With bad winter weather forcing us to cancel our D.C./National Mall/Smithsonian trip to Carl’s house in Fredericksburg, VA the girls and I decided to take a look what else we could do. Having already changed out our straight weight w100AD oil for some X/C 20w50, Skyscraper was ready for the cold temperatures.
We looked at going to Kitty Hawk to see the Wright Brother’s National Memorial but the poor weather was there too so we decided that something a bit further west should work.
Battleship Park in Mobile bay was appealing but we decided we could knock that out in a day trip from Orlando so we deferred that destination too. They have a Vought OS2U Kingfisher there that I would like to see as Mr. Parker flew one off a catapult on the USS New York over Iwo Jima. We are thinking about you Mr. Parker!
The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama coupled with the Southern Museum of Flight was the next option we considered. Spending 2-3 hours at each museum on Saturday then fly to Atlanta and see their aquarium on Sunday.
The last option we looked at and settled on was Chattanooga, TN.
Day 1. We departed X04 8am. for the 2hr 50 min flight to Chattanooga’s Lovell Field (KCHA). After landing we caught a Lift for our 55-60 minute train ride that departed the Tennessee Valley Rail Road’s “Missionary Ridge Local” at 12:30 before hitting our timed entry (between 2 and 3pm) at the Tennessee Aquarium before they closed at 5.
As usual Skyscraper performed well averaging 170-175 KTAS with a 160 knots over the ground despite the headwind while burning 11.4-12.1 GPH at 23.90 squared and 6,000’. There was some visible moisture we were looking to avoid flying through at higher (and lower) altitudes. The OAT at 6k was 46 degrees.
Landing at Chattanooga.
Wilson Air at KCHA had great service although they have only ever seen (2) RVs prior to our arrival and scratched their head at how to hook a tow bar up to N7ZK. Bryan and Amanda arrived shortly after we landed in their RV-7A.
We arrived at Chattanooga at almost exactly 11:00 as we had planned, tied up the plane at Wilson Air and hopped in a Uber for the Train Museum. We arrived at the train museum just a few minutes before they boarded the train but had just enough time to buy London and Violet a hot dog and corn dog at their deli before boarding the train. The experience is pretty cool. They load you up on a passenger car built in the late 40s and roll down their track approximately 3 miles to their turntable (built in 1916). After a turn table demonstration where they turn the locomotive around 180 degrees, you head into their train maintenance shop and hear about what the museum does and how they do it. Once that was done we loaded back on the train and rode it back down the track to the museum grounds. The staff was overly friendly and the experience was great.
Tennessee Valley Railway Museum.
Inside the museum.
Loading on the train for our ride.
Railway turntable in action.
Inside the maintenance depot.
A short Uber ride to the hotel to drop off our bags and then another short Uber ride to the Tennessee Aquarium. While their website is a bit lacking the aquarium is really cool. There are two buildings that comprise their campus. Both building have an escalator that take you to the top of the building before you work your way through the exhibits on your way down. We saw many species of fish we have never seen before. Almost all of the exhibit space was well put together and had animals on display. For our cold weather clothes the butterfly garden was a bit hot at 83 degrees and 67 percent humidity. Violet enjoyed touching a stingray and we all enjoyed seeing the paddlefish and various other exotic species.
They never miss a moment to be kids.
Neat layout. You start at the top and work your way down through the exhibits.
One of the few things the Tennessee Aquarium could do a better job of is having plaques that better matched the fish in the tanks. This one is unknown to us.
Violet’s sense of humor!
Once we had seen what the aquarium had to offer London and Violet played on some rock blocks out front before we walked the 1.3 miles back to the hotel area and dinner. Bryan saw a cupcake shop on the way back and was kind to purchase Violet a s’mores and London a banana cream cupcake. At the suggestion of one of the line guys at Wilson Air Center we headed to the Urban Stack. Being only 0.3 miles from our hotel it made it a convenient spot for dinner. The food was great and reasonably priced. In fact that is one thing I can say about Chattanooga, it is reasonable. Coming from Orlando where premium parking for one car at Disney costs as much as the entrance fee for (3) to the train museum ($56.18 total for 3), this place is a value!
After waking up and enjoying breakfast at the hotel we hailed an Uber to Ruby Falls. The facility at Ruby Falls as well as the experience they put together are great. As we checked out of the hotel we had all our gear with us. Ruby Falls has quarter operated lockers that are rather sketchy. #41 works great but #14 ate quarters as did #26. The cave tour is slightly less than a mile walk underground (round trip), and about an hour and twenty minutes long. Highly recommend this one.
Ruby Falls Caverns.
Ruby Falls.
After Ruby Falls we went to See Rock City. This place was a bit more of a tourist spot than Ruby Falls. You walk over some large rocks, bridges, between large rocks, and into a cave they call the Fairyland Caverns. The caverns are interesting as they have hundred year old wood figurines placed in storybook scenes. It was odd but enjoyable. After the kids enjoyed some hot cocoa we departed for the airport.
Rock City.
Rock City.
Rock City.
Rock City.
Rock City.
This is where Rock City gets a little weird.
Interesting note: Rock City is in Georgia. Uber drivers can only drive in the state(s) they are registered. NO Tennessee Uber drivers would come to Rock City to pick us up as it was across state lines. Luckily Lift does not have this issue. After a half hour ride back to the airport and we loaded in Skyscraper to depart KCHA for our fuel stop at Roosevelt Memorial Airport just south of Atlanta. Having nice VFR weather we departed the Chattanooga class Charlie airspace without a flight plan. This leg of the trip we enjoyed a nice tailwind. After ducking under the Atlanta class Bravo airspace and topping off with the cheapest AvGas around ($4.30 a gallon) we loaded up and blasted off for X04. Sunday we got to our front door at home 36 hours after we departed Saturday morning.
5.8 hours roundtrip with the engine running,
68.26 gallons of Avgas burned,
1.5 hours of IMC,
1,016 miles flown.
