Babes, Ottumwa, and the smallest hot tub that side of the Mississippi
Babes Ottumwa Adventure
Crusing along at 9.5, having just cancelled flight following and 40nm South of OTM - I tune COM2 to 122.75. "Babe Radio, Mooney six seven seven two November… Leapfrog for Moxie or Slowroll…" I listen, and silence is the only reply . I check the sectional and find that Fairfield (just to the east) has an AWOS, and I tune it in… No wind to speak of: 160 at 3, so I check my Jepps, flip back to OTM UNICOM and announce: "Ottumwa traffic, Mooney seventy-two November twenty south… crossing midfield and entering left traffic one three Ottumwa". Skies are mostly clear and just a bit of turbulence as I’m just cruising along. All of a sudden I hear: "Ottumwa UNICOM, Cherokee nine six eight one kilo, thirty northeast, request airport advisories"… Wait a moment… that’s Moxie!… I checked my Palm Pilot to make sure of the n-number, and then called: "Moxie? Leapfrog…" I quickly received: "Hi… where are you?"… I radioed my position and intentions, and that I’d see her on the ground. "Okay… this will be fun". 
I made the pattern, and landed… and as I was taxiing in, I noticed a gal standing at the FBO fence. She was grinning from ear to ear… I continued monitoring UNICOM for Moxie’s approach, and found a parking slot. I walked toward the fence with my ICOM in my hand… 
Sure enough, the babe’s gathering was taking place. We watched Moxie grease one on (just because we were watching, I’m sure). She taxied 81K to a close spot, and we all hugged and kissed hello. After waiting a while, we decided to go play, instead of just waiting around. A quick decision was made that Sierra was to get the first ride, because both could not go at the same time (not a W&B thing, but who would sit right seat, after all?) We climbed in and took off. 
After playing around a while (Ribbette actually went with Leapfrog – and did a fantastic job, by the way), we heard a Cessna call in… "Wonder if that’s Slowfrog?", I asked… I announced our position and quickly followed with: "Slowroll?"… 
Sure enough, the answer was "affirmative".. and the real Ottumwa adventure ensued. We were curious about the Cessna, though, because we were expecting an airplane with a more height-challenged wing placement. We made our way to the Hotel (Sierra providing the way-cool, red hot typhoon limo)… checked in… and proceeded to do a "room check"… Moxie, Slowroll, and ToeJam (a callsign quickly obtained by Diane’s graceful nature) had rooms in another building "just across the way"… 
[I just realized that when we challenged the relative location of the rooms, we were given a lengthy explanation of the layout - which included an "alignment". I guess a simple "no" is not in the positive, upbeat Ottumwa style.] Leapfrog was to receive a suite - complete with a hottub - in the creaky "morning hon" older main building (what’s more fitting? A frog and a pond). The next adventure was to find a restaurant for the necessary Babe’s wine and dine gathering. A quick decision was made to stay at the hotel and sample their fare. Of course, the restaurant served wine – a single Cabernet… but the waitress was unsure what we meant when we asked whether they had "large" bottles. Fitting (this was a fly-in), they served the airline-sized, single serving, screw-off top variety. The food was good, and the company was wonderful. Conversation was mixed and free flowing with all sorts of stories about flying, obtaining ratings, and life in general. 
After dinner, we walked around a while and decided to all meet in Leapfrog’s room for a mini hot tub party. Although small, the hot tub would at least accommodate everyone around the edge… The wine was opened and a few gifts were exchanged. All the duckies were present, and naturally were splashing about in the tub… Leapfrog’s "moxie frog" was also present, and cruised about chasing duckies. 
Leapfrog did – albeit in a more reserved manner than Frog Jr – manage to pull off a speedo streak to the tub… Alas, photoxie had a camera and the rest is history. We bid farewell to Sierra and Ribbette before retiring for the evening. 
Sunday morning started with breakfast at the hotel restaurant, followed by a quick ride to the airport in the hotel courtesy van (and a duckie on the dashboard).
Slowroll and ToeJam loaded up the Cessna, and Moxie and Leapfrog climbed into the Mooney. A flight of two departed OTM, and circled about the Iowa countryside in formation. ToeJam snapped pics through her opened window, and Moxie through the windshield. 
We said our goodbyes to Slowroll and ToeJam, and decided to hang around the airport until the last minute… We both realized that Ottumwa was going to be a place we will always fondly remember. Hugs and kisses exchanged, preflights and runups completed, a flight of two departed OTM once again. "kiss kiss… see you later" was broadcast over the ramp’s PA system, and the sleepy little OTM airport returned to normal. Leapfrog |