172 Nation

I was scheduled to fly at 9 am, then not again until 6:30 pm, ending at 10 pm.  As usual, the day went sideways shortly after I woke up.  :)  So the 9 am flight went off as it was supposed to, but on my way out the door to do it, I noticed that the ceilings were way better than they were supposed to be.  I had two Mavrx flights to do, Justin was gone, and I needed to get the flight in if I could.  So I flew at 9, until 10:30, and then looked at the weather, made a determination that I could make it to the Louisville, Kentucky job I had to do, but not the northern job, because of clouds.

I ran into town, got a cheeseburer and a tea, ran back to the airplane, topped it off, set up the battery, computer, GPS, and iPad, and got in the air by 11:30.  It took about an hour and a half to get down there, and it was very clear...until I got to my field.  There was literally the start of a line of clouds, at my altitude, RIGHT when I hit the field.  I struggled with it a little, I know I botched some of it, but I did end up getting quite a bit of the field too.  It was a large area, not just one field, a couple miles worth of area.  I hit the clear areas first then went back for the rest, and they were mostly a little more clear.

When I was done, I calculated my fuel, and I theoretically could have made it back to Kokomo with legal reserves.  I decided to stop down there and get gas at Capital City, not far from Louisville instead.  Who likes to stare at fuel gauges?  There were a couple guys in the building, and when I got out, I saw them looking at the airplane, interested in the pod, and then they watched me self fuel the 172.  They were pretty interested in that, too.  lol  Nobody came out, and I was out of there in less than 15 minutes.

When I got home, I got the cards out of the camera, pulled all the equipment out and put it away, put the plane away, then ran home to get the UPS shipping info to get the cards on their way to them.  Got that from the house, went to UPS and got it sent off, grabbed a salad for dinner, then back out to Kokomo for my 6:30 pm lesson.

By now a line of severe storms was coming.  We flew for just under an hour, headed into the storms, and when the sprinkles hit the windshield, we turned around and headed for home.  I had the plane put away before the rain hit hard.  I stopped for gas in the car, and after I started my car I heard the end of an emergency alert that just said "Take shelter".  Oops.  I hunted for where that alert was for, and couldn't find it on any other station, so I just hoped it wasn't an actual spotted tornado and wasn't where I was.  When I got home I found it was indeed south of us, so, good enough.

Obviously my 8-10 pm guy was cancelled.  We decided not to fly during a severe thunderstorm and tornado watch/warning system for some reason.  ;)

Now Kaylee is at a "burn party", where they burn old papers and such from their Sophomore year.  Today was her last day of school and I don't know how it went yet.   I have to get her here, and get home in time to go to bed so I can get up early tomorrow and fly to Alabama by 10:30 am,  Another last-minute thing.   I'll miss out on flying to some events, probably in the T-6, but...I'll get paid, and paid is good.