Occidental Acres: Sunday Drivers

A super-exciting Sunday Drivers is on deck today! But first, I have to go out and do it.

Stay tuned.

1800hrs.

What a day! Sunday Drivers was temporarily Sunday Fliers. Today our journey began at the Kings County Airport.

But first a little back story. Last week Laur contacted an aerial photography company in order to get some photos of our property. Because the trees will soon be leafing out, the snow is already gone and there will soon be thousands of trees planted on the property, we thought it'd be a good idea to have some aerial photos of the land. So Laur contacted Annapolis Aerial Photography to check out the price. The price was fair and the photographer was available so we agreed to have some pictures taken. On a whim, she asked if they take passengers. The photographer said yes.

We had initially made a plan for sometime this coming week, but the weather forecast is indicating crappy, but warm, weather for the days ahead. This morning however, was clear, calm and gorgeous and I wondered briefly when I got out of bed if we shouldn't go today.

No sooner had we eaten breakfast but the phone rang. Would you like to take photos today, the guy asked? WOULD I ?! Jumping for joy I prepared my equipment and hopped in the car!

I arrived at the airport a bit early so I could take some photos prior to take off.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there was a barely-hair-tousling breeze.

Kings County Municipal Airport is home to the Kings County Search and Rescue team. Their trucks were parked, ready to roll in an emergency. The KCSAR team was also conducting an air exercise just as we landed.

The KCMA is also home to the Atlantic School of Skydiving, which has not yet begun operations for the season.

The pilot (Bob Rowe) and his son Jon (the photographer) arrived shortly and they readied the plane for take off. First things first, a fuel top-up to ensure we had enough for our hour-long flight.

The plane seats four-ish. The pilot and co-pilot in the front and a seat and a half in the back.

The cockpit.

It was a tight squeeze in the aircraft as Bob big dude, and I'm ... stout. Jon sat in the back where he could take photos from both sides of the aircraft. After a short safety briefing and some instructions on how to operate the window, we were off!

I shot a video of take off, a short portion of the flight and returning to the airstrip. I was a teensy bit nervous and a lot excited when we took off. I knew it was going to be all good in the 'hood though, because the runway was 2-8 and that's my favourite number.

If you're really interested, you can click on the vid and watch it at YouTube in high definition.

On our way to the property, we had the opportunity to fly very near our friends house, Laura and Gerard. I pointed it out to Bob and he asked if I'd like to fly over. Of course I said yes! We flew over their place on our way back and I had the opportunity to take some really neat shots of their farm.

The following few photos are ones that I took from the plane. I am looking forward to seeing the shots from the photographer as I had a very difficult time getting anything decent!

Looking directly east, roughly illustrating the property lines. You can see how much was logged and the remainder of our woods. I think it's so neat that there is a circle of hardwood right in the middle of the property. The rough square (middle background) was replanted in the 80's. This shot also illustrates the old logging road's course through the trees. For some reason, when walking the road, you end up coming out in a clearing (right middle ground, near the elbow of the "L" shape). Now we know to keep going east. I'm going to try and find the "circle". I can't help but wonder if there is something there! Perhaps it's a good place for our cabin...

The house. Complete with junk pile. I can't wait until that's gone. It has been suggested that we burn it, but I just can't bring myself to burn all those chemicals. This summer will be a busy one, what with all the landscaping to do. These shots help us figure out where to place the garden and orchards.

The aerial photography is also awesome because it gives us an idea of how to plan for landscaping. The following is my proposal, but it will likely be vetoed by Laur for some reason I had not thought of.

We made three passes in total - one at approximately 1800', the second and third at approximately 2200'. Two passes were done before we headed off in north-west, to Laura and Gerard's. It was after we'd taken some photos of their place that Jon realized some of his photos were not so great. So, we went back for a third pass. It was on this third and final pass that I spotted my tee-eye-en-wye family walking back along the logging road! They are waving.

All of the tracks in the foreground are from septic installation. Our septic field is the brown rectangle, right foreground.

In a stroke of pure genius, each of us took a walkie-talkie, so I was able to talk to them while I was in the air. I did try to contact the ground crew on the first two passes, but because of aircraft noise I was not able to hear them reply. On the third pass I put the radio right up to my ear and heard Laur yelling that they were on the logging road! Success! We spotted them!

Jon got his shots and we began the journey back to the airstrip. On our way back, I thought I took some shots of the peat-moss and cranberry bogs, but I guess I wasn't pressing the shutter hard enough. I couldn't hear nor feel the camera because of aircraft noise and vibration, so I guess I missed the opportunity. We did fly over this property, however. I couldn't figure out if it was a collection of solar arrays or perhaps greenhouses, so I asked Bob. He said those were mink enclosures. Mink? Really? Two owners ago, our property had been owned by a mink farmer, but I'm guessing his operation was very small-scale. The only indication of the mink farm which was once here are a few cages left to rot on a portion of the property and a story or two about how the former owner, as a young boy, helped feed the mink. These days mink are a primary industry in Nova Scotia, but not without controversy.