March 1998 Trip: Day 5 - Epilogue, The Trip Home

Day 5 was not technically part of the adventure, but it was a bit interesting, so I thought I'd put together a few notes. Ivan showed me around Miami some, pointing out the building where he worked last summer and dropping by his sister's house in Fort Lauderdale. Then it was time to get on the plane.   As soon as I was on the plane I got out my GPS (now running on batteries) and held it up to the window. At first at the gate I had trouble getting a lock, but once we started taxing it snapped in and all was well. I just had to make sure I held the thing to the window for the entire flight. As we rolled toward takeoff I watched the speed increase and increase. We left the ground when we were going 170 miles per hour. We started out going West and ended up making a big squarelike pattern to turn around and head East.   This suprised me at first because I hadn't thought about it too much. I expected that once we finished turning after takeoff, we would pretty much be pointed at Newark, New Jersey and stay that way for most of the flight. After all, that is the shortest route. But in reality, we headed due East until we were just a few miles short of the Bahamas. Then we headed roughly in the right direction until a little before we were to go over land again in North Carolina. Then we made a turn away from the direct route once again.   It was all very interesting to watch exactly what we were flying over at any given time and to note what direction we were going and where we made turns. You can see for yourselves on the map. All of the turns actually make a great deal of sense when you consider that aside from just going the shortest route, the plane also tries to avoid areas of congested airspace over other airports. And other things like that. It was also cool to note that the "fasten your seatbelt" light went off at exactly 10000 feet. That the pilot came on to give his greating at exactly 30000 feet. That the plane cruised at about 550 miles per hour, but at one point hit a maximum of 634 miles per hour. Fun stuff.   After arriving in Newark I needed to get back to Plainsboro. Becasue of lack of time when we were leaving we did not as originally planned leave my car at the airport. So instead I took a cab from the airport to the train station, then the train from Newark to Princeton Junction, then another cab back home. Of course I was GPSing the whole way. Arriving home I got my mail, said hello to my bird Moira (alive and healthy thanks to Kathy DeBaker and Coleen Butler who fed her while I was gone) and downloaded my GPS log to the computer to get this final map up on the site. Now it is time for sleep. And then in the morning I go back to work.