Friday, January 22, 2021

Cedar Key (KCDK)

Cedar Key derives its name from a 1542 Spanish map that identified the area as “Las Islas Sabines,” meaning “The Cedar Islands.” Although the island on which this town is located is called North Key, the “Cedar Islands” reference applied to the abundant growth of cedar trees that formerly covered all of a group of islands located in the area. The Town of Cedar Key was established during the Civil War (circa 1840) on Atseena Otie, the Creek Indian name for Cedar Island. Lumber was the primary industry, although fishing and cotton shipping were also important, and sawmills and pencil factories dominated the town in the 1880s. The pencil plants closed down when the cedar was depleted. Shipping by rail and sea made Cedar Key an important port city until 1886, when the port of Tampa began to draw shipping away from Cedar Key. The old-fashioned fishing village is now a tourist center with several regionally famous seafood restaurants. The village holds two festivals a year, the Spring Sidewalk Art Festival and the Fall Seafood Festival, that each attract thousands of visitors to the area. ~ City of Cedar Key 

★ George T Lewis Airport is named in honor of Petty Officer First Class Lewis. He was a World War II Era casualty on October 25, 1944 during The Battle of Leyte Gulf. ★ He served with honor in the United States Navy. ★ Remembered by the people of Georgia ★ May his example inspire us to be strong and responsible global citizens. We can do great things. Together.★ 

Video: Cedar Key

Certus had come down to do some work for a few Florida customers and by Thursday we were ready for a break. I wanted him to fly Sally to see if he would notice any maintenance issues that I may have overlooked. We decided to fly up to Cedar Key. The airport is located about 75 miles northwest of Tamps, but to avoid a long leg over water we stayed "feet dry" flying up the gulf coast past Crystal River then headed out over the water for the last 30 miles of the trip.

I called at 10 miles to announce our arrival and a sweet voice responded by asking if we required transportation into the village. Sure! She said she would send a car to meet us. We couldn't see the airport. The runway is short - the shortest paved public runway in Florida and surrounded by trees. At 5 miles I thought I saw the runway through breaks in the tress and soon after we entered a left base for RWY23. Certus made a great landing right on the numbers.

Judy came by in a van to pick us up to take us into town. $20 roundtrip with a restaurant discount if we ate at "Steamers".  The grouper sandwiches were great. We asked her to come back for us at 1:00pm and when the minute hand was straight up she came rolling down the street. She gave a locals history of the town during our trips and we enjoyed the conversation very much.

As we did our preflight for departure I saw a bald eagle land on a small tree near the end of the runway. Just beautiful.

After takeoff we flew down the coastline to get another look at Cedar Key. I'm convinced I'll be back. It might make a good destination for a SportCruiser Fly-in!

I added some more tape to my oil cooler inlet before leaving Tampa Exec. I want to get the temperature up to approximately 200°F during cruise. I have more than 2/3 covered now and she is finally running hot enough to burn off any moisture in the oil.

Now having flown Sally, Certus has some ideas to improve performance even more. Stay tuned.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment