Day 7: Aquebogue, NY

Day 7: June 6th. Another great day as a flying nomad. I got up in Newport and was to the airport by 11:30am. Once again, I needed to file an instrument flight plan as the ceilings were below the minimums for VFR or visual flight. I took off from Newport and was in the clouds at 700 feet. It wasn't a very thick layer as I was on top of the clouds after climbing to 3000 feet. I made a stop in Westerly, RI because fuel is only $3.50/gallon there. On a long trip like this, you really have to seek out the lower fuel prices, because you can run into airports like Teterboro that are selling fuel for $8.44/gallon!! Isn't that called price gouging? Pretty ridiculous, huh?

So, I landed in Mattituck and spent the day with Peter Spaeth and family in Aquebogue, NY, which is just to the east of Riverhead on the north fork. Here you can see Pete with his pooch Ginger.


We headed off to the Mattituck Cinemas where we saw Land of the Lost. Sure, I remember the old Saturday morning Sid & Marty Krofft TV show by the same name. As silly as that show was, I always watched. It was interesting to see the movie to see how they would connect it to the old show, but also, it was great to see the comedy of Will Ferrell, something the original show did not have. It was pretty funny, but I think I'm going to have nightmares from the hissing sounds of approaching sleestaks!

After the movie, we headed back home to see how are picks did at the Belmont Stakes. My bets included an exacta with Dunkirk and Charitable Man. Also, I made an almost obligatory bet on Flying Private to win. Pete had a good bet that paired the two birds together: Summer Bird and Mine that Bird. Unfortunately, Dunkirk got in the way of that one.

I'll spend tomorrow in Long Island and then head out to
Bridgeport, Poughkeepsie, and Manhattan on Monday. I
haven't yet decided where to land to get into Manhattan. It's either Teterboro, NJ; Linden, NJ; or Farmingdale, NY. I don't want to get slammed with some ridiculous landing fee.

Well, now I have a better understanding of why I was so slow on the bike trails on Martha's Vineyard. I've come down with a nasty cold. I had quite a painful sore throat last night. I'm coughing and have some sort of dry bronchitis. I'm taking Zinc and vitamin C, and hoping for the best. Just another twist and turn, a hurdle to overcome as I continue the trip.