Finishing Kit

This is a very exciting day! What a great way to make leap-year significant this time around.

You've gotta love the internet. Vans Airforce. All the great sites out there to follow and learn, make new friends, and keep in touch with what's going on. I check Vansairforce.net every day, just to see the news, the headlines, and check out the postings. In particular, the classified ads. I've been following them for quite some time, just to see if I can pick up the occasional bargain as I work on my airplane. Recently, I found a listing for a pair of new seats that a guy was selling. Apparently he bought these and then decided to upgrade to something different, so he put them up for sale. Now, I learned a long time ago that if I see something that's a bargain and I need it or want it, I've gotta act fast. The bargains are snapped up in a hurry! So when I saw this, I posted immediately. It's a good thing because there were others in line right behind me. Had they seen it just a little sooner, they would have beaten me to it.

Long story short, I got these amazing seats at HALF PRICE from new. They show no wear whatsoever. The bonus is, they came with a booster seat and the fabric for matching padded arm rests. You can never be quite sure about the color of things from a photo, so I didn't know if they would match my color scheme or not. But I figured the risk was small. If they didn't look right, I could always put them back up for sale to the others who came behind me. And if they weren't quite as comfortable as I had hoped, I can either add/delete some foam pieces, or upgrade later on. So imagine my surprise when they showed up. Here they are, right out of the box, in my cabin. WOW!

I think the color is a pretty good match, don't you? I mean if I were really fussy, I might have used a matching red accent instead of the black, but I can't believe my good fortune here. I saved hundreds on this deal. I climbed inside and sat here for quite a while to see how they feel, etc. I'm VERY pleased! I'm going to have to spend more time tinkering with the tilt and positioning of the seatback and making some adjustments. I discovered that my legs are quite long for an RV. But I have no doubt I could sit here for hours and be perfectly comfortable.

Some other things I love about these seats: they have stick boots built in/included! So I don't need to spend any money buying those, or making them. You can also see that the slot is in place for the crotch belt. No worries there either. These are quality seats and they're NICE. Here's the booster seat. I'm not sure how this will work out for Jamie. I'll have to get her out here to sit in here with me again and see. If it's too thick for her, I'm sure I'll still use it for kids, or others. We'll see.

My little granddaughter, Maya, made fast use of it! She saw the big box and immediately started jumping up and down with excitement, asking to sit in the airplane. Course, she insisted on sitting in the PILOT's seat! Here she is, contemplating the instrument panel and her first flight. This booster is just about right for a 6-year old.

Well, next, our sweet Korean student Amy, who lives with us, came out to see what all the excitement was all about. Maya insisted she climb in and go "flying" with her, so here they are.

I was amazed at how much Maya knows about this airplane. For a little girl who has never been up in one, she knew much more than I thought possible about how to fly, use the instruments, handle the stick, land and taxi. I was blown away. She's been listening in or something! She told Amy all about it and took her on imaginery flights all over the place. What fun. Now if only her momma will let her go for real some day... we'll see.

Meanwhile, I had another visit from some more grandchildren! Here's Savanna and Jerod, checking it all out. He seems to be thinking "isn't there supposed to be a grip of some kind on top of this stick?". Not bad for a 1-year old!

"Oh well, we'll just go flying anyway! I've got it handled, right, sister?"

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