Muddlin' Thru
From my pilot logs:
|
DATE: |
TYPE: |
ID: |
FROM: |
TO: |
REMARKS: |
TIME: |
|
4/3/76 |
PA-28-180 |
N8358W |
COV |
Wash Co |
X-C, First Flight |
0.5 |
|
12/26/15 |
PA-28A/U |
N8358W |
VVS |
LCL |
IFR LCL, 2 LOC APP R5 VVS, HOLD CAMOR, F.P., I.R., FINAL FLIGHT W/ MUDDLIN' THRU. |
0.9 |
More than 39 and 1/2 years passed between those entries, and I went from being a 26 year old kid to a 66 year old senior. Through all those years, Muddlin' has been my constant companion. She has seen me through three marriages (and was the site of the second one), and has safely carried me, loved ones, friends, and strangers for thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of miles. Together we have flown as far West as Colorado (twice) and as far East as Eleuthera Island (twice, decades apart). Many times have we plied the airways between Florida and Southwestern PA, and she carried me to a new life in Florida where we tarried for 13 years before returning home to COV / VVS. Visits to friends in Michigan and other parts of the Mid West, getaways to the Lake Erie Islands, and reunions with family and friends in North Carolina and other locales were all made more pleasant and fulfilling by getting there in Muddlin' Thru. She was a gift from my late father, who was leery of the maintenance done on rental planes, and leafing through old log entries brings back memories of giving him enough dual instruction so he could find his way to an airport and land if he had to. Many friendships were deepened by flights in Muddlin,' and there were romantic getaways and a honeymoon trip. My other passion, skydiving, was enriched by having Muddlin' fly me to drop zones hundreds of times. Muddlin,' it never seemed that this day would come, but as they say all good things must end. The hole in my life our parting has left is huge, and I have yet to see how it will be filled. I could no longer afford to keep you in the way you deserve, and I sincerely hope that your next owner will fix you up and enjoy many years with you as well. And so, old friend, it is with a heavy heart and more than a few tears that I bid you Farewell.
(Click here for an in-flight picture taken in 1971 by a prior owner)