Chapter 28: Acre Woods and a Challenger

Flying in the winter was not something healthy for small private planes to do. There was constant icing at the altitudes we typical used and the weather generally sucked across the entire country from Florida to Canada, and from Maine to California.

The experience traveling to and from the Circle in Pennsylvania for the Christmas-New Year’s holidays had left Kim and I wondering about a better way. Being pilots, we both agreed on what that might be like – our own ‘weather-proof’ plane that could move us up there and not be prone to the vagaries of any but the most challenging storms.

One weekend, armed with some of our new money, we hired pilots and an aircraft capable in the marginal winter weather. Kim rather liked the high-performance jet aircraft and so did I, even though we were passengers rather than pilot-in-command. We made two trips up to Camp Forge – one in January and one in February. Both flights had to use PHL rather than Camp Forge because of weather. I shuddered at the cost, but it wasn’t even a minor dent in our new net worth.

We learned from those pilots about corporate aircraft, and our pocketbooks got itchy for something more powerful than Kim’s Mooney or my souped-up Cessna Cardinal 177RG. Kim and I started to evaluate higher performance aircraft, usually with the critical requirement that they could safely use the 6,800-foot runway at Camp Forge and the 6,350-foot runway at Chapel Hill. I always noted in our specs that there was an extra 200-feet overrun that didn’t get counted. The one downside was that a plane couldn’t get deiced with glycol if we parked outside there. There we no hangars. I wondered whether they could even get Jet-4 fuel delivered there. Our charter pilots hadn’t worried that issue, since we used PHL for their complete servicing at our destination.

While that line of thinking was going on, Kim also expressed her opinion to the Circle that the two homes that formed the nexus of the Circle in Camp Forge were entirely too ‘tight’ with fourteen people spread out across them, especially for the meals when we ate in. There weren’t enough beds; kitchen space was inadequate; dining for more than ten was impossible; and bathroom space was at a premium. A few foursomes did sleep together, although they had to admit that they needed more room. Some couples used the couch or pull-out futon on the floor instead of the four-to-a-bed option.

On our visit in February, Kim talked with the others about whether they’d be interested in moving to a much larger single dwelling. The enthusiasm for that idea, amazed me. Jim commented that they’d been thinking of unifying the two adjacent properties and building a connecting ‘third house’ in-between with more rooms. June used her artistic talent to draw what they proposed, but to me it looked haphazard, and I wasn’t alone. The problem was that it would ultimately create an immense structure compared to anything else in the neighborhood, be somewhat of an eyesore, and probably wouldn’t get approved by the zoning board.

Kim contacted a high-end real estate broker covering Camp Forge. Given the jobs, location near Philadelphia and major road and rail routes, plus the airport, she thought that any new home should remain in that township.

Two-weeks later, we were back in Camp Forge and met with Heather Watts looking at a few properties. Heather was about forty, politely assertive, and I thought she might have a shitload of money and the real estate job was something to keep herself busy. I thought she might be a trophy wife, but it turned out she wasn’t married. She seemed aloof to the job but devoted to her clients – us.

The places she showed us on her iPad and then a few we toured were fundamentally mansions. Heather had also done her homework and knew exactly who Kim Winslow was, about TNA, and probably guessed that money was no object if she could deliver the right property. She asked whether we’d be financing the place, and Kim had just said, “No.” That was a big buying point.

After a dozen false starts, including some in other townships, Kim and I did fall in love with one mammoth homestead. Heather was worried because it was pricey and came with a lot of land that developers were chaffing at the bit to obtain. The neighboring properties and the town had so far been successful in fending off the land development.