North Carolina

This morning when I woke up, I was not expecting what I saw, which was "less than 1/4 mile and fog" on AWOS. Where did that come from, anyway!? It was supposed to burn off by 10 a.m., but it didn't take a weather expert to see that wasn't going to happen. Legally I could take off in those conditions. Realistically though, it meant that I had a twin-engine plane full of fuel, bags, a family of four and me, taking off in a situation where I had no options should I have an engine issue. To make it tougher, the skies were severe clear above this low layer...but to get through it you had to put yourself into a corner with no outs. No way to get back in, no way to see a safe landing place, and no single engine performance. So, clear above or not, we waited. And waited. And finally almost two hours after I first got there, it cleared up enough to give me some safety margins, and away we went. It was almost irritating to break out at 1700' and be in the clear after all that waiting, but considering the potential consequences of the alternative, it was the right thing to do anyway.

It is so nice and warm here! It was almost 70 degrees, which was downright delicious. We stopped at a Japanese restaurant for lunch, and I had Japanese fast food for the first time in my life, Hibachi chicken, which was really good. The family headed off to their daughter's basketball game while I went to the hotel. I have an Internet friend that lives near here and thought it would be neat to meet up in person for the first time, but I had one problem...no transportation. The airport itself was locked up tight for the weekend, no courtesy or rental cars. The family needed their own car. I called for a cab, but it is one guy in town who holds "weird hours" and never bothered to even return my call. So I asked the front desk lady if anyone could help a girl out. After chatting for quite awhile, she ended up calling her husband and asking him to take me. He thought it was pretty weird at first, but he did it, and I won him over at the end. ;). So I made it to the Baron, called my friend, and 25 minutes later I was landing at the lovely, scenic Chapel Hill airport. Tom and Maria took me to the local Japanese restaurant, and while I made it 38 years without ever having Japanese food somehow, I had it twice in one day! This was more the real deal, and I had my first sushi, and seared raw tuna, and special soups with tofu and spinach, and tempura...we hit a ton of appetizers and had a magnificent meal, and I liked every single thing I tried. I could leave tofu, but the rest was really good. We had a great time talking and laughing, and I really enjoyed meeting them in person. Good folks. Airplane folks usually are if I may say so myself. ;).

I had a gorgeous night fligt home with a huge moon. There are restricted areas around here for Ft. Bragg, and at night they stand out. Everything around has normal ground lights...but there it is a pitch black hole in the ground, just like Aterbury at night. It's almost creepy.

The H family picked me up at the airport and brought us back to the hotel where the girls took one room and the boys the other, and here I sit iPadding while one sleeps and the other watches the Disney channel or Nick tv. It was a nice adventure, meting new people and eating new food. Now if only tomorrow's weather will cut us some slack...