Sentimental Journey
...a First-Timer's Report
There are certain obligations involved when you take on the task of caretaker for a Piper Cub. Unforeseen duties include the maintenance of time-honored traditions. You don't just go out and buy a Cub with no thought being given to the necessity, the self-evident debt of honor that comes with the purchase. At least that is how I have convinced myself that no Cub pilot worthy of the name could own a Cub and not fly it to "Sentimental Journey" at least once.
When we are born, bald, toothless and wearing diapers, we do not imagine that someday 90 or so years down the road, we will again find ourselves in that same state. The same applies to our aviation careers. Having first soloed in a Piper J-3 Cub, it could only be right and natural to coast into my "Golden Years" again in a Piper J-3 Cub. In fact, the Cub taught me to fly in the first place, and then taught me again to really fly after years of steering Boeings through the air. All I had to do was listen.
The journey from my home in Colorado to Lock Haven, Pa. is considerable, although nothing so grand as a California to LHV flight. Others have inspired me and shown me the way. Just slice the whole into parts and keep your immediate task in focus. I included other events along the way and made the flights a series of pleasant shorter hops. I arrived a week too soon. Fearing a weather trap, I proceeded on to Moultonborough, N.H. to mark some time on Lake Winnipesauke before returning to the birthplace of so many Cubs. Tailwinds all the way and each way.
Calvin Arter is the heart of Sentimental Journey. His hospitality and generosity were exceptional and the dinner hosted for early arrivals was just what I needed after a day of flying on beenie-weenies and peanut butter crackers. A very nice welcome to mark my arrival.
Trees. Trees everywhere. From Western Pennsylvania eastward there were few "landing sites".... more often they were "survivable crash sites". Westward from Wilkes-Barre I climbed onto a flat plateau and the hair stood up on my neck. No roads, rivers, clearings nor golf courses to land in. Just Trees. Everywhere. Some say a Cub can pancake into treetops and be unhurt. I doubt that. The SPOT locator offered a tiny degree of comfort, knowing that my body would likely be recovered. Expressing this discomfort to other pilots brought a sideward glance and the comment. “Guess I'm just used to it." My course was very serpentine at it's straightest.
With almost perfect weather, the event featured Piper aircraft of all types. I was surprised to see many other types there as well. A 1930 Bellanca, with it's airfoil lift struts, Stinsons, Taylorcrafts, Stearmans, Ercoupes, Luscombes, all were there.
Every evening there was live entertainment, my favorite being the "sisters" who sang "The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B" so well that it was as if the Andrew Sisters were there in person. A C-54 was on display at the Piper Museum and these singers may have been part of that tour. They were Terrific!
As all pilots know, food is the big draw. The quality was high and the cost was low. Camping facilities were superior to those found at Oshkosh (Sorry Oshkosh). No Mosquitoes and plenty of fireflies.
In the cool of the evening Cubs would launch for a series of grass runway touch n' go's until it became too dark. Other aircraft joined in for fly-bys. Plane Perfection.
There is a wooden control tower on the South side of the grass runway and it affords a photographic vantage point covering the whole field. Various fly out events were held but I chose to stay there and just enjoy the birthplace of my Cub.
Sentimental Journey.... put it on your calendar now!
Richard Hawley
