Journal entries in 'Dear Diary' for October, 2007

When I was in Knoxville last month, I checked out two of the local flying clubs. Knoxville Flyers has about 250-members and three planes, and is based at DKX, the Downtown Airport. Sky Ranch only has something like 100 members and two airplanes, and they have their own private grass strip on an island in the river that passes through Knoxville.

Between the two, I had pretty much decided on Sky Ranch. The initiation fee was a little cheaper ($225 vs $350 for Knox Flyers), and the monthly fee was cheaper too ($35 vs $56). Their hourly rates were a little more expensive ($50/hr for the Cessna 150 and $70/hr for the Cessna 172, vs $46/hr and $68/hr respectively at Knox Flyers), but pretty close overall. Both clubs have the policy that if you take an airplane on a trip, you need to pay at least two hours' worth of rental fees for each day the plane is gone, whether you actually flew it that day or not. That policy is what would make trips unfeasible — at $50/hr, the plane rental for a round trip flight to Clemson (one hour each way) would only cost $100, but if I went for a week I'd end up having to pay for 2 x 7 = 14 hours' worth, so the trip would cost $700 instead of $100. But it still seemed like the best option around.

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And I've been fluttering all over the damn place.

Since my lease on my apartment in New Orleans was almost up and I planned to move rather than renew it, last month I set off on an 1800-mile roadtrip to check out the various places I was considering moving to. I decided on Knoxville, TN, for several reasons. I've really been wanting to live somewhere mountainous, and Knoxville is certainly satisfying in that respect. Andrés and Amy had just moved there for grad school and plan to be there for at least two years. Geographically it's within a few hours' drive of lots of the places where I have friends — Atlanta, Clemson, Raleigh. There is a healthy aviation scene in Knoxville — there are at least three good flying clubs with great rates, and there's a large commercial airport and a smaller regional airport and lots of private grass strips all over. It's a small city, so I have access to all the stores and resources I want, without having to deal with city blocks and traffic and nowhere to park.

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