my little corner of the web: February 2019

I've been really remiss in updating my little virtual diary here. It's part being busy (a fair amount of travel and stuff going on), part dealing with health stuff (mostly the neuralgia and the day-to-day effects it has), and a not insignificant part was just sheer laziness.

So now a big, rambling "Previously, in Stacey's life" post...reader be warned.

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TITLE CARD: "PREVIOUSLY, IN STACEY'S LIFE..."

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So, yeah...let's see. The biggest thing has been the addition of two redheads to the Lawton family and the changes they have brought:

Our redheads

That's Will's McLaren 675LT Spider, replacing his prior McLaren 12C (we've had the car for a while now, I just totally neglected to post about it). He went through a lot to get it: the local McLaren dealership didn't have a slot available, so he contacted pretty much every dealer in the US. We lucked out and McLaren of Scottsdale (AZ) had a slot available, so that plus our deposit and Utah address meant we were able to get one of the limited cars. It took about eight months from beginning to delivery, with a large part of that being the manufacturing (it was a bespoke configuration, with a lot of customization).

He loves it. McLaren really improved on the 12C: better handling, better electronics, a lift kit (which is amazingly useful when dealing with driveways, bumps, and dips), faster. The convertible top and sexy Volcano Red paint are icing on the cake...it's a fun car.

Peeking out shyly from behind the car is the latest redhead to join the family, our Cirrus SR22T. I never thought we'd ever own our own plane...it's pretty surreal. I really wish my parents could see it. I'd love to share the whole experience with Dad and Mom, I think they'd have gotten a kick out of it all.

The process was all new to us, so it was a mix of exciting, stressful, draining, and interesting. After a few lunches and flights with our sales rep Beth (she's awesome), a deposit, some back and forth about availability (they had more people interested than they had slots available, but Cirrus really came through with a way for everyone to join the Cirrus family), it all began in earnest.

There were three major steps: design, manufacture, and delivery. Each one involved a lot of coordination and a trip to a Cirrus location, and each step gave us some awesome times and amazing memories.

= Design =

We traded emails and some phone calls back and forth with the lead designer Chris; he quizzed us on what we liked, what kinds of things we may already have designed, what colors we preferred. He was really good...he took our conversations, pictures of our cars and motorcycles and Will's skydiving jumpsuit and wingsuits and came up with some preliminary designs. We narrowed those down, and then in April we flew out to Alcoa, TN for a few days to meet with the Cirrus folks in person.

We had no idea what to expect, which might have worked in our favor. Chris (lead designer) and Brooke (Xi Specialist - "Xi" is the Cirrus customization program) met us for dinner and drinks the night before, which was a brilliant move on their part...we all got to know each other in a more casual setting before the in-office meetings the next day.

We clicked with them both right away, and it was an awesome evening. The next day was long but fun...Brooke has an amazing memory for detail, and she picked up on every little thing: what coffee/drinks/sodas we liked, what music we listened to, what food we liked. She had all of those things ready to go, music cued up, sodas waiting, all of which made what could have been a dry, dull, draining day into a fun time filled with laughs and grins.

The end result, after a full day and a few tweaks over the next week or so, was this (well, this is one page of a longer design spec, but you get the idea):

It starts to become real.

= Manufacturing =

We really, really, really wanted to see the Cirrus factory, and Brooke had our backs...she helped arrange a July trip to the factory in Duluth, MN. She even timed it all so we could see our plane being built, which was a rare treat...it's not often that the timing works out that way. She went above and beyond and got us a tour by Julie, the production coordinator at the factory. Julie has been with Cirrus for more than thirteen years and has had a big part in refining and creating the process (and more than a few improvements to the planes themselves). She was a huge encyclopedia of knowledge; we were lucky to get time with her.

Skeletal interior of our plane

We asked everyone involved to sign our
fuselage; this is Julie indulging us

Even better, Brooke flew out and met us in Duluth and spent an awesome week showing us around. She is from the area (her parents still live there), so she had all the insider info. We went hiking by waterfalls, did a walking tour of the seedier history of Duluth (mobsters and prostitutes and murders, oh my), learned about the history of the area and Lake Superior, visited Glensheen Mansion and relaxed by the water. We love Brooke and we are pals to this day (in fact, she met up with us in Seattle a few weeks back...hopefully I'll be more diligent in posting about that trip than I was about these).


Gooseberry Falls with Will and Brooke


Glensheen Mansion (from the bridge below)

Just three goofballs being goofy

Looking out at Lake Superior
(from the bridge below Glensheen)

= Delivery =

Finally, in late August, it was time to see the end result of months and months of planning and work and emails and phone calls and trips and meetings.

Delivery for Cirrus planes is at their headquarters in Alcoa, TN. Cirrus included a stay at a fancypants resort/spa, but we asked if we could save the driving and time and stay at the nearby Hilton instead, and it was worth it...it turned out that the Hilton looked over the airport and the Cirrus hangars (and the guy at the front desk made sure we got a room facing the right way).

View from the Hilton. That's the Cirrus hangar and taxiway,
towards the back in the center.

(We are definitely more "stare out the window at planes" than "hot stone massage and concierge" people. <grin>)

The plane was beautiful. Chris did an incredible job designing it, everything pulled together amazingly (and we made some good choices, if I do say so myself). When you are staring at pictures on a piece of paper, it's hard to truly get an idea of what the end result will be, but it was even better than we'd imagined.

On delivery day, they popped us into a black SUV and drove us into a dark hangar. Then a spotlight, red carpet, music (that Brooke remembered we liked...she's got a crazy memory), and the official hand-off of the keys. N292WS was officially ours.

(The tail number is the "custom license plate" equivalent for a plane: "W" and "S" for Will and Stacey; "292" is 29th of February, our anniversary (the "N" is standard designation for planes registered in the United States). Yeah, we are dorks.)

Tah dah!!

Pristine electronics. It will never be this clean again.

We were super psyched at how the interior turned out.

We added a few of our own touches (Will is a big Disneyland
fan, so we hid a few nods to the Pirates ride here and there).

After wandering all around the plane and going through all the bells and whistles, it was time for the first flight. The weather was gorgeous, our delivery pilot Nick was another very cool person we clicked with, and it was now officially official: We were plane owners.

The weather cooperated beautifully.

The Alcoa area was lovely from the air.

An unexpected surprise: Brooke somehow knew my
birthday was during the trip, so she surprised me with
balloons and cupcakes (and singing). She rocks.

The rest of the week is a blur. We had days of training to familiarize us with the plane: Will had pilot training, I had "partner" training in the simulator (how to deal with emergencies, what buttons did what, and so on). We both had lots of time in classrooms and in the plane with our training pilot, Justin. There were lunches and dinners with our new Cirrus friends and fellow pilots. It was exciting and exhausting, and we still had a long part yet to come: the trip home.

= Back to California =

Cirrus offers ferry service when you buy a plane (they'll deliver your plane from the headquarters to wherever you are), but we chose to fly the plane home ourselves.

We left Tennessee on August 23rd, flew for about six and a half hours, spent the night in Lubbock, Texas, then flew another eight hours (with a stop at the Vegas airport for a bio-break and fuel/oxygen fill-ups) to land the evening off the 25th at SJC (San Jose International). It was a long trip, but there was some incredible scenery along the way.