Well, it has been a little while.  There have been births and deaths, weddings and birthdays . . . all the usual things.  

We finally did bring on a new partner to the Two One Tango LLC, plus we made what we call a club for two others (non-equity and slightly different financial arrangements) for a total of five of us flying N6321T.  There is still one equity membership available, but we've throttled back on the search for a while.  

Our last annual was a mess.  Found we had a cracked right elevator that needed replacement, then a problem with the right gear required an extensive amount of work to put right.  Since then, a miserable flying winter in 2015-16 put a damper on activity until March, and a lingering brake problem has driven the maintenance folks at Landmark / Signature / TechnicAir (they changed hands) batty.  Nonetheless, we seem to be arriving in the main flying season with everything working, and tomorrow we'll find out if the last unaccounted and lingering drip of brake fluid has been eliminated.  


Just in time, too.  About a year ago we were flipping through the laptop photo album, and stumbled across pictures from Key West.  Those of you who have not been there may be surprised to learn that the southernmost point in the US is located in Key West.  We know this because there is a large buoy painted brown / orange / red where two streets dead end at the water.  It says its the southernmost point 's right there on the buoy.  

There is no business or public management bureau for the buoy.  It just sits there.  Tourists spontaneously line up all day long to get their pictures taken at the Southernmost point.  The closer you get to the front of the line, the more people turn to those behind them to ask if they'll take their pictures with their families and friends.  Sure enough, when you get to the front of the line you do the same thing with your camera.  The whole process takes maybe 15 minutes and you're off to see something else.

Well, with fond memories of the warm, tropical air of Key West in mind, it's only natural to think how great it would be if we only had bookends - pictures of friends and family lined up at the northernmost point in the US.  That would be Point Barrow, Alaska.  

. . . (long pause) . . . (scratch behind ear of your choice ;-) . . . 

320m (278 nm) north of the Arctic Circle, located on the balmy, scenic Arctic Ocean.  North of the Brooks Range and its north slope.  Even north of Prudhoe Bay, where the reality TV show "Ice Road Truckers" focused for several seasons.  You get the picture.  To be fair, though, the Canadians have an air base on an island north of Greenland several hundred miles closer to the north pole, so you'll understand we're just pikers imagining going to Barrow.  

So, with this idea stuck in the back of my mind, geez, wonder what it would take to fly 21T up to Barrow and make our way up to Pt Barrow?  

Well, here you go.  Frederick MD is the departure point down at the center of the range rings.  Ann demonstrated once again just how wise she is by declining the offer to come along.  My good friend Gary Bruner, on the other hand, has agreed to test our friendship by co-habiting a 21T for 70ish flying hours from 11 - 31 May 16.  

There are a lot of people who've published or otherwise written about such trips.  The Alaska 99s (http://www.ak99s.org/flyalaska.html) have a great piece which laid out the main routes of which there are three:  the Alaska Highway to the east and eventually through the Canadian Rockies to Fairbanks AK; the trench, a long, straight valley hundreds of miles long that runs from Montana to the British Columbia / Yukon border; and the Coastal route following the Alaskan Panhandle from Anchorage and Cordova to Vancouver and Seattle.  The Alaska Airmen's Association Logbook goes into an extensive discussion of flying to, in and from Alaska and is a great reference.    

Our route takes the Alaska Highway route going up, and proposes the coastal route on the way home after some extensive AK flying to Barrow and elsewhere in the state.  Initially, we'd thought to get as far south as Seattle, and pick our way through the Rockies back toward Frederick.  Then it occurred that we'd never actually spent any time in California, we missed Roswell on the Phoenix trip a few years back, and there was a song about Catalina Island many years before that.  With so many compelling reasons ;-), the plan expanded to include a trip all the way down to San Diego, visit relatives in Phoenix, fly to Roswell for lunch, and then head back home.  

Of course, there is still that unresolved final drip of brake fluid.  We'll see if we go on the 11th or work out a delay.