Friday, June 9

{CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus Adventures} Chapter 10: "$100 Nachos with My Family"

Back in March of last year we bought a little 1970's 4-seater Piper and we have had many fun flying adventures.  Interested in reading more of the {CoffeeShop Family Flying Circus Adventures}? PrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3,  Chapter 4Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9Entire Series (newest posts first).

A special thanks to my husband Paul who flies the plane and edits all our videos. Please subscribe to his Texas Gooney Bird YouTube channel if you are interested in following our adventures. It would make his day!

Wednesday afternoon I received a text from Paul asking if we wanted to go flying after work and grab dinner out.  It was a gorgeous evening and we told him we would meet him at the airport by 5:30.

By the time he did the pre-flight it was getting too late to go anywhere over 30 minutes away, so we decided we would do a quick 15-minute flight to Conroe, TX  and see if we could borrow their courtesy (free!) car and find someplace to eat.

Everyone was flying that evening, so we had to sit and wait until it was our turn. The heat index was 93F (I checked) and it was really hot in the plane. We don't have A/C and Piper's don't have windows that open, so you are stuck keeping the one door cracked while you slowly melt into the seats and pray for a breeze.

Texas summer flying in the Gooney is not for the weak-hearted or weak-bodied.

Our turn was up and we were off! You can see the t-hangers where the Gooney hangs out when no one is flying her. Or dropping by to dust/wash/kiss her. Yes Paul, I am talking about you.

I had a nice glow. Botox you might ask? No, just sweat.  Unfortunately I am at the age where I don't like to use powder on my face. It looks great at first but then it sinks into my wrinkles and makes them more prominent and I suddenly look like a shrunken dried-apple head carving... So I settle for the nice oily glow.

Once you are up in the air you get a steady steam of cool air, but it takes a while to dry off.

 I love flying under giant fluffy clouds.

When Duke wasn't helping Paul fly he was staring out the window admiring the view.

Do these kids of mine really appreciate their thrilling and amazing life?

When I was a kid we didn't have a plane but we did have an old yellow pick-up truck with a camper top on back with those glass windows that you crank open. When we would head out for a car trip my two sisters and I would sit in the back on an old mattress along with our two dogs, Hobo and Heda. When we arrived at our destination we would be soaked in sweat, horribly smelly, and covered in dog hairs and flea bites. Those were the days... If someone did that to their kids now they would probably be arrested!

Yeah, Luke has no idea...

We flew over this really strange water-skiing park. It was a small lake with a big circle marked off and surrounded by wire. The water-skiers were attached to the wire by long ropes and were pulled around and around the circle area. I have not idea how it worked, but it was really neat.

They had jumps set up along the way and we could see tiny people flying through the air!

Before we knew it (and before Imp had time for his traditional nap) we landed at the airport.

This FBO is gorgeous! They treat you like you are part of the rich and famous crowd and came in on your fancy private jet.

The kids admired the Citation II on the tarmac (that the real rich people fly in) while Paul went to borrow the car. I googled, trying to find a decent restaurant that wasn't too far away.

Here is the courtesy crew car and me with my boys.

 Notice those green hills behind us? If you have ever been to Conroe you might be shocked to see such pretty rolling hills. Well, don't be. Those are giant piles of trash covered in grass! Yes, it is a waste-disposal area. ;-)

We decided to try out Leija's Mexican Restaurant. It was only 8 minutes away and the reviews looked good. We don't eat a lot of chips/grains, but we live in Texas and would probably lose our citizenship if we didn't occasionally eat out at a Mexican restaurant.

Leija's was tiny and really cute. I love little local restaurants.

You can tell I am middle-aged by my selfie game. I was trying to get all of us in the photo with the restaurant in the background. I am not in the photo at all and Paul and Imp are cut in half. I don't know what is going on with Duke. Probably laughing at his silly mother.

This was the best image of the four I took...

I am used to Houston Mexican food prices so I was pretty excited to see they had beef fajitas-for-2 for only $15 and fajita-meat supreme nachos for only $6.50.

There is this old (and dated) pilot joke about the "$100 hamburger". The joke is that by the time you fly to a restaurant and purchase a hamburger, that burger cost you $100 for gas/food/etc. So we were happy the food part of the trip was really inexpensive.

I don't see any carbs here...  Nope, no carbs. Just healthy whole foods that a cavemen would eat.  If that caveman traveled in a time machine and ended up in Conroe, Texas in 2017 at this fine dining establishment.

Now that is what I am talking about! I love grilled fajitas and veggies. Low-carb and delicious. Kids, you can keep your nachos.

The food was really good, but we had to eat fast and get moving and head home before it got dark. I don't fly if I can't see big, empty emergency-landing fields. ;-)

We also had to stop at the gas station because the last pilot who borrowed the car had left it on empty. How rude!

The sunset was gorgeous.

And we made it home in one piece, happy and stuffed. What a perfect evening with my guys and the Gooney.

Read our next Gooney Bird adventure "Running/Flying from Hurricane Harvey" here!

Hope you have a great weekend!



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  1. Congrats on the plane! My husband has his private pilots licences, we owned a Cessna 172 and then brought a Cessna 210. We love having a plane! Let me know if you guys ever fly up to Traverse City,MI

    1. Oh, those Cessna 210's are nice! We haven't even made it out of Texas yet, but Paul is working on his IFR license so that one day we can take longer trips. I bet you have had some amazing adventures!!!

  2. Sounds like another wonderful little adventure. Though I'm sure you could have done without the heat.

    Glad your dinner was good and inexpensive as well. I don't hang out with pilots so the joke was new to me. :)

    Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

    Lisa D.

    1. Thank you Lisa! Flying is a blast, and it is nice that I don't think I am going to die every time I go up anymore. ;-) Have a great week!!!

  3. You are making so many great memories of your adventures in that plane!!!

    1. We are! Who knows how long we will have it, but we are trying to use it as much as we can. Paul lives for flying.

