Sunday, July 29, 2012 -- Started the day with a 11-mile run from Hunters Woods Shopping Center parking lot.  Some people were doing 18 miles.  It was somewhat less humid today compared to recent days, so that made it more bearable.  Some kind soul had put a block of ice in the Gatorade, and that made it even more bearable.

Finally, today I defeated the gremlins that had taken over Thunderbird.  It was impossible to send email, although we could receive messages just fine.  Each time we tried to send, the system refused and gave a blunt error message.  It kept reporting that I had STARTTLS security setting enabled and my server could not support it.  Problem was that I most certainly did not have STARTTLS checked, at least according to the server settings.  Several days of sending off pleas for help to various message boards and support forums got me nowhere.

Finally, I began Google-ing the error message text.  This eventually turned up a multi-lingual discussion of the issue and the word from one expert to go to the Tools/Account Settings tab, scroll down to the Outgoing Server SMTP, click on it and open a box on the left side, which then opens a box on the right side that has all your outgoing servers and an edit button.  Click on the edit button, discover that security is set to STARTTLS after all, and put it back to "None."  Problem solved.

I fixed three computers this way, and now all is well again.

Of course, I have no idea how Thunderbird got started and changed its own settings all by itself.  Well, maybe I do?  There was an "update" to Thunderbird about a week ago, about when all this trouble sending messages started.

So my other task today was to update my "States in which I have flown an aircraft as Pilot in Command" map.  Got that done relatively easily.  Added Minnesota to my list.  Here's the result:

States in which I have been PIC

By the way, if you want to create your own map, go to http://www.epgsoft.com/VisitedStatesMap/

Small version of the map that I can use on Uncontrolled Airspace

Russia, Georgia and Ukraine

Today I was fortunate to have lunch with several former State Department colleagues.  All of us share an interest in Russian affairs, and most of us once served in Moscow. A few of us represent, in terms of our experience, the "near abroad" and the Russian sphere of influence.

Dacor House

One of our group had just returned from a visit to Kiev, Tblisi, and Moscow. He was good enough to share his impressions and anecdotes from meetings with leading officials.  Given his level, and the level of people in his delegation (who included former Secretaries of State), they were able to talk to senior officials as well as the intelligentsia.

The overwhelming impression I am left with about these three countries is one of no purpose, no direction.

In all three countries the political elite seem to be undirected, with out goals or objectives.  I won't go in to it in depth here, but the silly politics of Kiev,  where the conviction of Tymoshenko, a key political opponent of President Viktor Yanukovich, has soured Ukraine's ties with the European Union, is but one example.  The EU sees the ruling as an example of "selective justice." My friend sees it as simply a waste of time and energy, accomplishing nothing. 

Georgia

In Georgia, constitutional changes approved in 2011 mean the prime minister will gain additional powers to rival those of the president. No longer tasked primarily with economic matters, the prime minister will have the power to name Cabinet members, including the ministers of the interior and defence, and to shape policies. The president, however, will remain commander in chief. The changes go into effect after the January presidential election. Saakashvili is not eligible to run and he has not yet said what he plans to do when he leaves the presidency. He has not excluded becoming prime minister. Saakashvili has brought the former Soviet republic closer to the West, with aims of one day joining NATO and the European Union, and he wants to be seen and remembered as a democratic reformer.

In the end, it's another country with no direction and no goals.  The political class is simply bent on keeping itself in office.

Our longest discussion had to do with Russia, Putin, and Syria.  There was a general consensus that Russia and Putin lack a sense of direction.  (So does Washington.) Everyone in Moscow worries about control, but it is not clear what they want the control to accomplish. The Russians have invested a lot of people, time and money in Syria, and now they see their investment going south.  It is not so much that they like Assad, but they don't like the alternatives.  (Neither do we.)

There was comment that we don't do much better -- we don't like Assad, but we don't have a good alternative to support either. We don't even know the leaders of the opposition.

I suggested that the time when it is hardest to control a canoe is when you are not paddling, when you have no destination in mind. 

If you are not paddling and moving forward, you are at the mercy of the winds and the currents.  It seems to me this is the weakness of current American policy. I understand -- Obama does not want to make a mistake that could become a political liability, especially during the election season.  But, the conscious absence of a policy is the worst possible solution.  We don't have to back a faction, we could back an outcome.

The Russians, for their part, are backing Obama in the election. The embassy in Washington won't even talk with the Republicans on the Hill -- not even about the Magitsky bill. And, that's a mistake.

The controversial Magnitsky Bill—a piece of legislation that Moscow considers to be explicit interference in the internal affairs of the country, would penalize and bar from the U.S. a number of Russian officials involved in the persecution and death of democratic activist Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky discovered and exposed some criminal behavior by some of Putin's allies -- he died in prison soon thereafter, under less than ideal circumstances.

Sergei Magnitsky

It is quite likely the Magnitsky bill will be passed next week by both houses of Congress, perhaps in conjunction with lifting the Jackson-Vanick restrictions. The Russians will retaliate. Look for things to get nasty. The month of August is always a time for nasty surprises (e.g., World War I, the German invasion of Poland, etc.)

Putin's support for Assad in Syria probably has more to do with his (Putin's) world  view and self image than anything else.  First, there is the simple anti-American element.  If the U.S. is against Assad, the Russia must support him.Putin grew up in an age of super power contest, and his instinct is to distrust and oppose the U.S. on any and every issue.

Second, is the picture in his head.  I once had a vet who said there are two kinds of dogs in the world.  One kind of dog is constantly looking at everything and comparing it to a pork chop.  If he can eat it, good.  If he can't, well let's move on.

The other kind of dog looks at everything and compares it to his mental image of a park.  Can I run in  it?  If not, I'm not interested and I'll keep going and continue looking for a park.

Putin is the same way, but his mental image is of the Tsar and Tsarist Russia.  If events and options look like they would favor the re-creation of Tsarist Russia, then he is for them.  If a solution leads away from that image of Russian greatness and power, then he is against it.  For Putin, it is a bi-polar world -- events and people are either helpful to the restoration of Russian greatness, or they are not and must be opposed.

Statistics, or Flying By the Numbers

I did some calculations and found that our airplane averages about 13 statute miles/gallon.  My car does a little better than that, but a lot of people drive SUV's and trucks that are not much better.

Our calculated speeds over the entire trip ranged from 167 to 186 statute miles per hour.  You can't do that in a car, not even in a BMW. Not for three hours or better.

We were a little slower when we had a headwind, and we never really got a tailwind to push us fast.  We were hitting 200 mph over the ground at times on the way back, but not consistently.

The entire trip was about 1100 statute miles each way.  To drive it in a car would have been (per Google) about 1230 miles each way, or 22 hours of behind-the-wheel time.

Our longest two legs on one tank of fuel, from Saginaw to Mackinac Island, plus Mackinac Island to Brainerd the next day, was a total distance of 560 nautical miles and took 55 gallons of fuel.  The Avidyne fuel totalizer was very accurate, showing 26.2 gallons left on board when we landed at Brainerd.  The analog gauges also appeared accurate most of the time and at the end of the flight, but occasionally one would be off. Then it would correct itself a few minutes later.

This means that you could think in terms of 600 mile "legs" with a margin of safety.  Frankly, however, I would rather stop every two and half to three hours for a bathroom break and to stretch my legs.  I do that when driving long distances too.

I used the "Lean Assist" once we reached cruise altitude (8000 on the way west, and 7000 eastbound), and I ran at about 62 per cent power while cruising.  I don't think we would get better speed unless we went up to about 75 percent power.  That would consume more gas.  This is however something to try and check on a future long distance flight. 

And, Marcia keeps careful navigation notes.  She can repeat back to you every single radio call we got from ATC.  She noted course changes, altitude levels, and frequency changes in the order received, in both directions.  Maybe the next stage is for her to handle the radios, just like the co-pilot (first officer) does in the commercial airlines.

Bass Fisherman

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 -- Fishing day.  Bob has set up a couple of boats and guides from Walleye Dan's operation.  They are supplying all the rods, reels and bait.  This is the first time I've fished with live minnows.

Our guide says the idea is to drop the line right into the weeds on the bottom where the walleye are hiding out.  We set the length so that the line just drags along a little above the lake bottom.  Sometimes that's six feet, more often it is 12 or 14 feet.

Amazingly, you can feel it when the fish start working on the lure.  There are little tugs and jerks.  They could be the hook catching on weeds as we troll, but you soon learn which ones are fish hitting the line.

We fished in a lot of different spots, and tried different ways of doing it, but we could not get the walleye to come out and play on such a hot day.  We did however get a lot of action -- from large mouth bass.  Most of them were pretty small, but we could have made lunch of them if we wanted to.  The other boat did.

But we -- in my boat -- were fixated on getting a walleye.  That's the fish for which this East Gull Lake is famous, and that's what we came for.  We threw all the bass back.  Including this one.

Carlson Family Reunion

Monday, July 9, 2012 -- Given that Sunday was arrival day, this Monday was our first full day at Maddens and of the reunion.  Everyone got along famously, and the east golf course, the beach (above), pools, kayaks, and other facilities got a lot of use.

In the evening Maddens offered a weekly "get acquainted" cocktail party on the croquet court near the tennis club.  They had lots of food and drink, as well as face-painting, games, and a balloon artist for the kids.

We decided this would be a good time for everyone with our group to wear the Reunion tee shirts that Bob and Natalie had made up.  Each shirt not only gives the place and date of this reunion, but on the back is a list of all the participants.  They even made up little teeny shirts for the small fry!

Flying West to Maddens

July 8, 2012 -- We got up for an early breakfast and marveled at the cool, dry air in Michigan.  Clearly, this is a great place to be in summer. Marcia and I were among the first in the dining room, and the previous evening's wedding was clearly over.  We could have eaten on the patio, but chose to sit inside, right where we were the night before.  Mosquitoes, you know?  Even in the mornings up here

After checking out, we simply reversed course and walked back up the road to the KMCD airport.  It was perhaps a 20-minute walk, and not at  all unpleasant.  Well, we did have to step around the horse poop on the road. That's the downside of having no motorized vehicles on the island.

As we took off to the east, I did a slow right turn over the town and the coastline.  That enabled us to take a couple of pictures of the village and port, as well as a shot of the Inn at Stonecliffe with its large lawn.  You can almost see the Adirondack chairs out there, waiting for someone to come and relax in them.

We flew almost due west, first over the lake and then over land.  Not much to see -- lots of trees, lots of lakes, some logging roads, but not much sign of many people in northern Michigan and Minnesota.  I saw several perfectly round lakes filled with bright blue water -- meteor craters?

We landed at Brainerd Regional Airport (KBRD), behind a regional Delta jet.  Actually, we did a 360 about five miles from the field to let him get in ahead of us.  We didn't really need the 7000 feet of runway, but it was a surprise to find commercial flights coming into a field with no control tower.  Well, it's not too busy at Brainerd and everyone seems to manage nicely.

The FBO staff could not have been nicer, racing around to help us and the passengers coming off several other GA airplanes. A Lear arrived right behind us, and a big Citation was already on the ground when we parked.  The young man loaded all our many bags on his golf cart and put them out by the pick up zone while we were still tying down the plane.  There is a restaurant in the terminal, and we might have had lunch if we'd known the Maddens shuttle would be so long coming for us. The windows look out on the ramp and provide endless visual entertainment for people at the ten or so tables. One of the patrons said they still get three commercial flights per day at this airport, down from five per day, but that Delta would like to drop service to Brainerd altogether.

A young fellow picked us up in the Maddens van and we soon covered the twenty-minute drive.  He pointed out the rail yard and the old paper mill, now owned by a Dutch company, as we went.  The land is flat.  Small, neat houses, non-chain stores, wide streets, little traffic -- in other words, a place where people are from -- that's what Brainerd looks like.

We arrived at the Lodge at Maddens, with Marcia quickly placing all the buildings and facilities she had been looking at on maps and in brochures over the past months. She soon met and greeted like old friends Sharon Kuehl and other staff with whom she had been trading email messages with for weeks.

Marinn, Darren and Case had arrived about an hour before us. Their room however was not yet ready, so we killed time with them as Case played on the shuffleboard court and near the beach behind the Lodge. Other reunion participants were in the area -- we knew from text messages -- and soon began arriving.We gathered and chatted on the deck outside the Lodge.

The whole point of this gathering, of course, is the reunion of the Carlson family.  Bob and Natalie have designed some colorful (in Swedish colors, of course) tee shirts to honor the occasion. They have them all packaged for each family, but we'll hand them out tomorrow.

 Tonight is a time for greeting and getting to know each other all over again.

Depart to Michigan

July 7, 2012 -- We dropped Luniquan at George's house, and -- after a baggage load up at home, headed straight for the airport. A little behind time because it took some doing and thinking to get three sets of golf clubs into the airplane.  Weight was not a problem, but length of drivers was.

We got off -- after a long 20-minute wait for Potomac to clear us into the traffic -- about 10:30 a.m. from Leesburg. Soon we were out of the heat and up in the cooler climes of 8000 feet.  The co-pilot's ventilator wasn't working, but I redirected the pilot side and that seemed to help.  Headwinds, but we made good progress and ATC did not give us any changes to the flight plan.

We crossed into and out of Canadian airspace over Lake Erie.  The water does not change color and we never changed to a Canadian controller.  You would not have known we left the U.S. except for the message on my cell phone announcing that AT&T charged me for roaming in Canada. I didn't even use the phone.

Up in Michigan, we changed from our original destination (Oscoda-Wurtsmith (KOSC)) to land at Saginaw County (KHYX). I thought it might be a better place with better facilities.  As it turned out, the air field was deserted, not a soul in sight.  There was a self serve fuel set up, so that worked well.  We looked around for a restroom, but the terminal (a weathered shack, at best) was locked.  There was a flight school, and the proprieter, Mel Johnson, said we could use his restroom.  "If I'm here, it's open!," he repeated several times.  Mel couldn't hear too well, probably from too many years of airplane engine noise.  He said he was selling his airplane (a sign on the wall confirmed that) and getting out of the flight instruction business.

He was a really nice guy in a Midwest kind of way.

We sat and ate the sandwiches that Marcia had packed under the shade of a big tree by the ramp.  There was a flag pole with two large rocks.  People honor the things they don't have much of -- like rocks.  We drank water that we'd brought along.  No money left in Saginaw, except for the gas purchase. I called Flight Service for a briefing and to file a flight plan, and we took off.

It was about an hour to Mackinac Island (pronounced, we learned, "MACK-in-aw"), a small spit of land in the water between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.  There's no tower, and not even an FBO, but the KMCD field is in great shape -- nice clear markings and fresh asphalt.  No one directs you to a parking place, but there is a U.S. Park Ranger in the terminal who collects $10.50 for landing fees and $10.50 for overnight parking.  She advised that we could probably walk to the Inn at Stonecliffe sooner than  the horse drawn carriage would get to the airport terminal, if we called it.

So, we locked the plane and walked, carrying a few overnight things.

The Inn at Stonecliffe was a former manor house, converted to a lodge, with additional rooms in a more modern building.  We were just as happy to be in the annex because it had air conditioning.

The weather was wonderfully cool, and the sun shone over the water beyond the Inn's back yard.  The long Mackinac Bridge stood proudly in the distance, and little boats motored around it.  Sitting on the veranda with a white wine, there was no reason to complain. A wedding was underway in a tent on the lawn, but it really did not interfere with our enjoyment of the surroundings.

We had dinner in the dining room by the window with a great view. Now I understand why people rave about Mackinac Island, and we still had not seen the town or the rest of the island.

Flying Home: Brainerd to Leesburg

Saturday, July 14, 2012 -- Departure day from Maddens.  I planned our return to Leesburg as a one day flight, really just a straight run with a stop in the middle for gas and lunch.

After one last Minnesota breakfast (cheesy scrambled eggs, sausage, and caramel rolls), Darren drove us (and the golf clubs) over to the Brianerd Regional Airport (KBRD)  about 8:30 a.m.  He was able to drive onto the ramp and unload bags right beside the airplane.  We quickly loaded up, using pretty much the same plan we figured out for the trip up.

We took off to the east and circled back at 2000 feet AGL for a look at Maddens and East Gull Lake about eleven miles east of the airport.  It was a bright clear morning, so the resort was easy to see and photograph.

After a slow, low turn over Maddens, we turned east and picked up our flight plan from Minnesota Center.  Just about exactly three hours later, after crossing Lake Michigan at 7000 feet -- thirty minutes over water,  we landed at Jackson, Michigan (KJXN).

Jackson is a welcoming airport with two long, wide runways, cheap fuel delivered by truck, easygoing and helpful tower controllers, and a very friendly little restaurant that overlooks the field.  The restaurant caters to both pilots and airplane watchers alike.

As I commented on the DC Pilots forum, this is a great stopover point from the DC area for northwest-bound pilots.

An hour later we were fully fueled and on our way back to Leesburg.  It was an easy flight, with a few diversions to go around some towering cumulonimbus clouds that threatened turbulence.  We landed right on schedule at 5:45 p.m. at KJYO and put the airplane away.