Waiting...

I’m still in Springfield, MO.  The weather was nasty today, low clouds, high winds, rain.  The mechanic didn’t want to work on it on the ramp even after it quit raining apparently, but I didn’t know that.  So I checked out of the hotel at noon when I had to, and spent the rest of the afternoon out at the airport.  When he texted he didn’t get to it today but would try tomorrow morning, I came on back to the hotel.  Went for a walk.  Got harassed by a couple guys in a 4-door dark sedan.  Had a fantastic dinner of ahi tuna salad and gooey butter cake.  Came back to my room and talked to Steve, and got ready for the night.

The uncertainty is the hard part.  Your bag is packed, your ready for him to text and say “it’s fixed, go”, and then you hop in the plane and fly to Texas and hope all goes well.  Or you sit all day, tired but ready to go, and then the text comes “not today” and you’re just done.  I don’t mind flexibility, but boy, sometimes it’s nice to know what the heck you’re doing and when.  Oh, the weather cleared off around 3 pm, so prior to that I knew I wasn’t going, but I knew I could go as soon as the weather cleared, if he got it done, so it was still kind of the same thing.  A little tiring.  And I didn’t pack an unlimited number of clothes and meds and q-tips here. So my plan is this.  He’s supposed to work on it tomorrow morning.  If he does, and I can leave, and the weather stays good, I will take it up. If I don’t have a problem, I will keep going to Tulsa.  If that’s still good, I will go to Texas.  If that’s still good, THEN I’ll consider going into New Mexico and crossing some mountains.  I will only fly until it gets dark, then I’m done.  I will not fly IMC. I will try to avoid the worst terrain.  And I will be going into bigger, towered airports like this.  I did this on purpose and I’m really glad. I know fuel and everything else is more expensive here, but that’s not my problem for once.  I have a shuttle to a nice airport, food, maintenance services, and 24 hour pilot services.  Had I landed in Nowhere, Missouri, I’d be a whole different level of stranded than I am right now, sitting in a Hilton, after a big delicious dinner, after a free shuttle from the big airport with free iced tea and snacks all day.  Ya know what I’m saying here?  

If I take off tomorrow and have an additional fuel injector problem or other big maintenance issue, I’m done.  I’m going home, minus this plane, and it will have to be their problem to solve, and they will not be able to fault me for not trying.  But tomorrow is my last straw.  If this doesn’t solve the problem, then I’m not risking flying over the mountains in it.

Now, it’s 11 pm my time, 10 pm this time, and I try to stay on my own time as much as I can.  So, I think I’ll read for an hour and head to bed.  I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.  ;).