This year I had the chance to go to the Orcas Island EAA flyin. What a great time we had. This was the first time that my wife Debbie had a chance to go airplane camping in the RV since it was finished 3 years ago. This was going to be an adventure that’s for sure. The plan was to get all ready and leave for Orcas on Friday afternoon. First stop was Bremerton (PWT) for a join up with Dan & Joyce Murphy who would be flying their RV9A up to Orcas also.
After a quick bite of lunch we headed out. Dan was lead and pulled out first, with me on his left wing we were off and flying. We practiced our formation flying all the way up to
Orcas, flying through Whidby NAS on the way and over the Strait of Juan de Fuca and into the San Juan islands. The weather was perfect and the flight took about 45min.
We arrived at Orcas and got a nice camping spot on the front row of the taxiway. What a perfect setup as we could sit and judge the arrivals and departures all weekend from the comfort of our easy chairs. Dan and I got our tents out and setup, and after about an hour Lonie flew in with his Aircoop. I guess he’s a bit slower than traveling by RV! 🙂
By Friday evening everything was setup and with nothing further to do we headed in to Eastsound for dinner. The town is about 1/4 mile from the airport (at least that was what Dan said) We joked about that 1/4 mile all weekend each time we headed into town… seemed more like 1 mile to me, but who’s counting. Dinner was fantastic at Lulu’s Rustico Italian Restrauntae. Good pasta and salad. The day was finished out watching the arrivals into the twilight.
Saturday started with the sound of a loud flyby, provided by the local AME flight surgeon in his Lake Amphibian. A pass at about 3 feet off the runway was interesting to watch. Breakfast started at 7am at the local fire station on the end of the field. The firemen and firewomen served up pancakes,
eggs, sausage, juice, and coffee… Now you would think that’s enough, but Dan just had to have is Latte… so each day also included a hike to town to finde the coffee shop!
Dinner was provded on field by the EAA chapter. Steak dinner with all the trimmings, and they even had vegetable lasagna for us Veggies. It was very nicely done and the local
chapter really worked themselves to put it all on for us. A big thanks to them for all the hard work.
Sunday morning was pancakes again, then camp tear down for a departure by noon. What a great time we had just hanging out and talking with friends, making new friends, and watching airplanes. This was a low pressure, easy flyin that we will be returning to year after year from here out out! The flight home was and easy hour just loafing along. Neither Debbie or I wanted to get home any too quick so we just took our time and enjoyed the great weather and views of the San Juans on the way home.