Chapter 10

Sue called Ben and told him to put a pretty good chunk of money in her personal checking account, not telling him what she was going to do with it. I told her we could probably pay for the plane with the cash we had, but she said we should save that; she had some ideas that she wanted to use the money for.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the boat, with Dewey taking care of business in his office while the girls sunbathed on the deck. We ate supper on the boat, fixing a very nice meatloaf with mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy, good down home cooking. Mercy said it was nice not to have to work that night as she was used to working in the show seven nights a week. She did do several little tricks to entertain us. I told her our friends on the patio would love her exhibitions. She told us not to talk to anyone about her ability to read minds. She said it was valuable to generally have that knowledge concealed. People who might have heard of her stage act would assume that it was a trick; letting the real facts out would bring more attention than she wanted.

The next three days, I flew from around eight in the morning to after six at night. I did so many touch and go landings in the area that every local tower knew my numbers. By the time I had thirty hours in the plane, I was beginning to think I should keep it for myself. We really didn't need two planes, and besides, how would I get it back to Florida?

The fourth morning I showed up, the owner's dad showed up too and took me to the FAA office and signed off. They did about the same things that had been done up in Alaska. They handed me my license with my tail dragger endorsement because I had spent so much time in older aircraft. Now I needed some instrument instruction. Sue had me use the older instructor to check me out in the 208. We did the preflight and all the little things that are required before you fire up the engine. When we were ready to get in the plane, I saw Mercy in the back seat, smiling. She said she loved to fly and maybe I would take her up in the 172 now that I had my license.

The plane was powerful and easy to taxi. The brakes were a little touchy, but then this was a heavier plane. The instructor was constantly showing me features and telling me what to do if this or that should happen. We were cleared to the active runway. We did the run-up and released the brakes for the take off. I was amazed at the speed at which we accelerated. The plane seemed ready to lift off long before the airspeed indicator said to go. I lifted off to climb-out to our assigned forty-five hundred feet very fast. We headed east toward the mountains, as I wanted to feel the thermals and the winds crossing at higher altitudes. We went through a pass at nine thousand feet, and when we were clear over the foothills, I banked around and went back the other way. The updrafts did buffet the plane a little, but not bad. I kept the plane at sixty five percent power going about a hundred sixty knots, which is way above one hundred eighty five miles an hour. We must have had a heavy tail wind; with that power setting we normally wouldn't have been going quite that fast. I was surprised how quiet the cabin was and commented about it. The instructor said that the 208 had some other models that were even quieter.

I did two touch and go landings at airports I had not been to yet before heading back to our airport at the assigned four thousand feet. It was easy to navigate using the fancy Garmin GPS on-board system. I was more accustomed to compasses, magnetic and gyro, but the GPS was great.

I didn't try to do the classic three-point that Sue appeared to do, but did set it down gently dropping to settle the nose gear slowly, getting the feel of it so I wouldn't over-steer. I pulled the plane up to the refueling pit and got out and chocked the plane. An attendant said he would refuel and go over the plane, wash, and wax it.

As we walked over, I noticed the 172 I had been using was sitting in front of the office. Mercy and I went in and I asked the owner if I could rent it for a couple of hours and he said to be his guest. He said the plane was just fueled up and was ready to fly.

Mercy came out with me and immediately climbed into the right seat while I did the pre-flight. I did a by-the-book inspection, noting that this plane had a shorter pre-flight checklist than the 208. When we were ready to go, I wrote the beginning hours from the meter into my book and noted them in the airplane's logbook.

We were cleared to the active runway and I took off the way I had been taught in a light plane. Once in the air we were cleared to forty-five hundred feet again, and I suggested we see how this plane acted over the mountains. Mercy said she was game, so we flew toward the mountains. It took a lot longer at only a hundred twenty miles an hour, but we flew through the same pass, turned around, and flew back. We didn't do any of the touch and go landings as we flew directly back to the airport. Mercy said the little plane was fun; she felt like we were really flying it, rather than the airplane flying us.

We landed and taxied up to the office. I filled out the books before we went into the office. I found the owner and asked him how much he would take for the plane. He replied, "I can't take anything for it, I sold it." I apologized to him for running up the hours. He said not to worry, that the customer understood. I sadly looked at the plane, as I let Mercy call her driver to come pick us up. I had told her we could take a cab, but she said the driver was better.

When he arrived, Sue was with him. She got out and went over to the 172, checked the book and came back carrying it. She pointed to my entry and said, "You did good, you made the log entry correctly. I already know you did it in the 208. You're quite the pilot now. How did you like the 172, Mercy?"

"It was great. The plane is noisy and I bet it gets hot, but it was fun. It was like we were flying it and not the plane flying us."

Sue said, "I know what you mean. Did you notice the difference in speed?"

"It took us a lot longer to go to the mountains and back in the 172, that's for sure, but we did have a good flight."

Sue handed the airplane's logbook to Mercy and told her to show me the plane's owner.

Under registered owner it said, "Steve Sharp."

"You bought the plane?"

"No, you bought the plane. I robbed you of some of your cash and made a deal."

"How is it getting back to Florida?"

Sue smiled, "If you don't want to fly it back, we'll have it ferried. I really would rather have us fly together. They'll ferry it back for very little and check out our ground people on the 208 while they are at it."

"Sounds good to me, but I don't know what we need two planes for," I said.

"Easy, sometimes we'll want to fly a short distance or just fly for the fun of it," Sue was smiling. "That's what the 172 is for. If we want to go to the races or somewhere quick, the 208 will get us there almost twice as fast. Now we both have to get our instrument ratings."

We made arrangements for the 172 to be ferried back to Florida. The owner was very cordial and thanked Sue for slapping him around enough for him to find out he was being taken advantage of. He said the mechanic had already sold three planes besides ours since he started doing that job too.

The three of us rode back to the boat to prepare for our departure for Florida.

Dewey and Sheila were being moony-eyed with each other, considering they had made all of the arrangements to get married, although they were not planning on tying the knot for a while. I asked Dewey if he didn't think we should go back up the coast with him so he would feel safer, instead of doing it by himself? He commented that he wasn't by himself; Sheila was with him, and he had experience sailing by himself. A hundred foot boat is a lot to handle solo.

He finally consented to possibly hiring a college kid to ride with him back up the coast, just so he had someone to help with the anchors and such.

For our last night on vacation with Dewey and Sheila, we decided to eat at the yacht club. All except Sue had martinis before dinner, wine with dinner, and scotches after dinner. Sweet Mercy was an experienced drinker and could hold her liquor. Sue teased her that she was going to be popular among our friends back home because she could drink with the best of them.

Dewey and I spent some time out on the deck talking. Mostly it was me telling him how much fun I'd had with him over the last few weeks. Ever since we met him at Friday Harbor, he had influenced our vacation. He had made it memorable and fun. He helped Sue realize a dream, getting her pilot's license back, helped me get a captain's license, and tolerated my early coming and going while I was getting my pilot's license. The trip had been great.

We talked about Sheila and him coming down to visit. He said that Sue could fly up and get them; she would need the time in her new toy. I told him either one or both of us would come and get him anytime. When they got tired of rainy days, they should come for a winter visit to enjoy our crew in the mornings and evenings. I did tell him that we didn't live very high on the hog down in Florida. We were a little backwoodsy and a lot of Bubba. He looked at me funny and I told him he would see for himself when he came.

He wished me luck with my extra female, but I told him not to worry about it, as Sue seemed to enjoy having an extra lady around. He punched me on the shoulder saying, "Yeah right, Sue enjoys the extra lady, you don't care one way or the other, right? Sure guy, tell me another one." I just shrugged my shoulders. We shook hands, then did the non-masculine thing and hugged, knowing we had a lifetime kinship.

We all went to bed with our own personal misgivings. I was anxious about going back. Sue was anxious about flying her new plane back to Florida and Mercy was anxious about leaving home for the first time.

We three lay in bed, not sleeping for a good while. I got up to make myself a scotch up in the salon, wearing only a pair of shorts. A few minutes later Mercy showed up, wearing a loose satin robe and wanted something that would knock her out. Then Sue came up, wearing one of her invisible robes, saying she wanted a beer or a small glass of wine to help her go to sleep. We all sat together with me hugging the two ladies to me. Sue kissed me, next Mercy put a heavy lip lock on me, and kissed Sue equally. The next thing you know, robes were loose, and my shorts were torn away, only to be found in the morning. We finally made it back down to bed, having convinced each other that going back to Florida was the right thing to do.

Sue actually woke me first, giving me some non-denture pleasure. The activity woke Mercy, who complained that Sue had an advantage. I began laughing so hard at the tone of the argument, that we forgot all about the activity we had been involved in and just got up. I made coffee and took a quick shower while the girls were still arguing over, or at least intimately discussing, Sue's advantage. I went up to the salon and recovered my shorts, and brought them downstairs to be packed with our meager clothes supply.

By the time Dewey and Sheila woke, we were almost done making a big breakfast. I had made biscuits and pancakes, along with bacon, sausage, and milk gravy, and was just waiting to get egg orders so I could top the breakfast off. Mercy called her driver and told him to hurry as there was a giant country breakfast waiting for him.

The driver didn't arrive alone. Merlin and Missy showed up with him. They joined us, and it was a good thing, as I had made far too much food for just five of us. There were still leftovers after feeding eight. Missy had been mentally communicating with her daughter and knew we were flying back on our own. Merlin was wary, but Mercy assured him that she had communicated with both of the planes we had purchased and knew them to be dependable. She said Sue was a great pilot and she felt very safe with her.

After loading our bags, we all piled into the Suburban and rode out to the airport. The 208 was sitting next to the office, with the doors open, waiting for our arrival. The 172 was already on its way and we would probably pass it later today. Our in-flight time would be about fourteen to sixteen hours, so we were planning to take turns flying nine or ten hours today and finish tomorrow. The weather looked good all the way through. Luckily, the summer thunderstorms had let up and shouldn't be a problem for a couple of days.

The owner and the mechanic that Sue had made friends with assured us that both planes were perfect and we would enjoy our trip home. We were planning on stopping somewhere in Alabama or Mississippi for the night but we would call later if they wanted. Both Dewey and Merlin wanted.

Mercy hugged and kissed her parents, climbed into the back seat, and put on her headphones. Sue sat in the left seat while I did the pre-flight. We communicated each item while she called them out in order. Once done, I climbed in and shut and locked the stairway door. As soon as I sat, Sue began the starting procedure; she had done the cockpit preflight while I was doing the external. Sue called the tower and got a current altimeter setting while the engine was warming. We gave a final wave and taxied out, having been granted access to the active runway. Sue ran the engine up, released the brakes, and we were rolling. The plane lifted off easily, and Sue guided us toward the mountains and the pass I had flown through twice.

The three of us chatted using the headphones. After a few hours Sue said she was going to need a bathroom so we began looking for airports that we could land at and refuel. We were near Goldfield, Nevada so we stopped there for fuel and a quick potty break. Once again a couple of hours later we needed a rest stop. A couple of fields we called were not answering, and we didn't want an unattended site. We settled on one in southwestern Colorado that told us we were welcome and to come on down.

Sue set the plane down and we were granted a spot right in front of the operations building in Cortez, Colorado. Sue wiggled out of the left seat while Mercy opened the door. Sue and Mercy made a dash for the bathroom. I taxied the plane over to the fuel pumps and proceeded to top off our fuel. I was surprised that the turbo was as efficient as it was. Usually faster planes burn more fuel. This one could hold a lot of fuel, but it didn't consume as much as you would think. After refueling, I taxied back over to the operations building, shut down, got out, and grabbed some chocks, not worrying about tie downs for the little time we were going to be on the ground as there was no wind.

I went to the bathroom and came out to find the two girls surrounded by admirers. Sue was wearing a fairly conservative top, but any top on Sue is not conservative at all. Mercy was wearing a tease top, even though her top was only a full B on her slim frame. The idea of these two flying around the country in a 208 was getting their admirer's juices up. When the girls spotted me they both squealed, "There's our husband now," and ran to me. I was given some really dirty looks, but even more "You lucky dog" looks.

We bought a couple of bottles of water and climbed into the plane after doing the thorough pre-flight. By the time I had the door closed and locked, Mercy was buckled up, and Sue had the engine going. I strapped in and we were granted permission to taxi out to the active runway. We took off smoothly heading east. About two hours later, we stopped in northeastern New Mexico, took a potty break, refueled, and ate. We headed east again, getting to Lawton, Oklahoma before nature required another pit stop.

We made it all the way to northwestern Monroe, Louisiana before we had to either stop or soil the seats. We thought we could possibly make the panhandle of Florida, maybe Panama City, for the night. If we made it to Panama City, we might just stay over a day and enjoy the beaches.

That was incentive for us to fly through to Panama City. Since we had been losing time all the way across the country we had flown thirteen hours, but because of the time zones, we were now fifteen hours different from when we left. Mercy called her Mom, as her Dad was at the restaurant. I called Dewey and told him we might hole up in Panama City a day. He said he couldn't believe we had flown so far in a day in the small plane. I reminded him that the turbo could really go fast so we made some good time, plus we had a strong tail wind all day.

The airport at Panama City was a quiet place with lots of personal jets and small aircraft. Airline feeder flights occasionally passed through, but most of the traffic was light aircraft. We refueled and taxied to the assigned tie down point. We had the plane secured and our bags at the operations building in minutes. I rented a car and we drove out the causeway to the inter-coastal to go to the nicer beaches and resorts. We found a nice resort on the beach and registered. The weather was balmy and warm. The girls wanted to hurry and eat; they had eaten only sandwiches since breakfast.

We ate a light supper because of the hour, went to our room, put on swimsuits, and went out on the beach. We splashed in the gulf for a half hour then went up to the hotel and rinsed off under the outdoor showers. I checked the hot tub or in this case, a Jacuzzi. The water wasn't hot so we got in and relaxed. Sue was telling Mercy that she may have to watch herself the first time we went to the hot tub at the park because most of the people in our group considered the hot tub as a free-for-all and everything-goes area. Mercy said she was sure she would be fine. She would just follow our lead.

We went back and decided to order one of the biggest steaks they had and split it three ways. We did that and split a bottle of wine between Mercy and me. Bedtime was fun, as Sue wanted me to take care of my marital responsibilities, then insisted I take care of our new wife, as she called Mercy. Sue wanted more after watching Mercy and me. Luckily, I was up for all of this late night fun.