Hi Guys,

  Once again low ceilings and poor visibility prevented us from flying to

Catalina (AVX). Maybe we ought to give up on that destination for awhile.

And I guess many pilots looked out their window this morning, saw a low,

gray overcast and said, "Nope, not today", and didn't come out to the

airport. At 0700, visibility and ceilings at most San Diego airports were

below VFR minimums, but ceilings lifted to around a 1000' and vis went to 3

by 0900. But at AVX, ASOS was still reporting 1/4 mile vis and 100'

overcast. So we decided to fly to our planned alternate, Apple Valley (APV),

where skies were clear.

  Eight people in two twin Cessna, both C337s, from two different airports,

made this Fly-In. Flying out of SEE were; Bob Werve, Don MacManus, Bill

Trenkle and Jeff Carey. And flying out of MYF were; Jim Newport, Dennis

Cullum, Bret Strain and me. The bottom of the solid marine layer was around

1200' and tops around 2500, but it was a very dense layer and extend all the

way to, and up against, the West side of our hills. So there was little

chance of non-IFR planes/pilots flying out to the East County and climbing

up on top VFR. So some pilots climbed in the 337s and both planes got

IFR-VFR clearances and punched up through the goo.

  On top it was the standard San Diego weather; lots of sunshine and some

haze over a big, fluffy, white blanket covering the city, county and back

country. We left the fluffy stuff behind when we reached the hills north of

San Bernardino and the haze seemed to evaporate. Then there was nothing but

beautiful SEVERE CLEAR skies, smooth air with visibility FOREVER.

  There was very little traffic and no wind at APV and we basically had the

airport and the 6000+' runway to ourselves.  APV has a nice restaurant,

called Wings, at the far South West end of the field. It's not big, but

friendly and serves decent food. There was a little wait for food, but the

one cook and one waitress do there damnest to get everyone served quickly.

Over breakfast we had a great time and did the usual... ate lots of food and

did lots of hangar flying.

  Bret Strain took some mug shots of the group and then both C337s on the

ramp. He'll forward them to our Webmaster, Chris Claborne, to post on our

website http://www.cyberthought.com/tonytex/ in the very near future. The

website will also have meeting times and additional info, i.e., suggested

routes, etc., for the next Fly-In as well as pictures of past Fly-Ins.

 At APV, we also decided our next Fly-In will be on SATURDAY, Nov 9th, to

Chiriaco Summit (L77). NOTICE that's on a SATURDAY next time. As mentioned

in a previous email, Bob Werve says there's a Veteran's Day Celebration

there at the General Patton Museum. There should be lots of vintage

warplanes there. Hey, what the heck. It'll be something different to combine

with our Fly-Ins. REMEMBER to schedule a plane for NOVEMBER 9TH for the next

Fly-In at L77.

  Incidentally, someone said I arrange these Fly-Ins... WRONG. I just

provide another excuse to do some fun flying. As one pilot says at home,

"Hey Hon, I really got to go flying with the guys this month to stay current

or all the money I used to learn to fly will be wasted".

  Best of clear skies and tailwinds,

Tony Tex