MO

We've officially hit my least favorite time of year to fly.  When I had to get up at 5:15 a.m., it was dark, and freezing--almost literally at 33 degrees.  When I took off at 7 a.m. the stars were still out and it was still freezing.  I did enjoy the sunrise behind me, it was lovely in between layers of clouds, but then somewhere in Illinois the clouds moved in, and by the end of Illinois to the beginning of Missouri, I started picking up ice.  At first it was a trace hit or miss that I didn't have to do anything about, and then it started picking up for real, so I got lower. ATC told me that he'd just gotten an updated weather report and that it called for light to moderate rime ice which I was at the edge of.  I knew it was possibly coming from ADDS, you just weren't sure when.  We had strong headwinds, and the tops of the icing were too high for me to go all the way through it, but the out was below--it was clear at 6000'.  Eventually I went on down to there to stay below the cloud deck so I could visually see the area of moderate to heavy precip that I definitely wanted to not hit up at altitude and in the clouds, as that wouldn't have been pretty icing at all.  We got to the airport here and it was sunny and calm and a perfectly lovely day in Kansas City.

I had lunch at a BBQ place in Excelsior Springs, MO called Wabash BBQ.  It's a very old, small train station turned into a BBQ restaurant, old brick, only about 8 tables in the whole place.  It's a cool setting, out amongst some hills and trees, and the food was excellent.  It's one of my favorite things about going to airports I've never been--it gives me the opportunity to eat at places or see things that I can't get at the home drone, and I get paid to do it.  Things like this are not High Adventure or anything, but it's usually enough to keep my wanderlust Gypsy urges under control.  :)

For the trip home I went up to 19,000' to get to smooth, clear air for my backseater, who is a serial vomiter and current record holder for passenger of mine with the most times getting sick on one trip.  Along the way there was a system, and the tops had grown to 21,000' since I last checked, so I went on up to FL210.  I was getting groundspeeds ranging from 250-270 knots, which was purty.  As ATC warned me about the weather, as I was looking at the various cells on radar, and as I was flying along speedily in the clear blue sky, I had to give a satisfied smile that we were able to get on top of it.  I've spent a lot of time slogging around in clouds and around weather because nothing I flew could get above it most of the time.  So being able to stay above it in smooth air for the guy in back, and not have to deal with any real work for myself whatsoever, well, that was sweet.  I waited until I was clear of the worst of it, then took the plane in a veritable dive to get down below the clouds.  My groundspeed broke 300 knots, which I took a picture of, of course.  When we landed back at Kokomo, in the light rain and scuzzy skies, my pax had held onto his lunch AND was really happy to have accomplished what he did today in Missouri, which was kind of a big deal.  This was a last-minute flight, I just found out about it last night for a 7 a.m. departure, and it worked out beautifully for everyone.  Gotta love aviation (when it works ;)).

Kaylee had play practice, so Steve and I went to Crave Crepes when I got back and had dinner there, brought her back dessert, and it was lovely.

Sunrise on the way to Kansas City, MO

 

Believe it or not, these really were the colors of this sunrise.

 

 

 

 

Lighter skies, softer colors...

 

The BBQ place in Excelsior Springs

 

This little building in the background is the actual smoker.

 

 

This is the only entrance to the building-in the back of what was a former train station.  Cool.

 

Proof that I had a nice 300 knot groundspeed going for awhile.  ;)

 

 

The rain and ice I did NOT have to deal with on the way home (until landing).

 

Kokomo is not nearly as nice as Kansas City was.  Rain and scuzz...but it's still good to be home.