From Corona to Bisbee with Delia

runway 17 was recommended. I later learned that I was listening to Jim Gutowski, the new airport manager there. I made a nice landing and taxied to the ramp where 3 other Mooneys were already tied down, side by side. I pulled in next to them. By the time I had shut down and logged my flight numbers, Delia was getting out and two new faces were right outside my plane. One was Jim, the newly appointed airport manager at the Bisbee airport who had already chained my plane down. The other was Mary Alice, Delia's niece who offered to put us up for the weekend. I got out and shook Jim's hand and thanked him for his help. I hugged Mary Alice. By now, we three were hungry. We left the airport to go have dinner and Mary Alice selected the San Jose Lodge, named for the nearby San Jose Mountains. It is a family restaurant where most of the customers are regulars and most everybody knows everybody. Delia and Mary Alice not only know the owners and staff, they know most of the customers. They cook up their own refried beans, and make about everything else from scratch. Everything on my combination plate was great. We had a great dinner and a great time. After dinner, Mary Alice drove us around the area re-activating Delia's memories of her childhood there. After the mines in that area shut down, thousands of people left the area and many businesses and government operations shut down. As Mary Alice drove and Delia asked about certain stores, schools, hospitals, gas stations, and office buildings, Mary Alice's consistent answer was "Not any more, not any more". That was sad to hear. I think I got to know more about Bisbee from the personal and local perspective than some of the other Vintage Mooney Group people did. Yes the history of the heyday and boom years are well documented, but the ravages of the decline after the mines closed down is a hurt known mostly by the local people. Then, Mary Alice drove us to her home, where we planned to spend the next two nights. We all sat around the kitchen table talking about Bisbee, the past and present, while Delia made Salt and Pepper shakers out of my empty Blue Cans. She used scissors to carefully cut the cans in half, and a hammer and a nail to punch the holes in the shape of a S or a P because Mary Alice didn’t have an ice pick. She kept telling me to hurry up, she wanted that next empty Blue Can! We were all laughing so hard about her demands on my consumption rate. Not many (if any) women have ever asked me to consume beer at a faster rate. I did as she asked. These salt and pepper shakers work great and Delia delivered some to family members in Bisbee. On Saturday morning we went into town and the gals had breakfast here while I took in the sights. This used to be an early 1900s drugstore, just as the storefront style suggests. Remember these? I was told that the steel structure at the left delivered workers down to a mine tunnel and back up at the end of the work shift. Some of them also hauled copper ore up during each shift. The amount of physical labor required to do all of this is impossible to calculate or even imagine. The results of so many men working for so many years is difficult to comprehend as a tourist. I never did learn what went on in these round buildings but evidently they were built for a purpose Colors and contrasts in texture and in years On the ramp my 1985 M20J, Phil's 1999 M20S, Walter's 1999 M20M, and Ozzie's 1982 M20J, We drove to the airport and saw the same 4 Mooneys as when we parked there Friday. It was 40s and windy. Inside the airport building, two VMG wives Jo K. from Tucson AZ and Linda C. from Paso Robles CA were sitting comfortably on a stuffed couch, away from the weather (and maybe their husbands) outside. Delia and Mary Alice mixed in with conversation immediately and I smiled. In the next room, Jim Gutowski was at work in the airport office. I said hi to all and went outside. No one was by the airplanes. Way down the runway, three guys were walking back towards their airplanes. I waited and soon they walked back to the ramp. It was Ozzie Kaufman, Phil Corman, and Walter Bell (who had flown in from Denver Colorado). Ozzie explained that we all got a fuel discount because they volunteered to kick the stones off of the runway.  The weather forecast had prompted some VMGers to call and cancel. We all waited some more. Then a Mooney arrived and landed, then another. By noon, 9 Mooneys had arrived, an extremely small turnout for our VMG group. I had the good fortune to meet Linda & Tim Rundus from Queen Creek AZ and Henry Punt based in Long Beach for the first time on this particular fly-in. The plans to have lunch catered at the airport were scuttled as we were only 20 or so. The people who were to cater have a restaurant, so we went there instead. It turned out to be the San Jose, the very place we 3 ate Friday night. They put on an awesome buffet lunch that everyone raved about. The buffet serving line which had many entries to choose from - and a happy table of VMGers Linda and Phil Corman in front - then Carol and Cliff Biggs, Henry and Walter - Delia and me Jo Kaufman and Mary Alice - from top, Linda & Tim Rundus, Betty Pearce & Dale Mooneyham, Ozzie Ozzie's trademark red flying socks Mary Alice had fried ice cream for desert After lunch we all went back to the airport. Some people left to go back to town to take the afternoon underground Mine Tour, others formed a group to drive a ways to go to Tombstone, and some chose to hop aboard their Mooneys to depart back to home or to other planned flying destinations. Delia and Mary Alice stayed inside the airport office building where it was warm. I wanted to hang out on the ramp in my winter jacket to tell those assembled about my episode with the smoke in my cockpit from my radio, and to say goodbye to those who were planning to fly off then. It worked out well. The sky was murky overhead and it was breezy and brisk – jacket weather for most people This is pretty much all of us with Ozzie's red and cream 1982 Mooney M20J in front Walter Bell flew his blue and white 1999 Mooney M20M in from Denver CO !!! The Biggs' 1964 M20D waits patiently while Ozzie explains our next fly-in to Cliff & Carol Dale Mooneyham's beautiful 1968 Mooney M20G Statesman with a fresh paint job My 1982 M20J and Phil's sleek 1999 M20S Eagle Oh yeah, those Magnificent Mooney Tails were standing up tall for all of us to appreciate We all said good bye as people prepared to drive or fly off to their various destinations on a Saturday afternoon. There were so many diverse objectives for all of us. The gals I was with had another destination all picked out for a Saturday afternoon. It was Naco, a Mexican border town nearby. As they both had their passports and I did not, I offered to stay at the airport for an hour or two while they went off. I have hundreds of hours hanging out at airports behind me anyway, what's a couple more? I looked around and took some pictures of a relatively sleepy airport (when we are not there). When my ride returned, the 3 of us drove around the area for a while, looking at sights for me and exploring memories for Delia. Just as if you went ‘home’ once again. Downtown Old Bisbee was a hoot for me and Delia’s high school is now an attorneys’ office building There are hills everywhere and driving is either uphill or downhill in many places. We saw many more sights and later wound up at the Copper Queen Hotel again looking for some VMGers. We thought they would be there in the lobby bar. Nope, not there. The hotel lobby's ceiling is made of a copper plate with an intricate design We didn't connect with anyone so we left. As we were still too full to go out to dinner, we went back to Mary Alice's home to eventually make more salt and pepper shakers. I did my part. On Sunday morning we woke up to another less than stellar weather report. A big low pressure area was drifting from California to Arizona. Along with that came low clouds, rain, some scattered thunderstorms, and reports of pilots accumulating ice on their wings. I called Kim and left a message that I would be 'late' to work. It was a good morning for coffee in the kitchen. The three of us went to visit family and tour Bisbee some more. It was a family fun day and I was treated as family too. All of the worthless dirt and rock removed of the mines has to go somewhere. It can be spread out for miles at nearby areas. Here, they just placed huge pipes down and deposited the tailings around and above. It created instant tunnels for this rural road. This road curves around for a mile to get around this stretch of copper mine tailings. I don’t usually get to connect with the surrounding area at a fly-in, and this was history in front of me We swung by the airport again and just two Mooneys were left. Phil and Linda Corman’s and mine. The weather looked just fine for flying, so why were we stuck in Bisbee on a Sunday afternoon? Well, it is the weather that I was aware of 100 or 200 miles away that just does not show up on a beautiful afternoon like this. Part of being a pilot is always knowing the weather along the route of flight. Did anyone notice that I left my flaps down in the landing position? Forgetfulness? Not this time. I do that sometimes to discourage a first time fly-buddy from stepping on them when boarding. I had real Mexican burritos for dinner as Mexico was just a few miles away and these are homemade On Monday morning I called Flight Service and the weather briefer gave me the same news. Another low pressure area, clouds, rain, icing. I told the gals it was not a safe flying day. I called Kim again and left another message that I would be 'late' to work. It was another good morning for coffee in the kitchen, but this was getting really old. But it always beats doing something dumb. This was the view just outside of Mary Alice’s front door looking across the street. It had snowed on the local hills and the clouds were so low that they were obscuring the tops. I figured Mother Nature had it in for me for flying with so many pretty gals. Was that esteemed lady a tad jealous? We went to town again but bypassed the airport for a day. I had the pleasure to get in more fun sightseeing. On Tuesday morning we had some more great kitchen coffee and just before I went downtown to establish residency and look for a job, I once again called the FAA FSS for weather. I got the longest VFR Standard Weather Briefing, in my life that morning. That lady told me things for 20 minutes. It was a go, but it had imbedded caveats. As I really had no plans to change my domicile right then, I opted to give it a go. We got to the airport and no one was in the office. There was just no one anywhere. I had the combination to the locked airport office door, so we went inside. I made some calls and someone was going to be coming so I could get some avgas before departure. I walked out to the ramp, as I knew I needed to add some engine oil also. Boy it was brisk! We didn’t need to guess which Mooney was mine, the whole ramp was ours We met the lineman and filled up. After hugs with Mary Alice, we said goodbye and climbed in for a nonstop flight to Corona. I couldn’t even fly over town because of the mix of hills and clouds in my way so we circumvented to stay safe but missed some pictures. As advertised, the headwinds were beating us back to 140 Knots or less. It was somewhat bumpy but Delia shrugged them off and continued to be amazed at the avionics and instruments right in front of us. First we had to fly over Tombstone before turning left, to avoid military restricted airspace. Then a 43° left turn. It was maybe 30 – 40 bouncing minutes altogether by the time we passed over Ryan Field just west of Tucson and then left another 3° towards Gila Bend AZ, another 90 nm away. We went on watching the weather and deviating occasionally due to clouds in our path. Something new for me got my attention maybe half way along this segment. No more blue sky and white clouds, in front of us. It was a solid gray wall from the clouds above to the earth below, and as far as I could see left to right. It was solid, I could not see anything past it. When we got to maybe within 5 or 10 miles, I told Delia that there was no way we were going in there. As everything left of us was military restricted airspace, I turned right and checked my GPS for a suitable place to land. It turns out I was pointed right at Eloy’s airport, but I was still too high to land there, so we continued on to Coolidge AZ and made I good landing in spite of the now gusty surface winds. Oh yeah baby, a cold front was approaching the area big time. It was wet in some areas but I found a dry spot to park. We both knew it was going to start raining there soon. Behind us was a huge WWII military hangar with a distinctive orange roof. Nearby the flag was being whipped vigorously by the winds. The sky was a dark overcast gray. It was actually a little difficult to walk in those conditions. We started to look around for shelter when a young man drove by in a pickup truck and pointed out where we could go indoors to get warm. Two minutes later we went in the front door of International Air Response and were greeted by Carl Wobser and Debbie Skelton and told to make ourselves comfortable. They have a plush lobby with overstuffed black leather couches. So nice. Then the noise began as the rain poured on the field. I walked outside in my winter jacket and stayed under the canopy that keeps an area dry. I looked straight across the airport maybe ½ mile away. Nothing, solid rain obscured all vision. Everybody knew it was a good time to be on the ground. We waited it out. I hit the couch for a while. It was an hour and a half later before things looked better. After everything blew off to the east, we expressed our appreciation and said our goodbyes. The Mooney was again to be our home for the next 2 ½ hours with the prevailing headwinds out of the west. We motored on now using Comm 1 as Comm 2 was disabled. Once back in Corona, everything was again normal. A light breeze, mostly blue skies, and warm sunshine. Delia called her family to come over and pick her up. I had a Blue Can. She said she wants to go flying with me again, and I just think she does. We all went home to rest a bit after a 1,090 mile lunch date. Ed Shreffler March 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, 2010 eshreffler@sbcglobal.net