Elizabeth City

Work has brought me to Elizabeth City for a few days (to fly as US Coast Guard MH-60J Jayhawk helicopter for a flight test - we are testing new solid-state gyros). The town in literally in the middle of nowhere (the area we flew over is nicknamed the "desert" as it is a large area of flat farm fields). I stayed at the Fairfield Inn (great with a flat screen TV in each room). A group (who I first met at an airshow in St Paul, MN, in 1998) of pilots were at my hotel - they were flying a R5D from the Berlin Airlift (also known as a C-54 or Douglas DC-4). I saw the plane taxiing and taking off at the airport - the sound was great, and it only took ~2000 ft of runway with only 41 in. Hg! The sound was awesome - four radial engines purring! At the suggestion of the USCG Pilot I was flying with, I went to dinner at Toyama - very good sushi with friendly people. Next door was Coasters - an awesome and very chill bar with about two dozen beers on tap. The only domestic beers on tap were Samuel Adams! There was no smoking (it is in the South, I was very surprised, especially in a state where you can get license plates with your favorite NASCAR driver's number). I had a Rogue Brewer's beer and a Bavarian beer called Arcobrau. Both were quite good and the bartender Debbie was great. The crowd was chill and very friendly (a large group was watching YouTube videos on their computer at one end of the bar, everyone was very welcoming to the stranger (me)).