Hot Fun In The Summertime!

York, South Carolina, May 31, 2017.

"End of the spring and here she comes back, Fly Fly Fly Fly there. . ."

My apologies to Sly & The Family Stone.

Springtime in the Carolinas is usually pretty nice.  Not this year.  Regular ground bound folks in the area may disagree---but they weren't trying to fly light weight airplanes in the windy (and bumpy) conditions that prevailed for most of April and May.  Sure, a couple of days were nice, but I was out of town.  The old adage, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, was delayed a couple of months.  When the winds died down at the end of May the Jellystoners hit the trail. . .

Who wants ice cream?

Who doesn't?  The really good stuff is yours for the asking at the Bush-N-Vine Produce Stand in York, South Carolina, just ten nautical miles northwest of Jellystone Air Park.  The Jellystoners are regulars throughout the summer.  Our first visit of the season was on May 31, 2017.

Strawberry-vanilla swirl made with fresh Bush-N-Vine strawberries.  Brother Barbeau and I got there first, we couldn't wait.  Thirty seconds before this picture was taken Brother Baker called and said he was ten minutes out.

We sat on the front porch until we heard the roar of Four Three Bravo's mighty Continental 85. . .

 There he is!

Doesn't that look nice!

Transit Aircraft Parking at the Bush-N-Vine Produce Stand.

The Great Barbeau!

While Brother Barbeau was "Commanding the Sky" I was able to enjoy the scenery and take a few pictures.

Reunion at Unity Airfield.

The next adventure began the following morning with a trip to see our good friend, Les Kanna, at Unity Airfield, twenty-one miles southeast of Jellystone Air Park.

Unity Airfield, Unity, South Carolina, June 1, 2017.

Brother Barbeau was out of town so I bummed a ride with Brother Baker in Four Three Bravo.

Joe got a ride in Les' Grumman.

While Les and Joe were out and about Unity resident Ed Lee stopped by in his Corvair powered Sonex.

Great logo!

A short while later John Roberts was overhead in his award winning Skyote Biplane.

This airplane is stunning!  You may have heard about it. . .

EAA Sport Aviation, March 2017.

It's been in all the magazines.

Photo by Jay Selman

Brother Baker got to fly it back in the fall.  You can just see the top of his head in this picture by aviation photographer, Jay Selman.

Here's John with his masterpiece (and the well deserved Bronze Lindy from AirVenture 2016) back in April at the South Carolina Breakfast Club meeting that was hosted by EAA Chapter 961 at the Rock Hill-York County Airport.

Photo by Joe Baker

There I was . . . in the company of greatness . . . and I forgot to suck in my belly! 

"Them summer days . . . Those summer days. . ."

Unity Airfield, June 9, 2017

In my opinion this is the perfect summertime picture.  A biplane next to a grass runway on a warm summer day.  It doesn't get any better than this!  The picture was taken at Les' place last Friday.  It was a text message to my wife---so she would know I might me late for dinner.