Kevin Down on the Farm
Article and Pictures by Kevin Bertorelli
----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Bertorelli
To: 'Rickey Anderson' ; 'Vance Lorenzana' ; 'Jim Wolak' ; 'bw' ; 'Bill Mills' ;
'Brian Gilomen'
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 12:25 AM
Subject: Monday Flying
Took a trip over to my friend Brian Becraft dad’s farm today. Yeah, it was a
little windy but Brian was leaving town for a few weeks and I was anxious to see
if my new gearbox seal was going to stop the oil leak I’ve been having. Brian’s
place is near Manteno and adjacent to a large sod farm. The owner had previously
given me permission to land on a short private gravel next to Brian’s dad’s
property. The trip there was nice, only mild thermals and no headwind. Since the
gravel road is fairly short I had to use all of my bush flying skills to squeak
out the shortest possible ground roll. Unlike Gunners place there are no
obstacles like trees or houses to contend with so I felt confident and safe.
This was also the second time I have visited. The last time was about a year
ago, that’s when I met the owner of the sod farm. Once safely on the ground I
taxied up to Brian’s red barn and parked.
We cruised over to Bourbonnais for a buffet lunch but by the time we made our
way back to the farm the weather had changed. The winds had picked up and the
temperature dropped dramatically. I initially thought it may have been caused by
a temperature inversion off of Lake Michigan but whatever it was I knew it was
time to leave. I taxied back to the end of the sod farm’s access road, pushed
the throttle all of the way forward and let my 582 do its thing. It did it well
because I was at 300 feet when I passed over Brian and his dad on my departure.
When I approached Clow I could hear Barry announcing his downwind. After I
announced my 5 mile position I heard Barry say, “Kevin, are you going to Prairie
Lake for dinner?”. Of course I didn’t answer because this was, after all, Clow
International’s Unicom frequency and not a chat line. Once I taxied up to my
hangar I check my GPS and found that the round trip to Brian’s was a scant 74
miles. Nothing to write home about…but I did anyway.
BTW, NO MORE GEARBOX LEAKS! Thanks Mick for the advice about contacting A&M for
the 222 Locktite.
[Editor's Note: I think those were "famous last words..."]
Where To Now?