Frazz by Jef Mallett for November 21, 2023

She’ll be leaving town really early in the morning. I went to Calaveras County for one Thanksgiving right after school; a family friend lived up there.

Sorry, Arizona is all full up for the season. Try New Mexico.

Reminds me of a time I was flying into Las Vegas. For some reason, we were taxiing for a long time. So the flight attendant got on the speaker to say “SouthWest saves you money by flying half way, driving the rest”.

Piper cubs generally fly not a whole lot faster than the freeway speed of a vehicle. Though they ARE more likely to avoid traffic problems… and can often fly cross country, thus shortening the total distance.

Modern air travel today. It take longer to drive to the airport and clear security than it takes to fly to your destination.

Mom and Dad did once, Texas to Kansas to California, and back in a Super Cub. It took a while, and was a little scary at least once crossing a mountain range in the southwest. The updrafts and downdrafts were fierce.

LIKEd for the reference to the Piper Cub.

I’ve only flown in a small plane once, but I imagine Michigan to Arizona would be an amazingly scenic ride.

OK Zoomer.

I use to ride in a twin engine Beechcraft to Drummond Island, Mi twice a month. During the night flights, the glowing red manifold could be seen through the vents in the cowling. I about lost it the first time I noticed this. The pilot chuckled and said it was normal. It took my heart an hour to calm down!

A Mooney would be a lot faster.

There is a subdivision in the SW suburbs of Chicago that has two streets; standard tract houses, with 2-car attached garages facing each street.

Between them is, rather than an alley, a runway, and every house also has an attached hanger facing it.

Gee, most people who fly have to drive to and/or from the airport.

On a Daytona Beach vacation trip we found a lot better airfare to Orlando, then driving the rest of the way, just over an hour’s drive.

When planning to visit family in northern MN, my dad and I briefly considered flying to Winnipeg and driving up river to Minnesota. What stopped us was access to a rental car that we could drive across the border (back then there was no passport requirement.)

We flew to Arizona from a strip in our back yard, someone asked me why I flew. I told them it takes two days to drive. He then asked my wife how many days it took to fly, she told him two days. In my defense, we did not leave until after the frost melted off the wing at noon and arrive in Yuma by noon the next day.

I flew from Ketchikan to Fairbanks in a Cessna. The distances are comparable, but the chances of something going wrong far from help are greater.

Why not ? The teenaged Rinker brothers flew cross country in a Piper Cub that they restored themselves. Wrote a book about it, " Flight of Passage" Great read, and a lesson for all young people.

The older I get, the more grateful I am we don’t yet have flying cars.

I have piloted our plane from Comox, BC to Dog River, Sask and back to visit cousins for the last few summers. Canada is beautiful from a small plane.