Indy Metro

So Kaylee had a friend over last night.  I went to bed at 11 pm, so tired, and knowing we had to get up early for a busy day today.  The girls were doing something that kept waking me up.  Thumping, jumping, shutting doors, something.  I didn't look at the clock the first few times, but at 3 am I looked at the clock because I couldn't get back to sleep, and texted them to knock it off, I'm trying to sleep.  At 4 am I got up and stomped up there and told them to knock it off, I had to get up early, it's 4 am, GO TO BED.  This afternoon Kaylee told me they were afraid to shut their door to go to sleep after that because it scrapes and makes a loud  noise when you shut it.  So, you see, she does have a healthy knowledge of when I've been pushed too far after all.  ;)   I was just getting drowsy again when Steve's alarm went off for 5 am.  Sometime around 5:30 I fell back asleep, then had to get up at 7 something.  And buddy I was tired.  Tired isn't a great thing for what I was doing, but not much choice in the matter.

Steve met up with AE and Justin P and drove down to Metro, where they set up with the CAF under our trailer.  It was a trial run with the trailer, and we had two line guys/loaders, two money takers, a talker and a pilot.  Even more funny, most of them were the same name.  We had Steve F, Steve S and Steve T there, and Justin P, Justin G and Justin H there.   And an AE and a Laura.  Whadda crew, eh?

The event started at 10.  I got there at about 9:45-50.  By 11 am nothing much was happening, but just as Steve was getting ready to set up a "fishing expedition" ride, along came one, then they fell into place pretty fast after that.  We ended up doing 7 rides from about 11 to just before 3, so that's not bad at all.

I wrapped a small bandaid around my finger, then put a bigger one on top of that covering more area, then put a third really big one on top of that.  Trying to layer up and cushion that finger.  Except I got the bandaids so tight it was cutting off the circulation in my finger.  So I spent the next ten minutes trying to loosen the bandaids without pulling them off and having to start over.  I ended up having a little trouble leaning out the mixture, I'd have to  use my right hand for that, but everything else I could work around.  My right hand finger is sore from that, and both hands and feet are sore, but all's well.  Fortunately Justin G packed snacks, because I was too tired to get up in time to eat breakfast, and I flew through the time the food truck was there, so I had no food from yesterday at lunch at Glenndale, until 7 pm tonight when we went to Outback, other than Justin's well-placed melty chocolates.  :)  It was 87 degrees out there, and I drank water the entire time we were there, and never once had to, er, had too much water.  Which is good, because my clothes were sweaty and I was in a flight suit, which is a nightmare to get out of in a port o pot.  It was a bit of work for everyone involved.  The two line guys had to help out on the ramp because there wasn't anyone else protecting the crowd from the warbirds starting up.   The  money takers and talkers always had somebody there to deal with.  And I was so sweaty that I was glad I brought an extra shirt to put on when I got back to Kokomo before we went out to eat.

The main problem I ran into was that by the end of the day I wasn't on my A game any more.  Normally there's a...adrenaline?  Something that kicks in, and even if I'm tired, I'm able to compartmentalize that, deal, and be fine.  But I'd gotten SUCH little sleep, and it was super hot, and I hadn't eaten real food since lunch the day before, and put it all together, and by the last two landings I was going downhill.  The last one I did there really stank.  It didn't look too bad from the ground, I'd guess, I didn't bounce, but it was darting off on me, and required more "saving" effort than I've had to do in a long time.  So I was glad that was the end of the rides.  All that was left was to go home, where of course there was a gusting crosswind.  I did a 3-point landing for that, and all was looking well, and then it dropped out from under me just when I was leveling off.  Fortunately when it dropped I got lucky and yanked the nose up at just the right attitude that I stalled it right onto the runway without it bouncing on me.  I told Steve if we'd hit just a little flatter that would have been an impressive bounce with that sink rate it had going.  My airspeed was high enough it shouldn't have dropped out on me like that, but it did, so...it did.

One funny thing.  I was taxiing out to the runway when someone came on the radio and said something like "You're lookin' good in that T-6".  I didn't know who it was, but I piped up with "Thank you very much".  Afterwards, Walt G came up to me and said he'd been hanging with a friend of his who said "Is that a girl in that T-6?"  That's when Walt said that, and he said when my voice came back over the radio, his friend just looked at him.  Walt said he told him "yes, it is, and she flies my plane too."  :)  He's a really nice man...I appreciate him too.

Kaylee went to her open houses today with a friend who drove her, got a Henna tattoo on her wrist (it'll be gone in a week, don't panic), and temp dyed her hair red again.  Tomorrow she plays for her school's graduation ceremony (in the band and choir).

Meanwhile, I'm the one that didn't get sleep last night and I'm the only one still awake here.  So I'm out of here!