What To Do When You’re Grounded

When I opened my tent this morning, I was greeted by a very picturesque scene of a low mist covering the field from one end to the other. Not a bad way to start the day. On the downside, the morning also began with a not so great weather forecast. Not so great for flying anyway. Objectively speaking, it was supposed to be a beautiful, hot and sunny day.

The forecast for the day didn’t come as a big surprise as it merely lived up to the forecast from last night. Based on that, a few of us decided we needed a backup plan for today in the event we found ourselves facing another day of not flying. Which we did. For the record, it wasn’t quite as clear cut as that. Despite the morning forecast, the actual weather didn’t seem to be matching what we were supposed to be getting which led to some debate as to whether or not today would be a fly-day or not. In the end, we decided to go with our backup plan.

The backup plan in question was for to drive 90 km (55 miles) to Juniper Springs to rent canoes and paddle down the creek. One of the other pilots, Greg, had done this in the past so this excursion came highly recommended. With that Greg, Don, Tracy, and myself hit the road for the springs. Spoiler Alert: Juniper Springs doesn’t disappoint.

The section of the creek on which we paddled was about seven miles long, and was generally pretty narrow and shallow. The water was also crystal clear. The narrow sections led to more than a few close encounters (and perhaps collisions) with the trees that lined (and sometimes rose out of) the creek. Despite (or maybe because of) the obstacles, it really was beautiful with several wildlife sightings along the way. We had heard reports of bears, alligators, and even a cougar (or a mountain lion, I can’t remember – some sort of big cat though) but we didn’t see any of those. However, we did see about 20 turtles – large turtles – plus some fish, and a very large blue heron.

The trip down the river took about three hours and by the end I think everyone was getting a bit tired. But in a good way.

We returned to Quest Air by 5:30 and even though the winds had calmed down – actually, it turns out that it would’ve been a good day to fly after all – we decided it was too late to try to get up for a flight. Instead, our focus shifted to dinner. Dinner was a very healthy and tasty affair. Tracy worked her magic on a casserole with turkey sausage, hash browns, and a whole lot of veggies. Greg used his culinary skills to make a kale salad which was really good – yes, that was me that said that and no, it’s not a typo. The heavy dose of garlic may have helped. There was also squash and beans of various varieties. Dinner was enjoyed by all.

After a few non-flying days it was nice to get out for a bit of an adventure today. Between the misty morning, Juniper Springs, and the near full moon lighting my walk back to my tent, it was a very picturesque and enjoyable day. That said, it would have been nice to fly again. Maybe tomorrow.