Stay tuned for the "Epilogue", in which Mike himself elaborates on numerous issues, not limited to Caribbean flight issues, international paperwork, and group flyouts. The next trip is already in the works.

Mike and Diana left Panama City, Florida at 7:00 in the morning. They were only traveling at three-quarters speed because of a nasty headwind. At 4,500 ft. there were 50 kt. winds, at 2,500 ft. the ride was really bumpy, so they had to find a balance. They traveled a total of 1,068 statue miles and plan to make a dash straight from Texas to Oregon instead of following up the California coast. Here in Oregon the weather is cloudy and cold, but their approach back home should be relatively smooth.

They took off from La Romana in the early morning, bound for Florida. They stopped in the Exuma chain in the Bahamas to refuel and eat lunch in Moss Town. They traveled a total of 802 miles this flight, sometimes having to stay below 1500 feet (occasionally dipping below the radar), and landed at Fort Lauderdale Executive to go through customs. From there, they returned to Boca Raton to end the group trip.

Some updated statistics for the trip so far:

• 7,589 statue miles
• 6,599 nautical miles
• 49 hours in the cockpit

They had a great time in Venezuela, staying at Jungle Rudy's in Canaima, Venezuela. It took an en tire day to go to Angel Falls and back. It is a 114-mile round trip boat ride up the river, where Mike and Diana hiked to a viewpoint below the falls. They woke up at four in the morning, hiking for two and a half hours that day after motoring to the base of the falls. Before they headed down the river, they enjoyed "spit roasted chicken with all the trimmings." After stopping for a swim in a small waterfall, they arrived back at the camp in the dark.

They arrived on Martinique Island Saturday evening af ter a long trip from Ciudad Guyana, Venezuela. The local aero club met them in Ciudad Guyana and treated them all to lunch. The club arranged for customs and immigration offices to be at the clubhouse to help the pilots process the paperwork and send th em on their way.

According to Mike, it was here that the Americans got their lesson in traveling country to country. Flying into Venezuela wasn't any different than what had happened before. To fly out of Venezuela, however, a flight plan must be approve d. The group faxed theirs to Martinique and it was verified by return fax. It was because of one in their group that had done this previously that they were able to make it in time to Martinique. Flying VFR at night in the Caribbeans is not allowed.

The RV4 flew in formation with Jim Graham (in a C182) on the way to Venezuela. It made for a slower time but they say it was a lot more fun that flying separately. There were many air to air shots taken over the ground.

When they took off from Canaima they had hoped to get a shot of the RV4 in front of Angel Falls. There wasn't enough time, and the C182 camera plane had to move it along to the next stop. Mike says he will have to settle for frame shots of the falls with a wingtip in the photo.

We have gotten word from both of them in La Romana, Dominican Republic, where they are doing fine recuperating from their jungle excursion. Resting from all of the bug bites, Diana says the plane is doing great since the alternator problem and the plane logged over 6,000 nautical miles at Martinique.

Special thanks to Jay Pratt for hooking us up with Murray Maxwell and Mario Mundo in Virgin Gorda.  I can honestly say I have never seen this kind of hospitality from people who were total strangers just hours before.  We had a couple plane loads of fun flying in formation around the Virgin Islands and taking pictures.  Mario and me in the RV-4 and Marray and Diana in the Seneca III.  From southeast of Tortola/south of Beef Island following the chain up to Anegada, we landed so Murray could get out of the airconditioned Seneca and into the greenhouse of the RV-4 for his RV grin.  Did I mention it's hot down here for two Oregonians in the winter time.  Mario had been with me riding shotgun in the back and doing all the radio work for the flight.  It sure makes it nice to have the locals show you around and do the talking.  From there we headed back to Beef Island to park the RV and all hopped into the Seneca for the short ride to Virgin Gorda where we got the digital picture sent home.

Also thanks to Doug Reeves and the Van's Airforce World Wide Wing web site www.vansairforce.net.  I think this is where Jay found us.  

Onward We launched out of Beef Island, BVI at 11:22 on Monday morning.  This time we stayed with Jim and Sally flying formation with Jim's C-182.  This made for some great pictures along the route.  The clouds were building up over most of the islands so we didn't see as much as we wanted to (just have to come back again).   

Of course most of what I was looking at during the flight was the wingtips of the 182.  This actully made the flight easier (or we are getting used to the style of ATC here).  Flying in formation and reporting as a flight of two it effectively cut our radio communications in half.  Jim would do the reporting while we were with one controller and when we were handed off to the next I would do the talking. 

The position reporting they ask for was keeping all of us busy.  While I was using my GPS up front to navigate our route, DIana was busy keying in the reporting points into her GPS in the back seat in order to give me the estimated times to the upcoming reporting points that ATC was asking for.  This was typical of most of the planes in the group.  We always heard someone check in with the next controller then say standby while they figured out the time to the next requested reporting point.  This is a style of flying that we just aren't used to in the states.  Not difficult if you know what to expect, but it keeps you busy.  

We got fuel at Guadeloupe where Diana's french (from 20 years ago) helped a bunch when talking with the line guy.  We made it a fast turn around here and blasted of for Grenada, once again in formation effectively giving ATC one plane to deal with instead of two.  We slid by a few more islands and got a few more shots, one of a 5 mast sailing ship that later showed up in the bay in front of our motel  across the bay from St George, Grenada.  It turns out to be a Club Med boat as St. George is set up as a cruise ship port.  At least there wasn't 3000 tourists from one of the huge ships in here today.  The town is real pleasant to walk around in.  

We touched down at Point Salines Airport at 1700 / 2100z and by that time the C-195 had caught up with us.  We were the last to arrive and all the rest had been at the motel for a few hours.  Many had flown direct from Beef Island to avoid the fuel stop time at Guadeloupe.  But it's like Jim said, "..how do I log a landing in Guadeloupe if I don't land there?"

Blue skies, Mike&Diana

They had a blast doing formation flying with Murray Maxwell in his Seneca III. They circled the Virgin Gorda area between 500 and 1500 feet with Murry and Diana taking pictures of Mike and Murray's friend Mario in the back of the RV with him. Mario is a local C-182 operator. The night before they had a terrific sushi dinner and heard a lot of stories about life as a pilot in the Caribbean.

Yesterday's flying was complicated since Mike is only a VFR-rated pilot. Needless to say, there were a lot of clouds to dodge. Also, the airspace during the flight was very busy, with three major checkpoints to pass.

There are fifteen planes in the group, and even though they are split into three flights, flying is every man for himself. Mike's group, made up of single-engined planes, wasn't allowed to land on Virgin Gorda because of an accident involving the island's governor and his wife. They had to land on Beef Island and take a ferry across.

The next scheduled flying time is Monday, so they have till then to rest up.

The downtown areas do not permit ladies to have bare backs or midriffs. The weather is hot and humid with intermittent rain. US currency is accepted everywhere and all the stores just love credit cards. However, all the fuel stops required cash. Mike is quite happy that the RV4 just sips gas. He got 24.4 gallons on his last refuel.

He would like to express his excitement about the website and the great RV community. After seeing this website, an RV owner in Texas contacted one of his friends on Virgin Gorda. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Murry Maxwell contacted Mike and Diana for breakfast. He has lived in the British West Indies for 27 years, 18 of which he has lived on Virgin Gorda. Murry is a plane owner, but not an RV owner due to the "no single engined plane lands" rule.

Finally, Mike has a request. He is going to be in desperate need of an oil change when they get back into Florida. He is hoping to connect with Terry Cook from Shady Bend, Florida the morning of December 15th (Friday). If anyone knows his email address or a phone number, Mike would like to contact him. If this doesn't work out, anyone with a small field that would like to help Mike out would be appreciated. He will need 8 quarts of Aero Shell W100 oil.