on a whole new meaning.

 

Russ always has to do something silly looking.  He's really a little boy trapped in a man's body.

The reflections on the pools of water are so pristine it's difficult to tell where the ceiling leaves off and the pool of water begins. 

What a great day!

McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey

Some of Russ' Air Force Academy classmates were stationed at McGuire AFB in NJ.  What would have been close to a 6-hour car drive was less than a 2-hour flight.  So we were able to make a short visit.  Russ is demonstrating his fine stroller handling skills while his friend Kori Delwich adjusts the hat on her daughter.

It was during this trip that the "Team R" concept came to being, thanks to Kori dubbing Russ and me as "Team R".

While those of you who aren't suitably familiar with the Piper Cherokee to be impressed with a 144KT speed, I just thought I'd point out that this was an early "record" for this aircraft.  (I think Russ is the record holder for the top three speeds submitted for his type of aircraft.  Perhaps that just means there aren't a whole lot of pilots submitting their tops speeds.)

This was the front that we were riding with the really strong tail wind.  Russ mainly wanted to take pictures of lots of clouds to show his dad how excited he was looking at slides from his dad's time in Korea.  With this much excitement out my window, can you understand why I was suitably impressed with our speed?

Air National Guard Convention in Nashville, Tennessee

Russ had a convention he had to attend in Nashville TN.  And thanks to his status of "pilot/plane owner" he now has more travel options available.  Rather than fly commercially to Nashville, he was allowed to fly his own plane with the reimbursement rate being what the government would have spent on a commercial ticket or the actual travel cost (whichever is less).  Since he had an empty seat on the plane available, he invited me to go along.
Here's Russ filling up the plane at an airport along the way in Knoxville TN.

After Russ' meetings the first day we walked to a park near the hotel.  Russ was being pretty risky with which spout the water was going to come out of.

We sure had fun getting a "suitable" shot of us kissing.

For the ice breaker social, Russ practiced NOT breaking anything.

As the Grand Ole Opry was right next door to the hotel (The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center) where the convention was held, we walked over there to check things out.  Too bad there weren't any shows scheduled during the time we were there.

It was a great trip for me since I didn't have to work.  I think Russ had a good time, too.

Mama Mia! Concert

As with any relationship destined for success, we've been learning how to compromise.  Russ is more of a hard rock fan while I tend to favor country music and "easy listening."  (Granted, I do enjoy Def Leppard and other '80s "big hair bands", but I tend to stick with what my ear drums will thank me for in the future.)
So when a group of people from the Air and Space Expeditionary Force Center bought a group of Mama Mia! tickets, we joined in.  Naturally, with both of us being the frugal people we are, we didn't buy tickets right off the bat.  But when someone backed out of the play and offered her pair of tickets at a significant discount, we decided to try the "cultured" theater opportunity.
We weren't allowed to take pictures of the performance, so here's a photo of us.  I think this was the first time Russ saw me wearing jewelry.

Furniture Shopping in High Point, North Carolina

Now that Russ and I are officially engaged, we decided the home we were going to establish would need some new furniture.  Russ "wisely" (more likely "frugally") still had his "2nd lieutenant bachelor furniture".  (He claimed he knew whomever he married would likely have her own decorating styles and he'd learn to live with those.  So he never wanted to invest heavily in furniture while he was still single.)
We'd heard from several people that furniture distributors in North Carolina had really good prices for American-made, solid wood furniture.  So with Russ' plane, we were able to take a day trip to do some furniture shopping.  I got a big kick out of this big commercial airliner having to hold while Russ prepared to land his Piper Cherokee.

While we didn't buy any furniture on the trip, I think Russ enjoyed taking me on a longer flight. 
Russ did learn that I'm a "freak."  After several hours of walking and looking through furniture stores, I told Russ I had to call it a day because my feet were hurting too much.  I asked him if he could hear the bones cracking in my feet with each step I took.  He commented that he thought the noise had been from my sandals.  So I took off my sandals and proceeded to walk bare foot.  I clearly demonstrated my freakiness and that the noise was from my feet and not my sandals.  He claims he still loves me.

Russ' Flight to Dulles International Airport

Russ' best friend, Chad DeNaughel, had his father visiting.  As Chad's dad is also a pilot, the three of them somehow decided that taking a flight up to the National Air and Space Museum, which has a hangar near Dulles International Airport, would be a fun way to spend the day.  (Go figure!) 
While Russ will usually be entertained for hours just by going to an aviation museum, I think he had just as much fun parking N75078 with "the big boys." 

Russ Proposes - 18 Sept 2004

The 18th of September was not one of Russ' better days, to start with any way. We went to an arts and craft fair some where near Virginia Beach and ran some other errands as well. He was acting so edgy most of the day. (Edgy is the polite word. There were times when he was acting like a donkey's back side, towards other people, not me.)
We ended up going ice skating that evening at a rink less than a mile from my house. Boy, did we feel old. We were the oldest people on the ice. There were parents waiting for their children in the snack bar area who were older than us, but we were definitely a generation or two removed from those who were skating.
After barely an hour, I told Russ we needed to leave. My head was pounding from all the hip hop music (or whatever genre the music was) playing at full blast in the ice rink. It was still really early, though, only around 8 p.m. or so. So we didn't want to call the evening to an end already. I suggested we go back to my house and play a game of Scrabble. Russ thought this was an incredible idea. I'd never seen anyone act so enthused about the prospect of playing Scrabble before. He had his ice skates off and was ready to take off before I'd even had my skates unlaced.
On the way back to my house, Russ bypassed the two gas stations that he'd mentioned he had to stop at that night since his truck was almost empty. When I pointed this out to him, he said he'd stop on his way home, but he really wanted to eat some brownies.
When we arrived, I went about fixing up a plate of brownies while Russ was setting up the Scrabble board. I could hear him turning over a bunch of tiles. I thought he was cheating. After all, he usually beat me four out of five games we played. But then the timer went off on the brownies, so I stopped being concerned with the prospect that he was cheating.
As I was bringing the brownies over to the table from the kitchen, Russ told me to set the brownies down and said we "needed to talk." Well, most women know what "we need to talk" signifies. It usually signifies the break up of a relationship. My first thought was everything had been going so well, how could I not have seen this break up coming?
Russ then led me over to the kitchen table where he removed a bag that had been covering up the Scrabble board. He claims he asked me aloud to marry him. I have no recollection of him speaking. I only saw "MARRY ME" on the Scrabble board. Needless to say I was stunned.
Also needless to say, I said "YES."

And I finally learned why Russ had been so edgy all day. He'd decided to propose on 12 Sept and had given himself until that day to ask me to marry him. He hadn't figured out how to ask until I suggested the game of Scrabble. That's when he knew he could use the tiles to propose. What he hadn't realized until that time was that there are only two "M's" in the Scrabble bag. He would have spelled out "will you marry me" if it hadn't taken him so long to find the two M's.
I can't remember who won the game that night, but the brownies were really good.