The following story was written by VMG Member Ed Shreffler, who is our beloved and unofficial VMG Scribe.  Linda & I were not able to make it to the fly-in due to weather.  Everyone had a wonderful time, I hope, except for Linda and me!

Fly Fast, Fly Safe!
Phil & Linda

The week started out variable as far as the weather was concerned.  By Wednesday the weather was great with temperatures reaching into the mid 80s and good visibility after eight o'clock in the morning.  Lori Elinsky had offered to give me a ride in her Mooney as mine was down for an annual / overhaul.  On Thursday the weather was not as good as it was hazy in Corona until 2 PM in the afternoon, with a high of 79.  Friday was worse with a low overcast until 10 in the morning and then haze until 3 PM with bad visibility.  It got up to only 70° that day.

And then the worst of all happened.  Somebody took off from Corona Friday morning in terrible IMC conditions with a very low ceiling.  That decision proved fatal minutes later.  The Corona airport was closed all day.  I did not know about that until Saturday morning when Lori called me on the phone.  We both figured that the airport would be open again on Saturday, but because we had overcast, fog, and haze all morning, we decided to meet a little bit later so it could burn off.  It was chilly jacket weather in the 50's.

Joe Aldendifer was kind enough to stop by our place and ask me if I wanted to fly with him as he is IFR rated, and he now flies out of Chino.  I had to decline because I had committed to Lori, and I did not want to run off and not let her know what I was up to.

I left the house for the airport around 10:30 and my wife Sue departed for Redlands in her car shortly thereafter.  She is a 'non-flying spouse' but she had been listening to me yapping about the Vintage Mooney Group people for so many years around here  that she wanted to meet some of them. 

When I got there, the weather was just about turning VMC but we found out that the airport was still closed because of the accident.  What a bummer.  Lori and John offered to drive me to Redlands, and so all three of us went together in their car.  We parked and walked over to the group just before lunchtime.  It was nice to again see some Mooneys parked next to each other on the ramp.  Maybe 10 compared to the 28 that had registered on our Vintage Mooney Group website.

Our hosts at Redlands were Kevin and Darcy Smith and the venue was a BBQ at their hangar.  They had thought of everything.  They knew that I had invited several people to drive in, so they gave me their cell phone number, so they could open a drive-in gate for those folks.  I was amazed at the lunch spread on the table. 

Darci on the right and her friend stand behind the serving table

Everything about out our lunch was great.  As an added surprise, Kim my friend and supervisor at work brought some baked beans that she had made just for us.  The temperature did hit the upper 60's and we were fine.

Lunch is food but lunchtime is people, and as much as I love food, I like to focus on the people.

Everyone is seeming to be having a great time, no one looks bored from here

On the left, Kim, Kristee, and Sue are engaged in conversation after lunch
In the middle, Paul from San Diego and John from Tucson are interested in something
To the right, the Hopkins family and the Aguilar family are getting acquainted.

I had a happy and full tummy, nice weather for what I was wearing, great people all around me, so I ventured off onto the ramp searching for more.  My notes indicated that we had some 'First Timers' among us, and so in the spirit of the bumbling Pink Panther, I set out in stealth.

Ah hah, the 'Panther' nabbed a picture of 'First Timers' Richard and Shelley Aguilar with their 1959 M20A that had come to them with metal wings when they became the steward of N8325E

Then I snuck up on pilot John Real (on the right) and his friend Jake from San Diego, also 'First Timers' with the Vintage Mooney Group as they got ready to leave.  They are a couple of really nice guys.  I wish that I would have got to chat some more with them.

'First Timers' Jake and John look really warm in the Redlands sun before their departure

Wandering back to the rest of group, I saw spontaneous conversations were going on all over the place.   There were old friends getting reacquainted and new friendships being made.  The very things that some of us occasionally talk about on the phone between fly-ins.  I was looking at the essence of the fabric that holds this group together, and spawns continued our growth.

 
Ramp Chatter and gawking at a landing or take off are commonplace

Larry, Marissa, Larry, Wim, Paul, and a tiny gray and blue slice of Gina

It was good to see Kim and Anita reunited for the first time since last June at Lake Tahoe

Larry Palmer gave the after lunch presentation on our future activities into the summer and it sounded as good or better than previous years.  We all have more fun to look forward to.

Looks like Larry is holding Court with Marissa and Anita in rapt attention.  How does he do that?

Larry Palmer took our group photo.  Other 'First Time' guests include Ed’s wife Sue on the left, Kristee in front with red sweater and blue jacket, and Larry Hopkins wife Marissa on the right in the yellow blouse.

Photos courtesy of members Larry Palmer and Ed Shreffler