Sunday, August 9, 2009

Sunday, August 9, 2009 – Check out the Trike

I filled the gas tank, negotiated the interstate tanglement, and headed down I-64 toward Lexington, where I transitioned from I-64 to I-75 and headed toward Tennessee. I combined the next gas stop with breakfast at Lake City, TN, a McDonalds gut-bomb. There, I counted up the money I had to make sure I had the cash to cover the purchase.

It was very hot and humid, normal in this part of the country at this time of the year. I arrived in the Dayton area about mid-day, a little behind my schedule, but had still made very good time, considering. I called Larry and he gave me directions to the airport near him where the trike was located. I had to call a second time to find the turn-off to the airport, but finally got there.

Larry Ramsey was a nice older man. He was a retired teacher at the local community college and had been flying about as long as I have. He showed me the trike and started the engine, which seemed to run very well. Everything checked out fine, so I paid him and we loaded the UL onto the trailer. We strapped it down and eventually I took off down I-75 to Chattanooga and then I-24 northwest, heading for Franklin,TN, where I intended to meet with Nolan Rhem, a coworker based in Franklin. It took me until about 7PM to get there. I called Nolan on the cell phone and he told me where he had made a hotel reservation for that night, and I found my way there. So far the trike was riding well on the trailer. All along the way I had periodically checked it to make sure it was still tightly attached to the trailer. I cinched it up several times, and found that it towed very well.

After taking a much-needed shower, and changing clothes, I met with Nolan and we had a good meeting discussing business and Quinnian Health-related stuff. I was exhausted and went to bed early. The next day I got up early and headed out for home. I got onto I-65 and continued down the road a ways about in the Nashville area when the car suddenly stopped; the engine just quit. After determining that I wasn’t going anywhere, I called 911 and a tow truck finally got to my location alongside the freeway and towed the car and trailer to his repair shop. Some four hours and $400 later, the car was fixed and I was on the road again. The timing belt had shredded, a frustrating and delaying thing, but the car seemed to run fine again.

On and on I went. The road seemed endless. On I-65 and after watching Nashville disappear in my rearview mirror, it was I-24 to Carbondale, IL, then I-57 to Mahomet, IL, with a stop for gas and McDonalds, I-74 and I-39 to Rockford, IL, than finally I-90 to La Crescent. I drove straight through and was mentally fatigued after arriving. I lost my way a couple of times, once in Bloomington, IL, trying to transition from I-74 to I-39 via I-55. It was a complicated transition, at least in my degraded and fatigued mental capacity, dusk had just arrived, and I had to ask help from a couple of good-ole boys to find the way. I think they were mostly “in the bag”, and having a much too good time, but did direct me where I wanted to go. Then in Madison, WI, I pulled off the road because it seemed the trike was loose on the trailer. By this time, it was about 2AM. It seemed like a simple transition off and on the freeway, but I found the off-ramp didn’t return directly to the freeway. Trying to find my way back was difficult and a waste of time. I ended up winding through town looking for some kind of way back to I-90. With the help of a couple of kids who shouldn’t have been out that time of night, I found my way back. Finally I arrived at Tomah, WI, tantalizingly close to home. It was surreal. I told myself the last five miles or so that I didn’t want to mistakenly take the cutoff from I-90 that went to I-94. There is a single-lane left exit from I-90 to stay on I-90 toward La Crosse, so it is easy to miss. But knowing this, and, in spite of all the mental gymnastics, I succeeded in missing the split from I-90 toward La Crosse, and ended up on I-94 toward Eau Claire. Finding the way back took time and was exceedingly frustrating. It was after 4AM and my brain was barely functioning. But eventually I made it home, arriving about 5:30AM. Daybreak was soon to come, but bed was the only thing I was interested in.

The next day, in the daylight and a wonderfully warming sun, I looked over my prize. I backed the trailer alongside the garage, put a tarp over it, and tried to decide when I would be able to take it out for a look-over.

In the meantime, and after some research and inquiries to some guys who in the EAA Ultralight Chapter 92 club, which is based in Glencoe, MN, I determined that the Flight Design Trike was also known by it’s more-correct name, a JetWing Weight-Shift Control (WSC) ultralight, manufactured by Flight Designs Corp in Sunnyvale, CA. Unfortunately the company is now out of business, which could cause problems getting parts, etc. It was originally manufactured in 1982 or thereabouts, and although at that time there was no FAR Part 103, it conforms to that specification, which had been my goal all along.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Saturday, August 8, 2009 – Go Get the TRIKE

On impulse, which is how I do everything, at about 7PM I attached the empty trailer to the old Ford Escort, kissed Sandra good-bye and headed out for Tennessee. I had called Larry Ramsey and told him I would be there Sunday afternoon, without thinking much about the distance involved. I stopped off at Farm & Fleet in La Crosse to get some cinch straps, rope, a tarp, and some bungees. It was nearly 8PM when I started down I-90 toward Chicago and ultimately down the road toward Tennessee.

Going through Chicago, I somehow mistakenly got off of I-90 and onto I-94. I needed to consult the map to see how to get back onto I-90, so I pulled off the interstate, checked the map, and saw that the intersection with I-65 was easy and there would not be a considerable delay. I located I-65, entered the freeway taking the sign that pointed me in the general southerly direction toward Indiana, and headed toward Indianapolis, feeling very tired and rummy. After passing several rest areas, I finally pulled off somewhere south of Indianapolis and took a short nap. It was very refreshing, and enabled me to continue relatively rested. After one more rest area nap, I arrived in New Albany, KY, the northern border of Kentucky where there are at least four interstate highways that converge. I got there about 8AM.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Friday, August 7, 2009 Trike Goes on a Bargain Basement Sale


Larry Ramsey e-mailed that he would lower the price of the trike to $3,000. I said I was very interested and wanted to figure out how to go down there and check out the trike.