Passing

I had two female students today and both canceled within an hour of each other, one for feeling sick and the other for having a headache.  So instead we had lunch nearby, then went back to Kokomo where I test flew the T-6 twice after working on a CHT temperature issue.  I think we have it pretty well now, at least under control.

The first test flight, Steve went up front and I flew from the back.  Drifted on the takeoff, flew around, checked temps, and then had to do a long extended final because of traffic in front of me.  About a mile final Steve says "Um, can you see the runway?"  I say "Nnnnope."  He says "Ok. In that case, it's to the left.  Come left."  Finally I got close enough I could see the runway, and I leveled off kind of high.  He carefully says "You see the runway now?  We seem kinda high but what do I know."  I'm not offended!  We were high, I just cheated and used power to work my way down until I could drive it on in a wheel landing.  I had no sight of the runway until I was about 50' off the ground, and that's a 150' wide runway.  Most other runways will be 1/2 to as much as 1/3 that width.  A round final is really important for that so you can see where you're going until it's time to flare. Anyway.

Second test flight I took up AE with me, and I flew from the front and rejoiced at how much visibility I really had.  lol

Kaylee stayed after school and worked on her class homecoming door decoration.  They had a theme of "Grease", and did a whole set up on their homeroom door, including a giant old-fashioned "milk shake" made entirely out of balloons.  Pink for the strawberry shake, white for the whipped cream, a red balloon cherry on top, and a straw.  I thought it turned out really cute.  She's afraid the Freshmen with "Jaws" theme will win, as they have put a ton of work into it and it looks really good too.

I took her to her voice lesson, back to the school to finish their decorating, ran to pick up our car from the shop, picked her back up and took her home, then met Steve and AE for dinner at Half Moon.  Ate too much.  Out of clean laundry.  Too bad.  Busy day tomorrow, unless the winds really do kick up to 30 knots as forecast...

Driving

Kaylee's taken on driving in full force now, and doing great!  Backing out of the driveway, parking carefully in a few easy spots so far, driving at night tonight, learning tonight about brights, where to look (and not look) if someone is blinding you with their lights, looking before going anywhere, even had her first person pull out in front of her yesterday, not see her, and she had to get on the brakes to avoid them.  She saw them coming and was ready and able to stop.  Good situational awareness, and gaining confidence fast.  Great job.  :)

This morning I flew the PT-26 with someone who has been just struggling like crazy with the whole tailwheel thing, even in an airplane I barely considered a tailwheel.  Well, today he had a big old breakthrough, and I was pretty excited about that.  Sometimes you wonder if they're going to get it, and he's worked pretty hard to get there, and I was just happy for him today.  He's not solid yet, but huge improvement...

This evening I took the T-6 up from the front as a post-maintenance test.  I also did some early stalls, loops and rolls, and a couple three point landings.  Rolls were pretty good.  Loops...first one was good, the others were meh.  Stalls went fine but I caught them all early enough to not get exciting.  Just feeling out the plane is nice enough sometimes.  Landings were greasers though.  I need more loops,  more aggressive stalls, and more back seat time.

Steve and I ate at Hydration Station in Greentown and waited for Kaylee to be done at  band practice.  My chili dog was pretty good, actually.  Then she drove me home in the dark, and I'm here answering emails and putzing around before hitting bed...

Keep On Keepin' On

Kaylee is a little freaked out because she got a packet of info about applying for colleges by next August, and taking the PSAT, and all sorts of stuff.  It is kind of freaky.  It's coming up so FAST.

My one flight this morning canceled because she didn't feel like it.  My flight yesterday afternoon canceled because he didn't get around to making sure he could get in his hangar (he couldn't).  My flight Saturday morning canceled because he forgot about it.  Get your act together, people.  ;)

Eric came out and worked on the T-6 today, and hopefully he got the seals on the prop done so the windshield stops oiling over on me, but the cylinder #2 was still reading too hot on climbout.  So he's going to talk to the engine people and get back to us on what they think.   I've got a butt load of rides to give this weekend and the weekend after it, and don't want to be doing that with a hot cylinder if we're going to hurt anything.  So, we'll see what he comes up with.

The scanner for Kokomo reported two people doing meth in their truck...in the Kroger parking lot.  The one I go to.  Ugh.  The scanner has stopped reporting overdoses because people will get all mad about it.  But the call-outs, before they stopped them, were frequent, every single day, for ODs.  This town really has a problem with this.  :(

Last night I went to bed at 9:30 pm and slept until pretty much 8:30 am.  You go, girl.  And now it's 11 pm and I'm tired again.  Bed time.

Sunday

Yesterday I got a text from Steve: "I'm sitting right seat.  In your Explorer!  She's just singing along to the radio."  So it was a milestone--the girl drove with her dad, and she did great, and he did great too.  lol  Today she didn't want to drive with both of us in the car.  Not sure what the difference is, but maybe she feels ganged up on or something.  :)  She's doing well though!

It was a Sunday.  So Steve worked outside and ran a few things, we took Kaylee to youth group, and then he and I pulled out the T-6, and I put him up front and I did all the flying from the back.  My first wheel landing went well.  My first 3-point landing wasn't really a 3-point, but close.  Second wasn't bad, just a touch high on the level off.  Third ended up just shy of the 3 point attitude but not bad.  At least I was straight and not behind on anything on them.  There was a slight crosswind, but not enough to make me do a whole lot.  I wouldn't be up for a gusty or large crosswind from the back yet.  But everything else is feeling a little  more normal.  I just need some time back there.  I have a stranger coming up to do a T-6 checkout next month, so that's why I'm pushing a little.  Instead of riding in the back and saving or talking through something for someone else, I need to actually do it myself a little bit here.  Yesterday being one of the first times I've done it, for a check flight, was not the best scenario, but today I was a lot more caught up on it than yesterday.  Wish I could have known it was coming and done this practice flight before the test flight, but...I can't, so oh well.  I still got it done...

Didn't sleep last night, so I'm tired today.  Looks like Texas is getting nailed but I haven't had the TV on to see for myself, just saw it on various Facebook posts.  Kaylee is going to Puerto Rico this next summer with her youth group for a mission trip.  It's one week.  Should be fun.

Night...

Good Day

Yes it was!

The last couple of days I've been flying with students. This morning I was supposed to fly with a student at 9 am, and then take the T-6 down to Mt. Comfort where FiFi was going to be giving rides, and I was to give rides in the PT-26.  My student forgot about today, and didn't show up.  Fortunately I had texted him that we'd be done by 10 so I could head down there, and that's when he let me know he forgot, and he's 45 minutes or more away.  So we canceled, and I hopped in the T-6 and flew to Indy.

As I was coming into the pattern I heard the B-29 on final for an overhead break.  I watched FiFi fly past me in the air, go down the runway, break, and enter downwind, as I was just on the other side of the runway.  Magnificent sight, just gave me a big old grin.

FiFi landed first, and I timed it to land right after they turned off at the end.  Then I heard a gravely voice say "Hey, Laura!"  It was Rozy, aka Doug R., from the CAF, flying FiFi.  Well, cool!  I parked, and there was Kim P, also from the CAF, and a friend.  So I hung out with her much of the afternoon, and that was fun.

I gave two rides in the PT-26.  On the second ride, I look over and a Stearman is coming right at me from the side.  So I turn left, and look up, and now FiFi is headed right at me.  We all did a little dodging and weaving, well, the Stearman and I did, FiFi just kept on motoring.  Lol

Then Doug says "Are you checked out to fly the T-6 for the CAF?"  I said "Nope".  He said "You got 30 minutes to do it today?"  I said "Yep!"  Then I got kind of nervous because I was planning on going up and practicing a few things first.  Then he said "We'll just do it from the back seat so you can instruct in them too."  Now I'm more nervous.  I have thus far just ridden back there, talked people through and saved a landing or two.  I haven't actually done the flying from the back seat myself.  I know I can rescue it, but the sight picture is different for maneuvers, I haven't done aerobatics from back there, I haven't done stalls from back there, I don't have my extra cushion, I'm just really not prepared for a checkride from back there.  He wants to do an engine out, a falling leaf stall (which last time left me stopped inverted), all sorts of things.  I need this checkout but I was going to do it later, after I got some more practice in.  I thought we were going to do the front seat checkout, and I'm mostly ready for that.  I truly am not comfortable going on a check flight with someone for something I haven't even practiced yet, and risk looking like a fool, or worse yet, a bad pilot.  ;)  But finally I decided to suck it up and do it.

The flight was not flawless.  I lost altitude on a steep turn, my landings were not great, there were a couple other things I could have done better.  His version of stalls was much more docile, and I caught them all without ending up inverted, which was extra nice.  We went over into one incipient spin entry, sort of.  We went around like 1/4 of a turn before we got out of it.  It felt a lot more predictable and manageable at that juncture. I need to go back up and do it again, from the back.  Still up good and high though.  Then, of all things, he said "show me a loop and do a roll right out of it."  Well, huh.  That is JUST what I've been practicing, but that's the one sequence where I wasn't doing great on the roll.  That's what happened here, too.  The loop was okay, the roll was sucky.  He gave me a couple pointers on that, and for one thing the angle from the back, I thought I had the nose up, but he pulled it way higher than I had when he did one.  Anyway.  Then we came in on landings, one with an engine out.  Funny, I'd just practiced that too--from the front.  Again, the landings were not great, and I was kinda embarrassed by that.  He told me that he needed to see that I could save a bad landing, and that I always knew where the plane was, and obviously could fix it when it was botched.  HAhahaha!  I laughed and said "Even when it's self-induced!"  (I didn't bounce, I just had to fight to keep it straight.  I was landing sort of crooked, which isn't great in any tailwheel, let alone that one.  I need to find a good sight picture.)

So when we landed, he said "Well, you can fly a T-6."  I was elated that it was over, and that I'd done well enough to be signed off, with the caveat that this was not my best flying performance and I wish I'd been more prepared and been able to really nail it.  I went to help some kids look into the cockpit of the T-6, and when I got back Doug was gone, but one of the local CAF guys (SF) was there.  He told me he asked Doug how the flight went, and Doug said "Ehhhhhh" at first.  I felt myself blush a little thinking that was serious, and then SF said "Then he said 'Just kidding. There are pilots who are stick and rudder guys who can't be professional.  Then you have the pilots who are professional pilots who have no stick and rudder skills.  Every once in awhile you get a pilot who is professional and who is still a good stick and rudder pilot.  That's Laura, and that's pretty rare'."  Well, I've felt warm and fuzzy about that all day.  I'm going to keep feeling fuzzy about it, too.  That's up there with one of the nicest compliments I've gotten.  It's what I strive to be.  And I'm still working on it.  I obviously have some work to do from the back seat...

Me with my young rider this morning--I'm sending him the pic I took of him flying the plane.

Me and the PT and the T-6

Shutting down at arrival, PT on the left, FiFi and the line of folks watching her.

There are two specs in the sky.  One is the Stearman, off my wing, and the bigger one in front of my wing is FiFi.

PT & T-6

Bigger view of T-6 and FiFi

Cheers.  :)

Hump Day

This morning only one of the two video guys came, and he wasn't in the best of moods.  He wasn't really talking, smiling, etc.  I asked him how he wanted to set up, where he wanted to stand, he just shrugged and said "wherever you want".  So my student and I just did our thing.  He filmed here and there, and he walked out and left a few times, and finally we just wrapped it up and walked out and he was waiting outside the door, and we said goodbye, and left.  So I don't know if it was too early of a morning for him, or something crossed him, but at least it's over with, and okay I think, other than finding the camera pointed at me at awkward angles now and then so all I could think about was "THAT'S not flattering".  ;)

Next up was a trip to Butler, Pennsylvania to look at a Stinson that a friend is hopefully buying.  It was 5.5 hours total flight time in the RG to get there and back.  Kind of a long time in the airplane, with two people, but we made the best of it, and they were good company.  The airplane is sharp looking, so hopefully it works out for him.

When I added in my 5.5 hours to my logbook today, I saw that I am 83 hours short of breaking 10,000.  That means if things stay on a normal schedule, I should be there sometime in October.   I'm wondering if I can find something new to fly around then.  If not I'll take up the T-6 for a spin. :)

Next flight, 10 am tomorrow, with a new person who is a quicker picker upper, albeit a little nervous.  Bedtime.  I'm worn out...

The Day After

Weather precluded flying, so I did my "rainy day" stuff.  Got to the store (and didn't realize we were out of milk until afterwards *sigh*), did about a dozen (okay, 8) loads of laundry and got about half of it put away, put away dishes, loaded dishwasher, took out trash, caught up my logbook, answered emails and returned a phone call, straightened up the house, took Kaylee driving after school, worked on a couple small projects...and then sat and played a stupid iPad game for awhile to relax.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to be filmed doing a ground lesson on cross countries.  I am SO not comfortable doing this.  So not happy about it.  Just film me from afar flying something, and interview me once as you already did, but filming a ground lesson.  Ugh.  Not my thing.

Kaylee got to dance last night for the first time for Encore practice, and she was super excited about that.  Apparently it went well, and they are working on lifts, and something I thought was funny is that she temporarily paired up with a young man named Joe that she went to play date with as a toddler.  They spent several years playing together in a group, doing things like the zoo together, etc., then went to different schools and separate ways.  Last year he came  to her school and they didn't remember they even knew each other until I showed her photos of them together as littles.  Now here they are Juniors in high school dancing in the "top" show choir in the school together.  Kind of weird!

I hope I get to sleep tonight.  Showing up all puffy eyed and cranky early in the morning won't help with how I feel about this whole thing.  If Steve read this he'd tell me to quit my complaining, it's a great opportunity.  :p

Eclipse Day

In case you hadn't heard, yesterday had something to do with an eclipse.  :)  I'm not big into hoopla and commercialization, which is pretty much what happened to that whole day, but I have to admit that it was super nice to have something fun and uplifting and positive filling the news, TV and social media.  People smiling, families together, people traveling and having parties, schools canceling or, like Kaylee's, allowing participation, it felt wholesome again, like a breath of fresh air.  That makes it worthwhile right there.

I actually watched some footage on TV, and we haven't had the TV on for...weeks?  Months?  Once the shows went into reruns and reality TV, we shut it off.  But it was nice to see the gatherings of people around the country having fun with the eclipse, and being able to see it on TV in a way I couldn't see it here in Kokomo.

Kokomo's skies were totally clear all day.  Until 10 minutes before the eclipse.  The clouds rolled in, they stayed over the top of the sun from my location until about 10 minutes after it was over, and then they cleared right off.  It was like God was saying "Nope."  It was severe clear the rest of the day!  lol   I had no glasses, but I took a chair out to the front little sidewalk, with a Coke, and watched it get darker around me.  The bugs were singing, the birds went quiet, the street light came on, and it definitely felt like dusk.  I took some quick snapshots of the sun without staring at it to see if I could see any change in the shape.  I knew I'd see other people's awesome photos though, so I wasn't too worried about it.

Kaylee was able to go outside (after I called the school and gave specific permission), and she said that the clouds broke over there a bit so they could see it.  She thought it was pretty cool.  The next one is in 7 years and it's right over Kokomo, so I'll probably get glasses for that one.  Maybe we can have a hangar party or somethin', make some fun out of it.  :)

Yesterday we also had a kid on a checkride.  He was under a lot of pressure, and frankly so was Steve.  We have this new, young, eager, hard core examiner with only a 55-60% pass rate the first time.  We have a kid who HAD to pass this checkride this day, or his dad was having him move home instead of moving to a university to go through flight school.  We had a flat nosewheel on the airplane due to a mechanic mistake, we had a checkride that had already been postponed once because the examiner got stuck out of town, it was just...ugh.  Fortunately the kid passed the flying part and is done and is moving off to college now.  Hopefully with a better understanding of how to study and motivate himself so he doesn't do the same thing for the rest of his ratings.  But that was really stressful even for me and he wasn't my student.   The new examiner said he was impressed with several things on how the kid flew, and how we taught the flying part, which is nice.

Nathan and Kevin flew to Kentucky in the Cheyenne to be at an area of 100% totality for the eclipse.  They got back around 5:30, and then Kevin and family needed to go to New Jersey.  I tagged along on that one.  It's always good for me to retain some currency in there.  Nathan flew out, I flew back, and it was a beautiful, peaceful evening.  There were cells with lightning flashing around in the dark, not threatening scary ones, but...summertime ones.  The stars were really bright because there was no other light in the sky, and the ground lights were visible forever from 34,000'.  You can see the whole infrastructure of the state from up there.  Very pretty and very peaceful.

We got back at like 11:30, and Steve and Nathan fixed something on the Champ, and then we all came home.  We didn't go to bed until 1 am, because sometimes it feels like you go go go, then go to sleep, then go go go, and sometimes it's nice to...not go.  I didn't actually fall asleep until 2:30 am.  I read a book for awhile to try to relax and get sleepy.  I was still awake by 7:30, so I'll regret that later I guess, but I just needed to unwind with a mindless murder mystery for awhile.  And there was no way to guess who the killer was, either.  They left me enough clues to know it was law officer, but not enough to figure out which one.  In fact, it was a little random, and even going back the author made sure there was no way to know who.  That's mean.  ;)

Here are my sunny photos.

This was at 1:37, after the eclipse  had barely started

2 pm, as it's getting close

2:13 pm, as it moves towards peak time.

2:30 pm, during the peak eclipse time.  Isn't that lovely?  ;)

View of the panel in the Cheyenne at 34,000'.  All day the song stuck in my head?  "Hello darkness my old friend..."

Sunday Stuff

The usual Sunday was spent doing 8 loads of laundry from morning till night.  Kaylee spent most of the day in her room, coming out briefly for food and drink and an occasional hug.  Steve was out at the airport, as he had a student who was supposed to be on a checkride today.  That didn't go.  The examiner had an airplane problem and was stuck elsewhere and couldn't make it back to do the ride.  So the kid went home and is supposed to take it tomorrow morning instead.

They'd already spent the day at the airport, so I came out in the afternoon and Steve and I went up in the T-6, with him doing the flying from the front.  It had been a long time since he'd been up there.  I had a cushion under me that is pretty good.  It's comfortable and raises me up what feels like a good amount, though I learned when we turned final that the runway still disappeared.  I'm just so short and short-waisted.  I want to see it again from back there, do some more flying with it like that, and get used to it.  I learned to fly back there without any cushion at all, so this is an improvement over that, but I wasn't ever super comfortable being blind as a bat back there either.  I need to make sure I'm good to go back there soon.

Steve found it exhausting to get in and ready to go in the T-6.  All the straps that needed adjusted, the start sequence, all the stuff you're doing for the first time that's different from your other planes.  We got in and started and he said he was about ready for a nap before we got in the air.  :)  He didn't fly around super long, though we did fly over and circle over Nathan's house and wave  hi to them down there in the pool.  :)

Coming in to land, somebody called out a 9 mile final.  It was an unwanted distraction, talking through all the stuff in the landing, power settings, power push, flaps, trim, gear, gear down indications, etc., all non-standard, while someone else is on a long final, and you're trying to judge.  We got on final first and landed, and as Steve's juggling it on landing roll-out, the guy asks if we're clear the runway yet.  Well, unless he's blind in that Cherokee, he could see we were still on the runway.  So asking that he was just pushing us, which neither of us appreciated.  Wait yer turn, man, or go around, and welcome to General Aviation.  Steve's landing wasn't bad, either, by the way.  lol

Forgot the hair tie.  I'll pay for that tomorrow.

Steve up front turning us around.

National Aviation Day

Today was, as titled, National Aviation Day.  Of course I didn't know this until the day was over, and yet I still managed to celebrate it in fine fashion regardless.  ;)

Kaylee had band practice this morning, so Steve ran her over to the school and left her there, and we haven't seen her since.  I asked if she was still alive about an hour ago, and she said she was, so assume that's good news. She had band practice all day, then went with a friend and her mom shopping in Westfield, which is ironically where we were, giving T-6 rides, and then she went to a friend's house and has been hanging out there and working on music stuff.  So she's spent the day doing her thing while we spent the day doing ours.

So how did we spend our day?  In the T-6.  We started the day flying past Glenndale.  Chuck and Judy were having "Cousins Day", so asked for a "hello", which of course I was happy to oblige.  Then I flew with Jon down to Noblesville for their pancake fly-in breakfast, while Steve drove down with Justin G.  Noblesville was really busy.  There were a lot of cars there, and people.  There were quite a few planes too, though not as many as in previous years.  But it was a gorgeous day, almost no winds.  And their runway is so smooth I wasn't sure what to do with it.  Made a lovely 3-point landing on it, and thought, "wow, that was nice. A fluke."  We had breakfast, hung out, chatted, watched planes, and then around 10:20 am or so it was time to head over to Westfield, another grass strip only about 9 miles away.  Jon and I loaded up and went over to Westfield, and that runway is not smooth at all.  It's hilly and rough and has a couple of launching points.  It's also not as long.  But it's long enough for a T-6.  Longer than Glenndale.  Accidentally greased on that landing too.  Kind of impressed myself with that one.  It's hard to impress myself, in case you're wondering.  ;)  We were there for a bit, waiting on the others to arrive, and once they did, we set up and got everything ready, and then the unexpectedly busy day began.

 My first rider of the day wanted to go for a double.  So we went up for about 40 minutes, even though I should technically have made it 30 minutes based on what he paid.  He was dying for me to do some aerobatics.  So I rolled him a bunch of times, but since he didn't have a chute on and I didn't want to go way high, I didn't do anything with a vertical component.  We just did wingovers, steep turns, flop overs (that's a technical term) and rolls.  He was super excited.  I had an older gentleman who had flown a lot, and a woman who was scared to go, and a local airport guy, and a 13 year old kid who was super respectful, polite, well-spoken, and eager.  He has over 100 hours of "sim" time, and was just giddy to go flying in the T-6.  He did a good job with it, and we had a really nice time.  The woman who was afraid, her husband is a pilot, and she did this to step outside her comfort zone.  The most amazing thing to me was that 1) little Westfield had so many people wanting to ride that the guys shut them down and turned them away so we wouldn't be out there well past the event, and 2) I greased on Every Single Landing.  Like...gorgeous.  Rolled them on.  I can't fly any more now, I have to be done.  Of course nobody can see your landings at Westfield--you're far away and behind the corn.  Darn it.

I had to stop at Indy Exec and get gas once, and I took that time to eat a hot dog and chips from the event.  Actually I just got the hot dog down before it was time to leave again, but ate the chips in between flights.  Very professional, yes?  ;)

We had a line-up of kids/people to look around the T-6 too.  I put them in the plane for quite awhile, and then Jon did it for awhile too when I wasn't flying.  Really busy, lots of curious people!

At the end of the day, we packed up, Steve drove home with Jon and Justin came back with me.  Such a pretty day to fly, and National Aviation Day to boot.  We ended up going to Outback for dinner, Nathan, Steve, Harkcom, me, and Jon.  It's sort of a tradition after a long flying day now.  :)

Kaylee now needs picked up in Greentown at 11 pm, so I suppose I should go do that.

Photos by me, Jon Tharp and Justin Gould.

Westfield line-up of kids (JCG)

Three Amigos (JCG)

Pallace watching the wing as Jon loads a rider for me.

Saying 'hi' to Glenndale on the way to Noblesville (JT)

T-6 on takeoff at Westfield (JP)

Some of the peeps at Noblesville (JT)

Shadow "art".  ;)  LS

T-6 at Noblesville (LS)

Checkertail and Woods T-6s together at Noblesville

Parked at Westfield now (LS)

PT-26 coming in (LS)

PT parking, one flat tailwheel...

End of Week

Today felt more like a Monday than a Friday, but Friday it is.  Trouble with aircraft parts, trouble with a checkride, trouble with a Champ, trouble trouble trouble.  If nothing else I got a  Fried Chicken Friday lunch out of it with way too much good food.  :)  Kaylee has had band practice from after school until 9 pm, and then she's going to Steak n  Shake with a friend afterwards.  So she's been busy.  Steve's been out at the airport dealing with trouble, and is now sitting out by the fire relaxing with friends.  I hung out at Kokomo for awhile with a few folks also relaxing, just no fire.  Ordered a pizza and cheese sticks for dinner, and moving onward.

Yesterday I took the T-6 up on a solo aerobatic flight for about an hour, and then came down and took the 340 to the Chicago area for a corporate flight.  The runway was 2800' long, which is pretty short for the 340.  With just two of us we were able to make it out, but if we'd had any more people it would have required a differed runway.  I had to look up performance charts and everything.  The biggest problem there was that there was no pilot's lounge, just a main area, and all the seats had no feet rests and no head rests.  So I sat up straight from 11:30 am through to 6 pm or better, with a break at lunch to go to the "Crispy Waffle" and get brunch.  Makes for a bit of a long day.

Tomorrow we're supposed to give rides at Westfield's fly-in, and go to Noblesville's fly-in breakfast, and the weather is iffy, so...we'll see what we get, as always. For tonight I'm pooped...

Hump Day

I had a MBros trip today, but it didn't depart until 11:30 am.  This is super late for these guys!  The T-6 was in front of the 340.  So I pulled out the T-6 and took it up to do some aerobatics solo first, in my nice dress shirt.  Why not mess up your hair and get all hot and sweaty right before a business flight, right?  ;)  It was suuuper hot and muggy today again, high of 87, so even by 10 am it was toasty.  It feels a bit cooler up at 6000' though.  

It takes so long to get up to 6000' I was tempted to stop lower.  But I didn't.  I just did two things--aileron rolls and loops.  I don't know how many I did or how long I was up, but I did them for awhile.  Then when I was done with the loops, I did rolls until I got down to around 3000'.  So I'd roll, dive to pick up speed, roll, dive to pick up speed, etc and lose a bit of altitude each time, until I did the last one set up to enter downwind (from enough distance to lose the last 1200'.) 

When I landed from that, I pulled out the 340, and pushed the T-6 into the front of the hangar.  D came out and we headed for Joliet, IL.  This is by the Chicago area.  We both were thinking it had two long crossing runways.  No.  It had one grass strip and one 2800' concrete strip surrounded by trees and buildings.  We discovered this before we took off, so I grabbed the POH and ran the numbers.  We fit out of there...barely.  The short field landing was good for him.  ;)  I waited there for him.  When we landed, he had a rental car.  I asked to use the courtesy car.  The line guy hesitated and looked at me, and yes, I know, they're for pilots, yes I am one.  I go to this place called Crispy Waffle, and have this amazing brunch.  That right there's worth a lot, and not having to pay for it is even better.

The airport had no pilot's lounge, just a main area to hang out in, with a TV on with things like "Maury Povich".  None of the chairs kicked up or back, and none had head rests.  That made for a very long day, actually.  You couldn't get comfortable, couldn't even slouch.  A storm was brewing, so Line Guy #2 comes up to me and very helpfully asks if I should call the pilot, because a storm was coming, and would he (the pilot) like them to tie it down or double chock it or anything?  *sigh*  I said thank you, but no, it'll be fine, there is no hail associated with it, no high winds in front of or anywhere around it, ceilings and visibilities were great, so this wasn't a real threatening storm, and the plane will be fine.  It's easier when I'm the only one in the plane or I'm in the left seat and on the radio.  lol

When we got back, D said he hadn't really done a lot of maneuvers other than straight and level in the 340.  I had showed him the T-6 vertical up and down photos.  So we cancelled IFR early, since it was a clear day here, and I had him do a couple 45 degree bank turns left and right, and then I took it and did a 60 degree bank turn, a power off stall, and a mild wingover, just to show him a little of the envelope of the plane since it had been awhile.  

Steve had a lesson right when we got back, and when he was done we went to Hydration Station to have dinner and a drink while waiting for Kaylee to get done with marching band practice.

Did I mention she's jumping back into marching band because they need her so badly?  There are 21 kids in the band this year, it lost about half its members.  We feel bad for Mr. M, trying to do this.  She said tonight she's annoyed that we didn't stop her from joining back up, now that she's had her first 6-9 pm practice outside in the heat, and with a group of kids she doesn't know except basically one.  After her 9 pm practice she now gets to start all her homework.  :/  Ugh.

However, today she was voted in as Junior Class Treasurer.  So that's pretty cool!  She said that because last year they had no sponsor, they also had no fundraiser for their class.  So they're supposed to put on the prom for the Seniors this year.  Last year's Juniors had $6,000 to spend for Prom.  Her class currently has $200.  They only get one fundraiser, and they're supposed to raise about $5000 in the one fundraiser by the end of the year to give the Seniors their prom.  Yikes!  But she's a class officer now, so that's great.  :)

Tomorrow looks like a rain-out, which is fine with me.  I didn't have anyone scheduled anyway, somehow.  I think we could all use a quiet day.

Sweaty

As usual what was supposed to be, wasn't.  My student that moved on to another instructor meant that my morning was free.  I was going to write a couple emails and maybe take the T-6 back up, but then Steve asked me at 8 am to take his 10 am student, as he had something come up, so I did that.  Right after lunch I had a new student's first lesson.  Ran Kaylee around, then back out for an evening lesson.  It was really surprisingly hot and muggy out today.  It's been so nice I wasn't expecting the humidity and heat.  Remind me to check what tomorrow's weather is supposed to be...

The evening student finally dialed in on landings, made several nice ones in a row.  He left super excited, so that's always a great thing.

I got a text today asking if I could take a trip tomorrow, so I'll be doing that.  It should be a good one.  I'm hoping the ceilings lift early enough for me to take the T-6 up and practice a few things before I forget them, and then I go on the trip at 11:30.  I'll be there in time for lunch, and have a few hours on the ground.  Fortunately I didn't have to move any students.

Well, having trouble concentrating so I'll go...

Weekend Wrap-Up

Saturday morning through afternoon we all went to Huntington to attend the funeral for Lon's dad.  It was obvious that he was a truly respected and loved family man and Godly man.  His legacy was those he left behind and the stories they shared about his life.  Each of the kids and grandkids wrote up a memory and they were all read at his services.  While he is better off now, after struggling with Parkinson's and dementia, he was greatly loved and will be greatly missed.

It was good to see the Cherry family even if it was a sad reason why.  A few photos were taken of family, which I'm sure Howard would have loved.

Sunday a fairly local airshow pilot named Bob R. flew over in his Pitts, and went up with me in the T-6.  We went up twice, and I worked on some aerobatics.  Aileron rolls, slow rolls, barrel rolls, a 4-point roll, loops, Cuban 8, and he did one hammerhead.  I went up nosebleed high.  He has a surface waiver so I'm sure he hasn't gone that high to do aerobatics in a long time, but I don't care, I want lots of air under me before I get to the ground.  ;)  Most of it wasn't too bad, I got a couple pointers to help tighten up, and one maneuver needs a fair amount of work.  As a thanks for coming, I turned it over to him to do what he wanted, and he's definitely an official air show pilot, as they go for the aggressive moves.  I learned at the first flight that my harness was not as tight as I thought it was, when on a basic aileron roll that he did, I was thrown up into the canopy over the top of the roll.  Cut my hand open on something I hit as I was falling out of my seat.  :p  I keep my aileron rolls more positive, as passengers (and me) like them much better that way, but I see that the official version is more...More.  lol  So that first flight I ended up falling around a bit.  Second flight, I fixed that, buddy.  I cranked that harness down on my lap like nobody's business, and THIS time, my hair might have flown up, but at least I did not.  ;)  So the first flight I did aileron rolls, slow rolls, loops, and a Cuban 8.  The second flight I did barrel rolls, the 4-point roll, the Cuban 8 and the hammerhead.  I was a little uneasy on the hammerhead.  I don't know any T-6 pilots who have done them except Bobby Younkin at an airshow where he also took off and snap rolled the T-6 right off the deck with his gear hanging down.  In other words, he had way more...courage...than I ever will on maneuvers.  You're not supposed to spin T-6s, and a botched hammerhead seems like a most excellent way to get into one.  So I didn't try it, I just let him try it, and I was a little tense on the vertical upline, waiting for it to break over.  But he did a really good job feeling out the airplane.  I could feel it too, could feel it getting mushy, and the small corrections he made to keep it going straight.  So anyway, it worked out, mushy but safe, and I was impressed with how he handled the new-to-him airplane.

 At the end of the second flight, when I was done and he was doing a few things for himself, he did a slow roll, and as my hair is floating, I see my sunglasses rise up before me and hit the edge of the canopy.  My brain is a little slow, as I think they must have been on my shirt and floated off, so I reach my hand up there and grab them.  Next I see a dzus tool floating past my head.  That's not good.  That's when it occurs to me that my map compartment has popped open.  Then I see a screw driver and a hair tie going by, as I slam the map compartment shut.  All I can think is "MY PHONE IS IN THERE TOO"  If I lost that danged phone again, I'd never hear the end of it!!  So when he finished and we rolled level, I opened the thing back up, and there's my cellphone sitting right on top.  Whew.  I told him there was some loose stuff in the bottom of the plane now including a screw driver, so no more upside down stuff.  On the ground I found most everything I know that fell out except my hair tie, which I don't think should interfere with the controls.  He said when he did the maneuver, a band-aid went floating past his face and he stopped to look at it while he was flying.  We're like...huh.  Lol

All in all it was a good day, and a good start for me to fine tune some things on aerobatics.  And it was fun.  I'm going to go up and do some practice on my own, and then see if Nathan'll go up with me again too, with him up front and let me see it all from the back this time.  He's one of the best aerobatic guys I've ever known.  But boy am I going to have to loosen up those front seat belts before he gets in, because I have those things tightened down to cut off the circulation in my legs.  lol  Actually that was a pointer Bob gave--make the parachute straps super tight on your legs, and it will restrict the blood flow and work to help you with the Gs. I really think that worked some too, as I felt it much less on the second flight when I did it than I did on the first flight when I didn't, and by the second flight I'd already been "weakened" by the first flight.  We pulled some pretty good Gs, repeatedly, and I didn't feel it as much the second time around.  I think that was an interesting, good tip.

Monday.  I had a student text me that they wanted to fly with someone else.  I was mostly just relieved to have them off my plate.  Sometimes personalities just don't mix well and that's okay.  I was able to re-solo someone today, and that person just gained a lot of confidence and did a really nice job with it.  That was exciting.  Kaylee drove us home from school today, and she's also gotten much more relaxed and comfortable driving, which is great.  She's a good driver and a good learner, once she has the confidence to know she can do it.  :)

I had a night flight tonight, again, a cross country to Shelbyville.  Beautiful night for it.  Calm, smooth.  The weather for the last two weeks has been spectacular.  I really wish this could hold out just like this for like the next two months...

I took a few screenshots off of a GoPro I had running on the T-6.  Two of them you saw on facebook.  I didn't post the upside down ones because I'm so high and the clouds and ground are so low that you don't really get a good "oh, she's upside down" vibe.  Besides, I couldn't come up with a witty saying that fit that too.  lol  Also, these aren't cropped in closer, it's the whole shot.  I kind of like it both ways, not sure what's better.

You can see my ponytail flying in this one, as I am pushing over a bit at the top of the roll.

End of the Watch

Last night I had a night flight, making me get home too late to feel like writing.  Kaylee actually had stuff to do yesterday in her first period.  They taught her how to laminate, which she actually liked a great deal, and kept her busy.  She was fine with that, as long as she's kept busy and needed.

The Cherry family made it in late last night too.  Lon's father has passed away, and they are here for the services, which we will all attend tomorrow.  He suffered from Parkinson's and dementia.  Fortunately the family had all gotten to see him just not too long before he passed.  Both Lon and Cathy have lost their dads shortly here now.  Both wonderful, Godly men who are loved and missed, but whose families know they are whole and healed again.

When I picked Kaylee up from school today, she made me late for my 4 pm student, as she wanted to pick up a dress from a friend.  She's borrowing it for head shots being taken for free by a friend, to use for auditions, for being an extra, etc.  Very nice of them to do, as those pro shots usually cost a lot of money.

My now 4:30 pm student was needing to do tower controlled field takeoffs and landings.  So we went together to Muncie.  The winds weren't supposed to be strong, and yet they were strong enough that had it been about any other student I'd have probably not ended up being able to send them solo.  But this fellow is good, and even though Muncie's main runway, also the one into the wind, was closed, leaving him with a direct crosswind of a gusty day, he was nailing it.  So I got out, went inside and had a cup of coffee and a small piece of cake, while watching him do his takeoffs and landings.

This is in direct opposition to Steve, who did the same thing the day before, only his guy was sketchy on being able to solo at all even on a nice day, and then somebody shut down the runway after he took off, leaving him circling around awhile before they let him come back in.  Meanwhile Steve is inside and sees flashing lights and someone's stuck on the runway, and...that'll give you a heart attack, I tell you.  It wasn't our guy though. He was fine, he did great, and everyone walked away.

When I got home around 6:45, I took Kaylee shopping for jeans.  She lost one of her two pair, so it was sort of an emergency.  We were out until 8 pm. While we were at the store I called in for Japanese carryout.  They said it would be ready in ten minutes. It was one roll.  I got there in ten minutes.  And waited an additional 20 minutes.  With the car running and Kaylee sitting in it.  I wanted to go HOME, I was not happy.  But okay, it was good.  But still.  I'm tired, I'm cranky, I'm hungry, and did I mention tired?  So  now that I've had it, and it's late, and I've written this, I'm going to wander off to bed...

Next

Kaylee still didn't have anything to do this morning for her first period as teacher's aide with the special needs kids--they took them all out of the room to do something and she was just left there, so she went to another classroom and helped another teacher.  When she got back, the other class was back and she said she'd been helping another teacher, and they were fine with that.  So tomorrow she's going to officially ask if she can float and help other teachers as needed rather than just sit there and not be helpful.

She didn't do so hot on a pre-calc quiz today.  So she's trying to figure out what went wrong early on here so she doesn't get behind on it.  I got big eyes and said "Don't get behind, it just gets waaaay worse from there!"  She'll get it though.  :)

Her Encore class picked quartets today, and she was picked to be in a really good quartet, so she's excited about that.   Next Monday they have their first after school practice, and she's excited about THAT, too.  She found out from a former singer/officer that she scored the highest out of all the Starlets on her audition piece, and in the top ten auditions from everyone there, including the people who were already in Encore.  So she was pretty pleased with that.

I soloed a girl today.  She's not as consistent nor pretty as I like them to be, but she was safe, so I let her go, and she was shaking when she got down.  In a good way,  just super excited and exhilarated and stuff.  That's always fun.

I did a flight review after lunch, picked up Kaylee, stopped at the store for some stuff for Ann, and ran Kaylee and the groceries home, and then went out to Kokomo where I flew Jesse's Cub.  It goes back in the morning, and the other Cub is going to be down for an annual for a good while, so it seemed like the right opportunity to get some more Cub time in.  His is twitchier to land than the others I've flown, for some reason, and the 3-point on concrete is just not as smooth as I'd like.  So I messed with that for awhile.  Then I sent a "Nanny nanny boo boo" post to a guy who texted me that he missed his plane and getting to go fly.  He was on his way out to the airport, so I offered to land and let him hop up front if he wanted.  He wanted.  He barely got in there, so that was worth it right there.  I did a couple of spins with him.  He'd been wanting to do spins but we don't have anything in which to do them.  The Cub spins great with a butt in the front seat.  He videotaped the last one I did.  I didn't let it go as far as the first one because I was starting off a little lower, but he still got a little of the spin action on there.  I'll see if I can attach that.

After the Cub, I came home and caught up on unpacking, dishes, just some good old house work that needs done, and I'm way behind on email again and need to dive into that if I can do it before I get too tired...

I'm really coming to like these little buggers.

That doesn't look like my happy face, and yet it is.  ;)

Wing View Wednesday

A little round and round.  :)

Kay and Me

Kaylee's first day of Junior High, over all, a Plus.  Her second day a smaller plus but still a plus.  She's not super fond of pre-calculus.  But c'mon, who is?!  Her first class is Teacher's Aide.  Her former Chemistry teacher Mr. C agreed to request her.  She was looking forward to that as he has a lot of work for his aides, setting up labs, etc.  She wants to actually do work and likes that class and the work.  He did indeed request her--only to be told someone else had already claimed her.  Well, the teacher for the special ed kids "life skills" class pulled her name randomly off the list and secured her.  She was okay with that the first day, a little disappointed but interested to see where this would go.  But so far by the second day they've had nothing for her to do.  She just sits in the room, and this disappoints her.  She wants to work and be a real aide.  She said if she wanted a study hall she'd have signed up for study hall. But this room is very noisy as the kids are yellers/screamers/shouters so she can't study, either.  So I gave her a couple suggestions and hopefully that'll work out a little better.  Second class is Encore.  Gee, I wonder if she likes that one?  ;)  Band is third but she's not in marching band now, so in this other concert band, she doesn't know anyone and they're mostly freshmen.  She is by far the most experienced person in the class, which is both good and awkward.  lol   The rest of them are just normal classes, and she has some homework tonight already, and had a quiz or two already, and they're just jumping in with both feet.  But she's said so far all in all she's enjoyed the first couple days anyway.  Today when I brought her home from school she passed out sitting next to me, and took a big long nap that she shouldn't have taken as now she won't get to sleep very well...It's 11 pm and she's working on homework...

 Yesterday I had students all afternoon including a night flight.  The moon was so full it was as bright as a spotlight out there.  My student enjoyed the night flight, and I was okay until the end, when I got really tired.  Everything catching up to me I guess.  I was so tired I couldn't even lose any sleep about this morning.

The film duo arrived at 10 am, talked a bit, then they set up the camera in the big hangar in front of BOB (the C-45).  They interviewed me there.  I know of one question I flubbed and a couple I did well on, but I don't have a clue how I looked or sounded overall.  No mirrors nearby, and I'd been standing around all morning in the sun, so I probably had gnarly hair and sweaty face or something.  But hey.  It's done.  Then I took the one guy up flying in the Cub first, then in the T-6.  He got kinda quiet in the T-6 after he wanted to do a couple maneuvers, so I hope he was okay with it.  He said he really liked the steep turns at least.  When he got out he said to the other guy "Those were some sick Gs."  I did like two Gs.  :)  I started to buzz them on the cart when I realized that this was going to air on TV and buzzing is still illegal.  So I did a 500' overhead break, then put gear and flaps down and flew down the runway, doing a go-around, then came in to land for real.  Nothing illegal looking in any of that but should still at least give them some footage.  Hopefully.

There was a go-pro right up in my face, so it's good that I did those eyebrows.  ;)  They also video taped Steve, which he was not prepared for nor happy about.  They wanted to make it about the two of us as a team and Steve wanted nothing to do with it.  They got him hand propping the Cub, and tugging out the T-6, and us walking together once, and they asked me about him, too.  How we met, what his role was in the flying stuff, etc.

This doesn't air for a long time.  They're going to come back next week and do another filming of me doing a ground lesson with a student, and then they want to tape me landing at Marion for the fly-in/cruise-in breakfast the first weekend in September.  So we know it'll be well past a month before the segment airs.  I really don't like watching myself or seeing myself in interviews.  At one point he wanted me to climb up on the T-6 while he filmed from below and behind, coming up behind me, as I climbed up on the wing and into the seat.  Because THAT'S an attractive angle.  :o  Then he filmed down into my lap while I buckled up.  Also not attractive.  Then he fell off the wing.  Fortunately did not hurt himself.  I really don't need Indiana and however many places on Facebook this gets posted to see a wide angle view of me climbing up the airplane from below and behind.  Ack.  lol  Anyway, while the whole thing is outside my comfort zone, it was a nice opportunity and a neat thing to have done.  I just hope it turns out okay and I don't sound or look like a total dufert.

So sleepy.  I have't even had a chance to unpack really from my trip.  I got home at 10 pm tonight, too, and tomorrow my first lesson is at 9 am.  I'm hoping to solo her if the weather cooperates and she is as consistent as she was last time.  Another person after that is not my favorite person to fly with.  I don't have a lot of those, but he's one, and I'm not looking forward to it.  He's nosy and pushy and really, really slow, and doesn't really have any business doing what he's trying to do.  He makes me tired.  I'm glad I don't have a lot of those--they suck it right out of you...

Kaylee's still working on homework at almost midnight.  Of course she is goofing off some too...

I feel like I missed a lot of things I was going to tell you, but I'm so sleepy.

Oh, jeans.  I went to several stores in Oklahoma City and realized that high waisted jeans are back in style, or coming back in style.  Because THAT was super attractive the first time around (not), even for skinny girls.  And it's even better when you have no waist, no distance between your hips and your chest, so that way when you get high waisted jeans, your chest can rest on the top button and it looks SO smooth.  *eyeroll*  The majority of the other jeans I saw had holes.  All of them, in a bunch of stores, had holes in them.  Most stores I saw did not have a pair of jeans or capris that did not have holes.  Why??  Ugh.  JC Penney didn't have holy jeans, but all the "hip" stores did.  I quit, for the record...

OK not in OK

For those of you who don't get the FlightAware alerts, I'm home safe and sound.

For the rest of you, how come none of you waited up to text me a "welcome back" at 2 a.m.?? I feel deserted and unloved. Ya bums.  ;)

I had to check out of the hotel at 12. So I went down to breakfast there, lounged around, got ready, and at 11 the cleaning people knocked on my door.  I said I was still in there.  They asked if I was going to be a late checkout.  I said no, I'd be out of there by noon.  They wanted a little earlier because they were there cleaning.  I had until noon, I took it.

At noon I went to Cheesecake Factory for a really good and high calorie lunch.  I also got a piece of cheesecake, which is right now in my fridge, but I'd just had a 1000 calorie rice and chicken dish (Almost EVERYTHING there was huge on calories!) and I was full, and I figured I'd better save the 1400 calorie cheesecake for another day.  That one piece of cheesecake is more calories than I was eating in an entire day for a long time.  Unreal.  Maybe I'll divide it up into two days.  Nah, that won't help, it'll just be too many calories for two days instead of one.  ;)

From there I went to the airport.  The plane was way out on the ramp and they hadn't fueled it yet, but I had until 9 pm before I was supposed to leave anyway, so no big deal.  I hung out there for several hours. Tried unsuccessfully to nap.  It was really hot in there.  Read a book. Couldn't concentrate.  Finally gave up and went back to the car and drove 6 miles away to the mall where I just got an unsweet tea and read in air conditioning for awhile in peace.  Walked for some exercise.  Got gas in the car, and went back to the airport.  I got the text around 7:30 that it was going to be 9:45 or so.  I had the airport top off the plane and tug it to the front.  At 10 they called, lost, looking for the FBO.  By 10:30 they were there and I went to call up, and tower was closed.  It feels wrong taxiing down that big airport on your lonesome, not talking to anyone. I kept expecting to get in trouble.  But it was dead out there, not another airplane in sight.  And the moment I took off, they cleared me initially to 3000', then to 15,000', then right up to 35,000'.  Don't get that a whole lot.  The plane did fine up to 35,000', though that last thousand feet it was slowing down, especially since there hadn't been any level-offs to let it build up some speed in between.  It was still doing 1000 fpm though.  Not bad at all for as much fuel and people as we had on board.  At least I don't think so.

Off to our right was a line of thunderstorms.  The lightning show was fantastic, as always, especially since I wasn't headed for it.  The radios were quiet, they kept me high for a long time, we were only burning 500 lbs/hr total up there for most of the flight, and it was a nice, smooth ride home.  I thought the ceilings at Kokomo were going to be 300 scattered, 1000 overcast and light rain.  I was hoping I remembered how to set up the approaches.  ;)  No need.  It was 7000 and 10 miles.  Beautiful.  So I did the RNAV 5 into Kokomo just to make sure I remembered the button pushing anyway.  No sweat, although without the GPSS steering, the plane wanders some on autopilot on the approach.  So I kicked it off and hand flew the rest of the way once I knew I remembered the buttons. Why not.

I pulled into my driveway around 2:10 am.  It's now 2:30 and I'm hoping to be able to get to sleep.  It's not super easy for me to get back from something and just fall into bed.  It takes me a little unwinding time.  So we'll see.

Tomorrow is Kaylee's first day of her Junior year of High School.  Fortunately I don't have to be the one to take her at 7:20 am.  :)  Say a prayer for a smooth first day, or as smooth as first days can usually go, anyway.  I know she's excited about being a teacher's aide, and about Encore, and even about band since she's not in marching band now.  There are a few other classes to keep up on though too.  :)

That's it.  I'm home.  Later!

Still OK in OK

It's pretty sad when you have the chance to sleep in but wake up at 7:00 am anyway. Darned internal clock! :)

I did a little bit of work today, answered some emails, called for fuel for the Cheyenne, asked to borrow someone's Cub for Tuesday's show thing, that kind of stuff.

And then I went back to the mall. Holy Moly! I had to drive for 20 minutes to find an open spot. Their big sale is an Oklahoma thing, it's tax free for anything that could be used for "back to school". Clothes, shoes, supplies, etc. And the crowds were HUGE. They were so big, though, I didn't actually get bothered by more than two salespeople the whole time I was there, which was sweet. I got a swimsuit that was originally $86 for $22. (I'll explain that later). I got my nails done. I did it for Tuesday, so my nails would look nice at least. But they were all nice and long except for two which had broken off. Then I had two that were way too long and needed trimmed. The lady asked if I'd like her to trim them, and I said yes, and then she promptly cut them all basically off to match the two that had broken. I was kinda proud of those long nails since it had been awhile, but oh well. :) While I was in there I was watching the young Vietnamese girls doing pedacures. 1). The way they were scrubbing at people's feet and toes, I'd die. I could never have someone touch my feet like that. And 2). The girls did not look like they enjoyed their job. At all. The nails girls were fine, but the feet girls...I kind of felt sorry for them. I wouldn't like to put on gloves and scrub people's feet either, frankly.

I got my eyebrows done. Threaded. $11. Not bad for that kind of place. Also so I wouldn't have wild growing brows on TV should they, heaven forbid, get too close with a camera.

Next up I went to one of those make up counters. Met the nicest lady, and she did a partial makeover on me. Moisturizer, eye cream, foundation, syrum, even gave me an arm/hand massage with one of their lotions. And lip balm. And I bought the foundation she said looked the best on me. It won't stay on like the stuff I use now mostly does, so if it's a hot sweaty day, it'll come off. So not so great for warbird rides or instructing days in the heat. But it matches my skin tone better at least. I did like how it looked. She said the lotion she put on underneath made your skin "glow" and it did seem to do that, but I couldn't afford to buy any more of that brand, so I'm trying the foundation as is and see if it's still decent without all the other stuff she put on my face first...or not. We'll find out tomorrow.

Went to see "Kidnapped" with Halle Berry. The whole movie was basically one big car chase with her talking to herself and freaking out, kinda like Sandra Bullock did in "Speed" except she talked to other people too. We'll call that one a "meh".

For dinner I decided to go to a steak place. I googled nearby ones, and found one called "Junior's" that sounded really good. I get directions there via Google Maps, and I can NOT find the place. I drove back and forth a couple times before I googled their website to make sure they were still open. They were. The entrance was in the parking garage basement of a large otherwise empty looking skyscraper "oil" building. That should have been my first clue. I figured it must be defunct or something, the place was hidden, no signs out front, you have to go into a parking garage basement, right? I finally find it, and park, and get to the door, and it says on the door "Proper Attire Required". I smirk, like, whatever, and then as I pull the door open I see below that "Minimum of Business Casual". I look down at my warbird training center T-shirt and jeans, and look inside at the people there, and debate for about one point four seconds before closing the door and getting back in my car to try the next place. If they didn't say right on the door what dress is required, that's one thing, but when they do, choosing to ignore THAT seems a little crass even for me. It was obviously some trendy high dollar place where you have to know it's there to get there in the first place.

Next up I went to "Pearl's Crabtown." This was more like it. New Orleans style atmosphere, jeans acceptable, but they still had killer crab legs, which is what I went for. As a single 'eater', I just went to the bar, otherwise they had a 45 minute wait. The king crab was *really* good. The seats are right on top of each other, and you have to get in the people next to you's way to get in or out of a seat. There was no room for me to read a book or anything but eat. So the people next to you become friendly after awhile, out of necessity. The lady to my left asked if they were king crab, I said yes, and her and her boyfriend had to get that too after seeing mine. I even offered them my extra side dish as I didn't want it. The lady to my right...one of the crab legs flew out of my hand and hit me in the chest. I looked down, grabbed it, laughed, and she said "Nobody saw that. I didn't even see that." We "cheers"'d each other with our drinks and laughed. Downtown Oklahoma City at night had horse and buggies giving rides, and one of them was a lit up pumpkin looking carriage like Cinderella's, all neon lights. It was interesting, anyway.

When I got back, I walked on the treadmill in the exercise room for awhile. I'd already done a lot of steps at the mall today, and I'd been using the stairs instead of the elevator every time at the hotel, but if there's one thing that shopping will do for you, it's make you flinch as you stand in front of full length florescent lit mirrors and see every flaw highlighted. Ugh.

Last but not least, I used that new swimsuit to sit in the hot tub in the hotel. The water was rather green, which makes me twitchy, but you could smell the chemicals, so that has to be okay, right? I had the place to myself. Kids kicked out at 10 pm and no other adults down there. So I sat in the hot tub and read a book for half an hour, until I got so hot I walked into the cold pool for a few before heading out. The sign on the wall says nobody should go in the hot tub alone for safety, and to get out if you get dizzy. They do keep it hot, but boy that felt nice on some sore muscles.

Tomorrow will be a work day. The weather is looking a little sketchy, so I'm going to have to keep an eye on that and be ready to go whenever they say they're ready to go, which could be as early as 4 pm and as late as 9 pm. On the good end of it: I'm in the Cheyenne, heading east, so if I need to go up to the top of its ceiling to get over weather, I can, as long as the weather isn't right here or right home, and I'll have a nice tailwind in which to do it.

I missed our T-6 rides, but Steve and Justin said they gave four regular rides and one double ride for aerobatics, so hopefully that was good for the guy who came up to fill in for me. Kaylee was supposed to go out with friends to something, and I haven't heard back so hopefully she had a good time. And now it's midnight my time and the hot tub soaked out a few sore muscles, so it seems like a good time to get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow...

OhhhhKlahoma

Every time I say the world "Oklahoma" I hear the song in my head.  I have passed this affliction on to Kaylee, at least, so that's something.  ;)

The trip here was mostly uneventful.  There was a stiff headwind, so I was trying to stay a little lower. ATC had me go a little higher for traffic and left me up there, but we weren't doing too bad, and the air was smooth, so that was okay. I posted on Facebook, but I got a kick of hearing American Airlines say they were at their limits and weren't sure about going to 35,000', and when ATC asked if I could, I could just say yep.  They didn't end up sending me up there, but it was still funny to me.  Nanny nanny boo boo.  lol

It had been long enough since I was in the Cheyenne that I felt a little sloppy on a couple things, so it's good that I got back in.  There were three of them on board, husband, wife, daughter, and I like that they're back there with no headsets while I listen to music and read a book while cruising on autopilot at 30,000' and monitoring everything.  It's much more relaxing than having people up front with me or listening in on everything.

The fuel prices are over $2/gallon more expensive than at home.  So I loaded up with full fuel at Kokomo, with three little people (and me) and just three bags it was fine, and I saved them a lot of money.  I almost don't need any fuel for the trip home, either, but I took some in order to waive a ramp fee anyway.

The rental car I have is a Kia Soul. It's an interesting looking thing, and that's nice in one way--when you go somewhere like a mall, and exit the doors and start looking around, it sticks out and is much easier to find than the typical grey/white Nissan.  This one is what I called "Gumby blue".  It's almost identical to the blue on the bottom of Gumby.  It looks black, and I thought it was black, until the light hit it just right, and I realized it's a shimmery dark blue.

I went to the mall yesterday, in search of a nice shirt to wear.  One that isn't a t-shirt but isn't a super dressy shirt.  This is such a nightmare, and it shouldn't be.  For one thing, everything is either long sleeves now because Fall is coming, but hello, it's still 90 degrees outside, or sleeveless, which, c'mon, I'm 45 and have flabby upper arms right now.  I just want a short sleeved shirt.   I walked through that whole mall, and again, it's just overwhelming.  Other people are all "I get to go shopping and try on lots of stuff and hit all these stores and yay!" and I'm all "Oh Lord, it's overwhelming, all the people, all the stores, I don't see anything I'd wear, I don't know what to put together, and I can't stand it."

Worst of all are the people. The place was packed out, which I found out was because it was "Tax Free Weekend". Well, that's kind of cool.  Anything you buy this weekend is tax free. I have no idea why, but I ran with it.  But it was packed.  And everywhere I went, the workers were all over everybody.  Walk down the main pathway, and all the vendors in the middle of the aisle are handing me products, one girl said "You beautiful!  Such a beautiful girl!" trying to get me to stop at her booth.  Another chased me down for awhile to give me a moisturizer.  Now THAT I probably looked like I really needed.  ;)  Make-up people were trying to get me to do a make-over (also probably needed) and perfume people wanted to spray me.  When I was walking through every single shop looking for shirts, every section I went into went the same "How are you? What's your name?  My name is xxxx.  What are you looking for?  Would you like me to set up a dressing room for you?"  AAAARGH. Every. Single. Time.  Walking around Dillards there were 6 different sections/salespeople who all said the same script just wandering from one place to another.  When I did buy something at one, they wanted to know the name of the lady helping me.  Well, I don't remember, as I've been what I could only call "accosted" by about a dozen people throwing their names at me in the last half hour.  This shopping thing is hard enough.  Oh how I wish you could try on things with online shopping.  Have it zipped to your house at light speed like Star Trek, try it on, and buy it or zip it back.  And if there's a virtual woman with it asking you questions, I could shut it off.

BUT, one great thing and one nice thing was at that mall.  I had just happened to carry my iPad in with me.  I bring it to read while I eat, and I didn't want to leave it in the car.  So I'm walking along and I see this large, white and glass section of the mall with a giant apple on it.  I'm looking at an Apple store.  My iPad has had a problem for months where it refuses to update the iOS, saying it can't verify the update as I'm not on the internet. Except I AM on the internet.  Wifi, 3G, it didn't matter, it wouldn't do it.  So I've known that soon that would be a problem as it's already 2 or 3 operating systems behind.  So I walk into this store, and I have to tell you, I'm really impressed.  There are 3-4 people with iPads at the front doors.  They ask your problem, look it over, and give you an appointment time guess.  You leave.  They text you and say they're ready for you, and you can either put them off for 30 minutes by texting back a "2", or cancel by texting "1", or show up.  I show up, and they check me in, including what I'm wearing.  I wait a few minutes, a woman walks up and says "Are you Laura?"  I am, and she fixes my problem in 20 minutes flat including giving me the newest update.  They are rotating people through there, solving problems, as fast and as efficiently as I've ever seen anything done.  The writing down what they're wearing so the people can find you easily is much more brilliant than paging a name, etc.  So that was great.  I was super pleased, and it was totally free of charge.  We don't have one close to us, and I'd never done that before, but I have to say, that was super well done.

The nice thing--when I got tired of the walking and the assault on my senses from people and workers, I went to the movie theater there.  She asked what seat I wanted, and told me my options, and I was like "huh?"  I picked a seat and it was $14.  Ouch!  But I go inside, and it's those big comfy reclining puffy chairs, with space and room and ahhhh.  I watched "Dunkirk".  That was not a relaxing movie, and it was slightly strange, and I can't decide if I liked it or not, but I think so. The British and French were trapped at the sea by the Germans, waiting for a miracle.  The storyline followed a few different folks.  Three Spitfire pilots (my favorite part of course), a civilian boat captain and his son, and one British and one French soldier trying to survive.  It was intense.  A lot of people died in some fairly gross ways.  People dropping all around the soldiers.  Enemy planes strafing and bombing sitting duck soldiers and ships.  Drowning, fire, bullets, bombs.  War.  It was pretty intense, and they used a lot of intense music to go with it. 

If you don't want spoilers on the movie, don't read this paragraph.  The whole movie had minimal talking, was mostly just action, telling a story with pictures more than dialoge.  My favorite part was that while it was a little understated, they did a nice job showing heroism in war in some pretty normal people.  When Britain decided not to send a bunch of destroyers to Dunkirk, that they'd lost that battle, they sent a call out to civilian boaters to go help collect something like 400,000 stranded soldiers.  The soldiers were lined up on a beach getting bombed, the boats were getting bombed.  The admiral of the Navy and the whatever in charge of the Army were on a dock watching their men trapped, and they knew it was a likelihood that all their men would die, because the British 'government' was deserting them.  One of the best parts of the movie was when they tied that one civilian boat captain to the storyline, as he came up over the horizon, along with, you suddenly see, a myriad of his civilian friends, just normal people come to rescue their own soldiers, a few at a time per boat.  A huge cheer went up from all over that was pretty awesome. The majority of the story was two soldiers trying to survive, and every time they went somewhere or did something, everyone around them died and they almost did.  It was pretty tense.  The Spitfire pilots only had enough gas for so long.  They were taking out the enemy aircraft attacking the soldiers on the ground, as they could, and their orders were to go back home to refuel.  Two were shot down, one survived and was picked up by a civialian boater and then helped pull soldiers into boats.  The third fought until he was low on fuel, and then turned around to go home to refuel.  Behind him he could see an enemy bomber lining up on a large boat full of surviving soldiers.  You  see him staring at his fuel, staring at the bomber, staring at his fuel, and finally, knowing he was going to go down, turning around and going after the bomber.  He shoots the bomber down, saving all those lives, and then runs out of gas.  This part gets a little unrealistic. Apparently a Spitfire can glide forever and ever. And ever. But it was a neat part of the story.  As he's gliding down, another enemy fighter lines up on the dock and a whole giant pack of soldiers.  You see the fighter come screaming down, aiming at them all. The admiral closes his eyes and waits to die...and then the out of gas Spitfire takes out that one last fighter on his way down, saving all those people too. Spitfire glides forever down the beach (no idea why he didn't land next to his own people) and lands safely, only to be taken as a German POW.  You see the plane burning as the pilot is taken away.  But minus the huge glide path of a fuel-starved Spitfire, it was a pretty neat sequence, and I enjoyed.  And now you don't have to watch it because you know how it ends.  ;)

After the movie I went to a late dinner. I thought I was at a steakhouse, it said steakhouse, but it was a hippy millienium steakhouse that only served one steak, and it had weird stuff on it.  Everything on the menu was..."wilted greens" and man, I don't know, weird stuff.  I ended up trying the mesquite roasted duck.  The duck was fine.  The rest of the stuff with it was pretty weird.  But hey, I tried something new.  Tonight will be a real steakhouse.  I am in Oklahoma (OOOOHklahoma) for heaven's sake, they have to have steak around here...

So now on to the rest of today.  Calling the FBO to fuel up, texting a friend about borrowing something, planning on possibly running over to Dallas, TX for an hour if he ends up needing that, etc...