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Flying with Faber: A Drive Along the California Coast
By Stuart J. Faber
Hidden Beach at Pescadero. (Stuart J. Faber)Whenever I travel, especially in California, my conveyance of choice is my airplane. For example, I can fly from Los Angeles to the Bay Area in just one-and-a-half hours. On a good day, the same trip by car takes around seven hours. A few friends of mine have bragged that they have whizzed along Interstate 5 and made it in five-and-a-half to six hours. To those who have never driven along the dreary I-5, I certainly don’t recommend it. Along that route to San Francisco, there is little scenery other than miles of arid flatland with hardly a tree or body of water along the way. Several gas stations, along with a Denny’s here or there, look no different than similar car-stops on any Interstate in the country. Perhaps the mile-high advertising signs are substitutes for trees. One exception: Harris Ranch with its great restaurant and hotel (not to mention, its own landing strip), about halfway up the road is one of my favorite places.
There are times when Cheryl, or others whose enthusiasm for flying, especially in heavy IFR conditions, is somewhat less than mine, will conspire to conduct an aviation intervention. Screaming, kicking and scratching, I will be forcibly removed from my airplane, strapped in a car seat and pointed in the direction of our destination. Even under those circumstances, there is one thing upon which I will insist – we must avoid the Interstates.
Flying With Faber - June 2012
New Discoveries Along the California Coast
By Stuart J. Faber
This past California winter, assuming there is such a season in this state, produced an amount of rain sufficient to yield an unprecedented abundance of greenery. I can hardly remember a spring wherein the coastal meadows and forests were so richly green.
On most occasions when I fly to the Bay Area, I take the shortest route-which is through the San Joaquin Valley. However, in the spring, especially when the greenery is so prolific, there are few better pastimes than to crank up the airplane, climb above the cement forests of the Los Angeles Basin and head up north along the coast. The scenic benefits are twofold. To my left is the Pacific Ocean. The coastline changes back and forth from wide beaches to rocky shores. To my right are vineyards and rolling hills of green pastureland. I stop along the way to visit some of my favorite haunts. On a recent trip, I made several new discoveries. Let’s head north up the coast and share these treasures.
Flying With Faber - November 2011
A Trip to the Nation’s Salad Bowl
BY Stuart J. Faber
Stuart Faber helping to harvest the broccoli crop.It might seem to those who have read the last few columns of Flying With Faber that I am having an identity crises. In a number of columns, I described trips which were conducted from my airplane. The next column may have included a description of my sailing on a boat – “Sailing With Faber.” Finally, I recounted the story of, “Horse-And-Buggy With Faber;” my epoch of operating a horse and buggy along the trails of Mackinac Island, Mich.
I can’t make up my mind about how to banner this article. So let’s call this, “Gleaning with Faber.” During my recent trip to Monterey and the Salinas Valley in California, I met with a group called “Ag Against Hunger,” a non-profit organization which recognized that even though we live in an area where there is an abundance of food, millions of Americans, and of course folks all over the world, suffer from hunger. From time to time all of us have exclaimed, “I’m famished!” For us, the phrase is really hyperbole. I doubt that any of us has ever really suffered from famine – the word from which famished is derived. When we claim to be “starving,” we are not accurately describing our current level of nutritional sustenance. The truth is that when we use any of these phrases, it means that we haven’t stuffed ourselves for a few hours – and the clock tells us that it’s time to eat again.