It looked like it might be the last amazing summer of crossing the country with the family. And then Nell took a job on The Muppet Show for Disney and Rudy took a job as a counselor at Great Books. Dexter still had commitments, though, so it wound up being a lot of flying either solo or with Dexter along. 

We have owned N971RD for nearly a decade. The plane sits outside on a tie-down at the Santa Monica airport and if it were a metal plane we would probably need to have it re-painted. Instead, we need to have the vinyl stripes (and registration letters) replaced. And, due to a crazing problem in the plexiglas, we need to replace the canopy. That work can be done most easily at the factory (shipping the canopy is a little nutty), so I need to figure out a way to include London, Ontario in my route for the summer.

As I add the entries these will become live links. The summer breaks down into the following pieces:

• The Dropoff – getting Dexter to Iowa City
• Return to Factory – bringing the plane back to where it was created
• The Pickup – bringing Dexter to the East coast (after dropping Rudy in Palo Alto)
• A Run to Fishers – Detour to collect KW and return him to Lincoln Park
• Boston Landing – Collecting Nell from Logan
• New Hampshire Hop – Lunch with a friend of Dexter’s
• Great Books Pickup – Grabbing Rudy from Palo Alto
• Marthas Vineyard – with Brett and Hazel
• North to the Woods – Headed to Parry Sound
• Returning Home – Dexter and I fly west