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OUR TRIP FROM HOLLYWOOD, FL TO SPRINGFIELD, MO AND BACK
IN A 1946 ERCOUPE! Jim & Pris Scroggins
I have always wanted to take this trip, to visit my mom and the rest of the
family, ever since I was partners in a Cessna 150. And now that I had my own
Ercoupe the trip became even more feasible.
My wife and I decided on leaving Thursday morning Aug 12, 1999 at 6Am as that
was when she could get her vacation time from Wal-Mart. With rain and flat tires
(that's another story) I didn't get to wash the
plane before we left.
Aug 11, 1999
The night before we were to leave I went to the airport to change the oil, as I
was refilling the oil tank I noticed a drip, where did that come from, another
drip, its the gascolator. I tried to fix it but the gasket was too worn, nothing
to do but wait till 8Am in the morning when the mechanic at Hollywood Aviation
would be in.
Aug 12, 1999
The mechanic showed up at 8AM. With the gascolator fixed my wife and I got off
the ground at 9:47AM. tach 293.75 and headed for Zephyrhills Municipal. The
weather wasn't the greatest (low clouds and 5 miles visibility) but there was no
rain until we got just south of Lakeland Airport. Called Lakeland tower and
transition thought to Zephyrhills tach time 295.98. Refueled and with the report
of better weather ahead (still low clouds and 6 to 7 miles visibility we took
off for Cross City. The weather did get better but was it HOT as we landed at
Cross City tach time 297.39. We were invited to see the Cross City Hog but we
wanted to get back in the air so we said another time on to Albany. About twenty
miles out of Albany the clouds started getting darker on both sides of our
course but listening to Albany tower the airport was clear. After landing and
looking at the weather computer those dark clouds were two big thunderstorms we
just went between. As we got a late start and its was getting dark we decided to
spend the night in Albany tach time 299.04. The people at Piedmont Hawthorne
called the Ramada Inn for us and the Inn sent a taxi for us. Ramada Inn paid the
taxi both ways and we got a free breakfast in the morning.
Aug 13, 1999
The weather radar showed a line of showers from St Louis to Little Rock moving
Southeast. If we could get off early enough and get to Holly Springs, Miss. we
could wait out the storm then continue on. Lift off at 8:15AM for Bessemer, Al.
The weather was getting better all the time but it was still HOT. In Florida my
ground speed would be 90mph or more but up here my ground speed would vary from
a low of 60 to 90mph but mostly in the 70 to 80 mph range.
I guess Bessemer Airport was my favorite airport as it sit on top of a mountain
700' msl. We landed at Bessemer at 10:54 tach time 301.61 refueled checked the
weather, yes we can still make Holly Springs so off we go. The weather was
beautiful you could see from horizon to horizon and the closer we got to Holly
Springs more of the same. We landed at Holly Springs at 1:24pm tach time 303.78.
We were on the ground there for an hour and 21 minutes as we had to wait for
everyone to get back from lunch. Refueled and no weather computer we decided to
takeoff, if we ran into weather we could turn back. Minutes after leaving Holly
Springs and as Memphis, Tenn came into view over the right wing with still clear
skies we pushed on. As my ground speed was down again I decided I needed another
stop before reaching Springfield, Mo. as Springfield is class C airspace I
didn't want to be low on fuel. We stopped at Newport, Arkansas tach time 305.13
got fuel and continued on. Climbing out from Newport I climbed a little too long
at one time, and the oil temperature gauge was climbing faster then I was. I was
thinking about landing at another airport but the gauge settled down but it was
still higher than it had gotten in the past. As we continued on to Springfield
we watched the only cloud in sight turn into a thunderstorm. We landed at
Springfield-Branson Airport at 5:40cst tach time 307.46. After traveling over
1100 miles in 13.71 hours we realized that it was Friday the 13th.
AUG 14, 1999
Rested
AUG 15, 1999
My sister, who works in Branson, got us free tickets to see the Jim Stafford
show. After the show I had to go to Skaggs Emergency Hospital as I had gotten
something in my left eye and it was driving me crazy, While there we had the
nurses in stitches about our story in flying to Missouri. They gave us their
address to send them a card when we made it back home.
AUG 16, AUG 17, AUG 18, 1999
Visited with friends and relatives.
AUG 19, 1999
Drove to Grove, Ok to see my Aunt & Uncle. They live on a cliff overlooking the
"Grand Lake O' the Cherokees" a beautiful view. on the way home stopped at Mt
Vernon, MO. to go through the Precious Moments Museum. Then that night I went to
EAA Chapter 821 meeting. They meet at the Air & Military Museum Of The Ozarks on
Kearney St. Met their President Larry Harmon and their members. As they had a
mis-communications glitch with their guest speaker, guess who became the guest
speaker.
AUG 20
Visited more friends and relatives.
AUG 21, 1999
The day we leave for Florida. Getting up early (as usual) setting there waiting
for everyone else to wake up saw two deer come walking down the road then jump
over the fence into the woods. Everyone showed up at the airport to see us off.
After saying goodbye to
everyone and getting clearance delivery instructions we taxied out to runway 22
tach time 308.07. The weather was beautiful and clear but I knew that getting
back in Florida would be the hard part because of the afternoon thunderstorms
(little did I know). Flying over Mark Twain National Forest and the Bull Shoals
Lake makes you realize just how small an Ercoupe really is. Well, we finally had
a tail wind and with the ground speed up we flew on to the West Memphis Airport
tach time 310.74. From Memphis on to Bessemer, this leg of the trip was the roughest as my wife had her bag ready just in case. We landed at Bessemer
tach
time 313.23 refueled and flew on to Albany where we would spend the night again
at the Ramada Inn. tach time Albany 315.30
AUG 22, 1999
Starting out from Albany it was hazy with visibility about five miles, but about
nine miles south of the airport I got into clouds and ground fog. When I got
down low enough to see the ground again I turned around and headed back to
Albany. I called the tower and told her I was coming back, she asked if I needed
any vectors, I told her no as I had a GPS with moving map. After landing back at
Albany we sit around the FBO eating popcorn and watching the weather with a few
other pilots also waiting for the weather to clear. Finally got off the ground
again around 11am to Ocala, Fl. went around a few rain storms by Gainesville,
Fl. I guess the plane knew we were in Florida as the oil
temperature gage dropped back down to just below 180 degrees were it usually
sits. The rest of the flight to Ocala was uneventful. Landed at Ocala tach time
317.90 refueled and went in to look at the weather, South Florida was all green
with yellows and reds guess we will spend the night in Ocala. The FBO Piedmont
Hawthorne called and got us a room at the Ramada Inn then took us there in their
van.
AUG 23, 1999
The van picked us up at 7:30am and took us back to the airport, called flight
service there was a big area of rain from Avon Park and Sebring to the Eastern
coast. So I decided to go to Punta Gorda for fuel then to Hollywood. We took off
on runway 18 and climbed out through some scattered low misty clouds and kept
going south. We flew over Zephyrhills, our first stop on the way to Missouri,
then over Plant city you could see the tall buildings of Tampa off over the
right wing. I kept looking in the direction of Avon Park and the sky looked
clear, so just west of Wauchula I decided to go to Arcadia instead of Punta
Gorda for fuel. Landed at Arcada tach time 319.52 refueled got some soda's and a
candy bar and headed home. The leg from Arcada to Hollywood had the best weather
yet. I climbed up to 3500 feet and I could see Ft Myers, Sebring and Lake
Okeechobee all at the same time and further in the distance toward Hollywood
were towering cumulus clouds. Just south of Airglades we got into these clouds
it was beautiful flying around and in between the clouds. About 30 miles out
they started getting thicker so I decided it was time to go down under them.
Just northwest of Andytown I could see rain in West Palm Beach and the closer I
got to North Perry I could see rain from West Palm beach to Homestead. Now what,
all this way and no place to land even Opa-Locka West was rained in. Called up
Miami Center and about the same time they told me of a hole, I saw it myself.
They said another plane had just flown through with rain and some turbulence. I
put on the carburetor heat and headed through about three miles North and South
of me was the rain boy, was it ever coming down. I called Center back and told
them that I had no turbulence and very little rain, then they called a plane
behind me and asked if he had heard that, he followed me through and the rest as
they said is history. We landed at North Perry Airport at 12:24pm tach time
321.09. My wife who had only been in the plane twice since I got it had just
spent 27.34 hours in it in a week. She said that she didn't want to get back in
it for a long time. It was a good thing I decided to land at Arcada for fuel
which shaved some time off of our flight because after we landed all that rain
came in over the airport and the whole area and stayed for about three hours. I
first got my coupe Sept 1, 1998 with only a half hour in it with the previous
owner I now have 121.23 hours on it and next week will make a year that I have
had it.
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