Dear Diary

It's just you and me, diary.  So, what did we do today?

It was Memorial Day, and we spent it at home.  AE stopped by for awhile and hung out with Steve.  Steve mowed the yard and trimmed it and did other outdoors things.  I did housework.  Kaylee dyed her hair red tinted again, and then asked me to cut it.  I wasn't totally pleased with the job I did, so she tried to trim it up, and didn't like that either, so she's going to Great Clips tomorrow to fix it before she goes to camp.  Ha.

Kaylee has a doctor appointment tomorrow to talk to them about her low iron levels, something they should have caught the first time when she asked for that specific blood test because of her fatigue, and they didn't do, making her go through it again.  We've got the test results, and her iron levels are super low and her iron saturation levels are super low.  So, yeah.

Kevin has scheduled me to run the family down to Disney in a couple weeks, so they'll enjoy that, and I won't mind the trip down and back, twice, in a week.  Something different to do.

We are setting up our schedule trying to hit our students' graduation parties.  I don't enjoy those, but it means a lot to them to have you show up.  So show up we shall.  There are three.  Ana, down in Zionsville, Cameron in Kokomo, and Morgan up in Peru.  Two on Saturday, while we are having a formation clinic for the Bonanza guys, and one Sunday, probably also while we are having formation guys unless they leave early for weather.  So who knows how that will go. We shall see. I have cards for everyone at least already.

Ann is having a lot of trouble these last two days.  She suddenly couldn't remember how to work the microwave, or what to call it, or the food she puts into it. She became a little upset, and kept calling us to have us come over or talk to her on the phone, but she didn't have anything really to say, wasn't even super upset, she just wanted to talk, and forgot that we'd been over there or on the phone already a half dozen times.  She just says the same three or four things over and over and over for 30-40 minutes straight.  We want to make sure she's eating and taking her meds appropriately, so I wrote up a checklist for her, and we'll check in on her.  Hopefully she wakes up feeling better with her mind a little more clear. I don't know if she's messed up on her meds and that's causing a problem, or if she overnight suddenly had a rapid decline in cognitive ability because of the dementia, but it was night and day.  One night she went to bed fine, the next day she wasn't sure what time was, if she'd slept or been to bed or not, whether or not she'd eaten, etc.  Just...boom.  Not sure how to do this, exactly...

We had a fun family day.  We loaded up a couple of coolers with food and beverages, and Steve brought out a bunch of our guns.  We took our carry guns, the Sig Saur P-365 micro 9s, and Steve brought his Kimber micro 9, and the regular Glock 9 mm, and the 22 mag, and just all sorts of guns.  We put probably two boxes of rounds through them all, but mostly on our carry guns.  Kaylee did great with hers.  And then AE brought out the shotguns.  Kaylee shot a .410 shotgun, and laughed out loud when it blew up the paper on the stump.  Then she shot the 12 gauge, and laughed and cackled when it went off and blew the paper off the stump.  The shotguns were the clear winners of the day for her.  lol  We were out there for several hours.  Our marksmanship wasn't bad, either.  Not with the shotgun, I mean with the hand guns.  lol

We broke out some wine and beer, and we were out there for several hours, before heading into town for dinner, where I had bacon and stuffed french bread with bananas, pecans and peaches along with sweet cream.  Holy Moly that was good.

We spent the day laughing, talking, shooting, enjoying the outdoors on a beautiful cool sunny day, relaxed and happy and being how family is supposed to be.  It was...fantastic.

I'm going to post some photos from today, and then I'll go back and fill in my adventure from the last few days.  It was a lot, so I wanted to get this one in first.  lol  It was a good day.

This is my favorite. You can see the shell ejecting, and she's smirking already.

Neat firing range.

The Tennessee Saga

Wow, this is going to be a lot of writing.  Go to the bathroom before you start reading this.  ;)

Thursday was a really busy day.  I packed and got everything ready that I could that morning and took it all with me to lunch.  I left lunch early so I could get out to the airport and sign off my student on her long solo cross-country flight.  We were both a little nervous about this flight, because of the forecast winds, and just her being new to cross countries solo.  But I looked over all her stuff, signed her off, and then caught a ride from Chuck down to Sheridan Airport, where the PT-26 was in a hangar down there after it didn't make it back to Metro because someone closed down the runway with an incident while the PT was up flying.  Nick got the PT pulled out of the hangar and topped off, and I added two quarts of oil to get it to "full", then took the rest of the new case and put the quarts individually into the back baggage compartment.  I strapped my suitcase into the back seat, put my purse in the back canopy, and grabbed the bag of CAF shirts that Dennis had left for me and put those next to my purse up on top of the baggage compartment under the canopy.  I was ready to go.  My student texted me frequently with every stop she made, and when she got back home.  So I knew she was good to go, and I heard her arriving back at Kokomo as I was leaving from Sheridan.  :)

When I took off, I really saw that I had no way to navigate.  No VOR, no GPS, didn't even have a working DG.  Just the mag compass with questionable accuracy.  So I put the big "S" up top and headed south for Tennessee.  My planning originally said it would be like 2 hours and 48 minutes.  It lied. By a lot.  I don't know if the numbers I put in were wrong or the winds were nothing like what they forecast, but it was way off.  After about 1.2, when I was only by Seymour, Indiana, I knew I wasn't going to make it there non-stop, so I decided to stop in Seymour, where I knew they had a 24 hour self serve pump.  I land, I taxi up, hop out, hook up the grounding strap, and start filling up the right side.  A guy drives up, gets out, and says "Hi, Laura!"  I don't recognize him from Adam.  I say hello, and he says "I recognize you from Muncie, you flew a T-6 in there."  That's been awhile, but yes!  He has a PT-26 on field there that he's flown some.  He said "You don't see any other women that I know of flying warbirds, that's why I recognized you."  Kind of funny!

While I'm there, I throw in a quart of oil, because it's a thirsty bird.  And I broke 12,000 hours flying the PT-26.

Oh.  On my way past Indy, which I went around because I don't have ADS-B on the airplane, two fighter jet went right past my front windshield and off to my left.  I grinned and then I thought "Uh oh!"  I immediately turned to 121.5 in case they were trying to contact me, but they weren't.  I wasn't being intercepted, they were just going by, probably because of the Indy 500 stuff going on.  Great view once you know you're not in trouble.

Anyway, back at Seymour, I take back off, and now I'm thinking I can go all the way.  I'm cruising and cruising and things are going fine.  I get over terrain that isn't very friendly. Then I get over terrain where I have nowhere to put this plane down if anything happened.  Hills and trees, trees and hills. The roads are few and too narrow and curvy.  I did spot a windy river once but boy I'd have hated to try that too.  I kept looking for places to go if need be and not feeling very comforted by what I was finding.  Then it got a little better with an occasional short field around here and there.  I saw a needle fluctuate on the oil pressure gauge, so rather than push forward that 1.2 or so, I decided to land again. 

The nearest airport was Elizabethtown, Kentucky, so I set up and came on in and landed there.  The FBO was closed up tight, but it didn't matter, I just needed to add some oil.  Which I did.  It took more than I expected it to take after 2.7 hours flight time, but I had 10 quarts back there to start this trip with.  I wiped my hands off on the grass and asphalt, since I couldn't get in to wash them, climbed back in, and got ready to do my last leg of the journey. I still had plenty of gas.  

I started up, warmed up, taxied to the other end of the airport, held short runway 23, did my run-up, and waited for a plane to turn base to final and land.  And my engine quit.  Just...blurp.  I was like...'huh'.  I restarted it.  Fuel pressure went to zero, and it died.  Three times.  I double-checked everything.  The mixture which is backwards WAS rich.  I switched fuel tanks.  It's a simple fuel system, there's not much left, and the battery was getting weak, so I quit.  And then I sat there slightly dumbfounded.  What am I supposed to do now?  This plane is broke.  The FBO is closed. Nobody is around. I am hours away from anyone I know, in any direction.  The plane is sitting at the end of the taxiway at the hold short line for the runway.  I can't push it back to the ramp myself, it's too heavy for one person.  For one of the few times in my life, I was stumped, and I did NOT know what to do.  Seriously.  What are you supposed to do??  

I sat there in the cockpit and shut things down and pulled out my phone and texted Steve, but didn't know what he was supposed to do about it either.  And then a white pick-up truck starts heading my way.  A couple guys in a pickup truck happened to be out there, and saw me sitting there, and happened to have big towing straps on board their pick up.  Huh.  We swung the PT around so it was facing the other direction, then they hooked up the tow straps to the mains/struts, and towed me back to the ramp and into a parking spot. I used the rudders/brakes to help steer around the sharpest corners, and we got lined up pretty close.  We tied down the PT right there, but I didn't have the canopy cover or prop cover with me, and it's a wood and fabric airplane.  Not cool.

But now what?  Now I need to find a hotel.  I texted David and Gerald, the two I was supposed to meet in Tennessee, that I had a mechanical failure and was going to spend the night in Elizabethtown.  I go up to the FBO and sit outside it on the steps, and another young guy comes up and asks what I'm doing, and I told him getting ready to get a hotel room and an Uber ride to it.  He says "Well, that's not going to happen".  What??  There are no Ubers out here. No taxis.  No Lyft.  He says the corporate pilots that come in complain all the time about not being able to get to or from the airport.  So he and his girlfriend, who were going up on a sunset flight, instead took me in their car to the nearest hotel and dropped me off, almost missing her first ever flight with him.  They just happened to be out there for that, right when I needed them.  I walked into the hotel and said "Please tell me you have a room", because if not, I didn't have anywhere else to go.  They did.  I was so grateful.  I crawl upstairs, my head is killing me.  I'm dehydrated, haven't eaten, it was super hot, I was wearing the flightsuit like I am supposed to, so I'm overheated, and the stress was the kicker. I felt my head start kicking in when I realized at the hold short line that I have a problem.  Also, my fitbit registered an "orange" heart rate for the first time ever since I've had this new one.  It shot through the roof, as did I believe my blood pressure, which didn't help my head.  I get to my room, I unload all my stuff, and I walk across the street to a pizza place, for much-delayed food.  I'd had a salad at lunch, and it was now 8 pm.  

Boombaz was the name of it, and the pizza was amazing. But I sat at the bar because there was no wait there, while there was a wait for a table.  A guy sitting next to me wanted to talk.  I did not want to talk.  I don't know if he was just being friendly, or hitting on me, but either vibe kind of worked.  I was borderline rude to him, pulled out my iPad and just started reading a book, and my head got worse and worse.  I had my bottle of Tylenol in my purse, and I started with three, then took three more, then about an hour later took three more, and it wasn't doing it.  I knew I was in trouble at that point.  I got back to my hotel room, and dug around, and was horrified to find that I'd left my little container of medicine at home, apparently.  That had my allergy meds in it (which were also a problem), my pain meds, my melatonin, and my headache medicine.  Oh man, that is really, really bad news.  I then remembered that I had an emergency headache med pill in my purse, and I broke that out.  It seemed to take forever to kick in, because I'd let it go so long.  I tried to go to sleep, and without the melatonin, I couldn't.  I lay there in bed for hours, and hours, and couldn't shut down my brain, could not sleep.  Finally the headache abated, but I never did get any kind of decent sleep, all night.  Perfectly comfy bed, dark room, great temp, white noise going, Could Not Sleep. 

Woke up early, and could not get a ride back to the airport.  Even in the middle of this 30,000 person city, not on the fringe at the airport, I could not get a taxi, cab, or Uber.  Nothing available.  So David had to drive up from Nashville to fetch me from the hotel and take me to the airport.  First time we'd met in person.

When we got to the PT, he took the panel off, and then climbed in the back seat, and I started the plane. It would run.  The fuel pressure wasn't happy, it was low and bouncing around, but it would run, which it would not do yesterday at all.  I HATE THAT.  If you're going to break, break, so we can know for sure what to do.  But everyone agreed it was the mechanical engine driven fuel pump. 

I'm going to divert here for a second. There's no backup electrical pump on this airplane.  If your engine driven fuel pump fails, your engine fails.  There is a mechanical wobble pump on the left side.  If you know what's going on, theoretically you can keep the engine running using that wobble pump rapidly with your left hand while you fly with your right and hope you don't need the throttle.  That should get you to the nearest airport, if all goes according to plan.  I revisited that terrain I'd just flown over, all those hills and trees and nowhere to put this airplane without damage.  And I just hoped that I'd have thought to wobble pump it if it happened.  But the scarier one, was, I was about to take off.  I was at the hold short line about to go. If that had failed when I was 50' up, or 100' up, or whatever...let's be honest. Overcoming the initial startle reflex. Getting the nose down, looking out and seeing where to put this thing in the next couple of seconds, under control. Also look inside and notice the fuel pressure is at zero, decide to wobble pump, and start doing that.  All in a split second or two.  It's not very realistic. One would like to say one would do it, but would it actually happen?  Odds aren't good.  Odds are better now, frankly, because if that engine burps, the most likely cause is fuel from one thing or another.  So now "wobble pump" is a lot more in the forefront of my mind, and I'd like to think I'd be three times faster about getting to it now than I would have been on that day.  I'm glad I didn't need to find out.  

So, he's pulling the fuel pump off the plane, and it starts raining.  It's raining pretty good.  We get the pump off, in a plastic bag, and we start the drive for Nashville (Lebanon to be precise).  It's 2.5 hours down there.  We stop for lunch at a Freddie's, and then keep going till we get to David's sister's house, to pick up his dad, Gerald.  We all drive the rest of the way to Lebanon, where we go to check into our hotel room.  It's now 4:30 pm, and the rooms were supposed to be ready by 4.  Their room was ready, mine was not.  So I sat down in the lobby and waited for it, while they went up to their rooms.  We were supposed to meet 5 other guys for a meeting at Outback, meeting in the lobby to go there at 6:15, and I would have liked to rest and freshen up. I'd been out in the rain, all messy and sweaty.  When it became obvious my room wasn't going to be ready in time, I tried to freshen up my makeup in the lobby, and the rest just had to be let go.  I took my suitcase and stuff back out to the car, and then we walked over to Outback and had this meeting.

The meeting was with five guys interested in starting up a new CAF Wing in Nashville.  So they asked questions, we talked, I answered things, they answered things, we ate, it was a business dinner.  They're all airline pilots, every one of them.  One guy is a high time taildragger pilot too, he'll be their instructor. Two others were mechanics, and one was the guy spearheading the whole thing.  So bottom line, I helped "schmooze" and sell the CAF to these guys, wearing my polyester blue CAF polo shirt.  I'm not sure what's happening to me, but it gets worse.

I tell the guys I need to borrow the car to go to Walgreens.  I'm getting melatonin one way or the other this time.  David says "Drive it like you stole it" and his dad says "Hey, she's a pilot, you can't trust her, and the insurance is in my name, don't do that."  lol If they only knew.  I went to Walgreens, got my melatonin, and texted them "the car is back with nary a scratch".  The melatonin didn't help.  I still could not go to sleep.  I mean...NOT go to sleep.  When I finally got up at 7, I was exhausted.  I'd been running hard for days, high stress, lots of people I don't know, and little sleep.  But the day was just beginning.

See, I was bringing the PT down to Lebanon to give rides, because they were going to be awarded a PT-19 (same airplane no canopy).  So when David was working on the pump, he put out a bunch of calls to a bunch of people looking for a replacement. He found one in Atlanta. The guy was willing to fly it up to us, even though it would be like a 6 hour day for him plus installation.  Then David found that a t-fitting that connects the fuel pump to the lines was a "Home Depot" part.  It wasn't an approved part.  WE didn't put it on there, it had been on there forever, we just hadn't seen it there or recognized that it wasn't an approved part.  But he wasn't comfortable putting a new fuel pump on that "home depot" part and then sending me on my way, because if something happened and it was investigated, and now he knew about it and signed off on the plane after the maintenance, and...so I'm grounded. Well, the plane is grounded.  Nobody could get that part because it's Memorial Day weekend and the shops are closed.  We're hosed.  No PT to get to Lebanon for rides, and now I'm not even sure how to get home, either.  Will work on that later.  First is Saturday's events.

The EAA breakfast starts out there at like 8 am, so we arrived.  They were wearing their flight suits because they were hoping to give rides, so I wore mine even though I wasn't giving rides, because it seemed the appropriate attire, to all match up as the three CAF representatives.  I'm so uncomfortable.  SO uncomfortable.  It's early morning, I'm exhausted, and I don't people well in large groups in the first place, let alone large groups where I know nobody, let alone large groups where I know nobody while I'm wearing a flight suit, let alone at 8 in the morning after no sleep the last two days.  I was really feeling a strong need to crawl into a corner somewhere and disappear.  I went into the bathroom once just to stand in there for a few minutes and breathe.  When I came out, we all divided and circulated around, and I did it.  I talked to various people, and they talked to me.  One 88 year old man grabbed me by both hands and said "Where's your husband?"  When I said "Indiana", he said "Oh good!" and leaned in and planted a kiss on my cheek.  I was like :o .  Then he dragged me by the hand over to his wife and another lady who were already deep in conversation, and he left me there.  That was more awkward. They looked at me kind of funny and I was obviously interrupting them and I didn't know what to say.  I wandered off shortly, but I did it.  After the EAA breakfast they had a CAF meeting for the people interested in that.  It was a good group.  Gerald got up and started talking. David talked next. Then Gerald again.  Then he said "I'd like Laura Stants to come up here and talk about..."  I was like "WHAT??!?!?!"  So I got up to the microphone and I talked to about 75 people about something or other, most of which I don't remember.  They said I did a good job.  I just hope I didn't totally embarrass myself. 

After the meeting we did more circulating and talking, closing the place down.  I talked to kids and older retired guys, instructors and new pilots.  I schmoozed some more, and I did pretty well, for me.  

When it was all over, David and Gerald wanted to go grab a sandwich before we all headed home.  Steve had arranged for John Routt to come get me in the 421.  So while David was off doing something, Gerald says "You should fly the B-29".  I laughed.  I laughed and then said "Hey, I'd love to."  He said "I'm serious.  They need more pilots. And they could use a woman pilot too."  I flinched a little, and then laughed again, and said "That's way outside my budget I'm afraid".  He says, bottom line, you don't pay for training, you go to Dallas for groundschool every Spring, you volunteer 3-4 weeks out of the year for rides, and you go on tour with the airplane (not all at once).  They pay for your hotel, your car, and your food. You don't have to pay to sponsor the airplane as a copilot, and it's only $3500 one time as a left seat pilot.  Whoa.  The biggest thing is, you have to get the crew to approve of you.  So the first step is to find some place they're on tour, and go help them out and let them get to know you.  Then you go to groundschool.  Then he said David would put in a good word for me, and if the crew "likes" you, there's a chance you can fly the B-29. Well, Doug R also flies Fifi, and he likes me, and David is the #2 guy in the main National CAF Headquarters organization, and he flies Fifi.  This is something that isn't as ridiculous as it first sounded.  I don't know if I will or not, or can or not.  I looked up their tour, and the only time they're within two states of me is while I'll be at the formation clinic for T-6s going to Oshkosh.  So...I don't know.  But what a thought.  Some nobody chick out of Kokomo, Indiana, I could end up flying one of the only two flying B-29s in the world.  And I wouldn't be the first or the only woman to do it, not even counting the WASP, but I'd be I believe #3.  There's one flying Doc right now, and one who used to fly Fifi, with her dad.  And I could be #3.  How wild is that?!   We'll see, I'm not getting my hopes up.  I'm actually relatively afraid to try.  I've never flown anything heavier than 12,250 lbs.  The B-29 is 120,000 lbs at gross weight.  I don't have a clue how to handle that.  It has four engines, I've never flown off of anything but two.  I really feel completely out of my depth on the whole thing.  But then again, Gerald and David told me that airline pilots usually make the worst B-29 pilots, and the folks who do the best are usually the tailwheel pilots.  I thought that was quite interesting.  I guess the nosewheel steering in it actually acts a lot more like a taildragger, and that button pushing airline pilots monitoring systems usually have a really hard time getting and keeping ahead of the airplane.  But still, holy cow.  This isn't on another planet of possibility, it's just on another time zone of possibility.  ;)

At lunch there, David also told me I was the "rising star" in the CAF. He said it like three times this weekend, that I'm a "superstar", or an "Up and coming superstar" or "rising star", and I could feel him looking at me afterwards to see.  Noooope, that's my line. Maybe I'm supposed to be proud and confident, but I said the truth, which is that I'm just another pilot.  David said that Dennis thinks I am, and I appreciate Dennis's support.  But I know my strengths and my weaknesses, and I am probably above average in some areas, but I am not a superstar, and I do have some weaknesses too.  1) I can't write big checks, which organizations like. 2) I'm an introvert, and they need gregarious, outgoing people dealing with the public and getting along great with everyone on the crew. Both of those may be okay, just weaknesses, but then there's 3) I have a horrible time with ground/oral/systems.  The B-29 is very complex. I'd really need to finally learn once and for all how to study for this stuff and get decent at vomiting it back out loud.  I haven't figured it out yet. Not sure why something harder would be better. I wish it was all just written test and flying test and nobody asked me questions in person.  :p

David and Gerald left in the Twin Commander "Ike's Bird", which is the smallest Air Force One ever in history.  John arrived shortly afterwards, and we left and headed for Elizabethtown, where we put the covers on the PT-26, and then took back off and headed for Kokomo. 

When I landed in Kokomo, I had just enough time to run home, fix my face, comb my hair, and drive to Pastarrific with Steve and Kaylee, for a graduation dinner for Gwenie.  I was almost high I was so tired, but I made it, and had a good time with everyone, celebrating a big accomplishment.

I'm trying to remember what I've forgotten.  One other funny one, I'm chatting around in the hangar at Lebanon, and a guy comes up and says "Are you Laura Stants"?  I said yes, and he said he recognized me off of Facebook, he'd seen me around on FB with the Checkertail T-6.  So that's two places I went where someone recognized me.  Isn't that weird?

So for now the PT is on the ramp in KY, tied down, covered up on the canopy and the prop. I am home, got to rest Sunday morning before heading outdoors for shooting and fun Sunday afternoon/evening. In fact I took both melatonin and a half dose of a z-quil just to make sure I went to sleep last night, and it worked.  I think Steve has gone to bed, and Kaylee is out with a friend hanging out and talking late into the night, just like a good college kid tends to do.  ;)  She leaves in one week for camp.  She's nervous but looking forward to it.

And now, here the pictures.  I am wearing the flight suit in the PT, I just have it off my shoulders for this part of the flight.  I pulled it up when I thought I was on my last leg and would be arriving in public.  lol

This is the panel I had to fly off of. You can see all the "inop" stickers on there.

Normal flying along. You can see the edge of the flight suit under my right arm.  lol

I opened the canopy to take a photo without glare.

And this is what happened.

The green line is my squirrely path to my first fuel stop. I was going around Indy because I don't have ADS-B, and then I had to go around restricted airspace at the other end.  Took even more time that way, too.

And this was some of the weather I was beating out of there.

Starting to get into the woodsy area.

The storm was just off my right side at this point. I was barely outrunning the thing.

I'm holding my mouth funny, but this is me stuck at the hold short line for Runway 23, broken down and unsure of what to do, exactly.

My first hero in the truck with straps.

Towing me all the way back to the ramp.

Me getting a ride in the PT, the tow of shame they call it.

The dastardly part that failed.

The first time I've ever seen my heart rate go up into "cardio" range.  lol

Gerald with "Ike's Bird" and a crowd.

People in the hangar for breakfast

John rescuing me in the 421

The PT buttoned up and on the ramp

It looks good, even when it's broken down...

Snap

I guess I got busy, so for a hit and run, I am getting everything ready to head to Nashville, TN this afternoon in the PT-26.  It'll take me almost 3 hours to get down there.  I was supposed to go tomorrow evening, but tomorrow's weather looks sketchy, so I'm going early rather than risk not making it on time at all.  It's for an event where I will be meeting at dinner with some folks, and talking about the CAF, and then Saturday morning is a pancake breakfast and event, and they're giving away rides in the PT and another plane, so I'll give those rides, and then at some point Saturday afternoon head back.  

Today I am sending off a student on her long solo cross country too, so hopefully that goes well.  Weather looks okay today, but I may not be around when she gets back.  

Kaylee has finals this week and has been pretty quiet.  I just shoot off a "love ya" and get one back now and then so I know she's still alive over there.  :)

Steve is working on airshow stuff for the upcoming event at Indy Exec, and the formation clinic coming up, and the Sept airshow which we just publicly announced, and his regular work, and some taxes or paperwork on the house, and getting our fence rebuilt, which is bad timing because the price of lumber is ridonculous.  In other words, he's swamped.

Ann is hanging in over there, she's got spots on her face that keep breaking out, like her skin is breaking down here and there, and hoping that it heals up soon.  But she's otherwise in good spirits.

And I've got to go take a shower and get ready for the rest of the day, which includes going to Metro to pick up shirts and a canopy, going to Kokomo to pick up a headset and sign off Ana on her cross country, going home to finish packing my stuff and making sure I'm not forgetting anything, checking the weather, again, going to Sheridan to pick up the PT, and flying 3 hours before dark to get to Nashville where I won't know a single soul at this airport function and hope I can pull it off for the #2 fellow in charge of the CAF National HQ.  Wish us all luck.  ;)

Stuff

Today is Steve and my 25th wedding anniversary.  Most people make a big thing of it, but we've been so busy that we just didn't plan anything.  We thought about going to dinner tonight but I had a student until 8 pm, so it was too late after that.  We were going to eat out tomorrow, but Steve has students until 9 pm.  So...we'll find another day to celebrate.  But it's okay.  We had leftover hamburgers from the Poker Run, and leftover cake, and said "Happy Anniversary!" to each other, and that's good enough for now.  ;)

I have an interesting week coming up, I think.  Tomorrow I go to Ohio to pick up Ethan after he drops off his Cherokee 6, in his C-340.  Wednesday or Thursday Steve and I go to Florida in the Cheyenne with Nathan and Kevin, and have lunch at Conchy Joe's.  Friday I am taking the PT-26 down to Nashville for an event.  This is the more entertaining one.  

So CAF's Headquarters in Dallas reached out to other units that have PT-26s, because they need one for an event in Nashville.  The Chief Operating Officer, David O, of the National HQ, is going to Nashville and needed someone with a PT to meet him there and help him out.  Everyone else was busy because it is Memorial Day weekend.  I was the last person that was asked, because I'm usually way too busy for that.  But by some weird coincidence, I had nothing on the schedule for Friday and Saturday.  So I said I'd do it.  But here's the kicker.  Friday I'm flying the PT-26 down to Lebanon, Tennessee (by Nashville).  Three hour flight in a flight suit.  I need to be there before dark.  Then I am going to dinner with him (whom I've never met) and the prospective CAF Unit leaders down there who are forming a new unit (none of whom I know), to "continue to build momentum for their new unit."  Saturday morning is an EAA Pancake breakfast where we will talk about joining the CAF and have an intro meeting, then give away a few rides in the PT.  After hanging out for the day, in a hot flight suit, I head home.  To recap, I'm flying a long way, to meet people I don't know, to go to dinner and be an ambassador, to socialize and give talks and meet and greet.  I don't know a single soul down there, they all know each other. So I'm odd man (woman) out. I can't take Steve with me because we both can't be gone overnight.  But I'm going to try.  If I can do this and pull it off and help out the COO of the national organization, it can only benefit me and the Indiana Wing in the end.  But boy this is going to be hard for me.  I'm heavy, I don't feel good about my appearance, I especially don't feel good in my flight suit, I'm not a people person, I'm not good at socializing and dinner parties and social events where I'm alone.  So, wish me luck and peace and to be able to put my imaginary extrovert hat on.  Fake it till you make it!

Kaylee wasn't feeling good tonight, and she didn't have anyone to bring her crackers and Gatoraide and applesauce and pretzels.  So I ordered it online from Meijer, and had it delivered to her dorm tonight.  I tipped the lady doing it $10 on a $7 order, to make it worth her while for doing it, because that's better than me going to the store, and driving 2 hours round trip to get them to her myself.  Gotta love modern day stuff sometimes.  She said she's slowly feeling better at least.  She also has a doctor's appointment for June 1st because the place she went to for her next blood draw, got the results back, and she is definitely anemic.  She said "normal iron saturation range is 15-55% and mine is 4%". Like mother (and grandmother) like daughter.  Sorry kid.

I can't think of what else, it's taken me two hours to get this far.  lol  Not in the mood to write tonight I guess.  But those are the main things I can think of off-hand.  If I think of something else I'll throw it in later.

Poker Run

We had a really nice day on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous, and we had a really good turn-out.  We didn't have as many airplanes as last year's event, but the number of people who came all-around was good.  We raised about $2700 after expenses which was also pretty good, for the Flying Squirrels.  The kids all came out and worked at the event, setting up, serving food, keeping trash cleaned up, putting away, etc.  

It was really nice to see everyone, and hang out.  I was on my feet and talking to people most of the day.  Later one of my students said she'd wanted to talk to me but I was always either talking to someone, or had someone in queue waiting to talk to me.  So I did good fulfilling my hostess socialization role.  :D  Later that evening, she and I spent several hours just sitting at a table and talking about life, past, present and future.  She told me something that I thought was pretty neat.  She's an introvert, shy, awkward.  She had told me she didn't want to fly with me, because she'd heard I was "somebody" and she was afraid that I'd think she was an idiot.  She got sick before she flew for like a month, she was so nervous about it.  She said "You told me a long time ago that flying was going to change my life.  You were right.  Meeting you has changed my life, changed who I am."  She said that if she hadn't met me, she'd be sitting quietly and sadly at another airport, too afraid to meet people or do things, having a hard time making decisions.  But because she and I are a lot alike in personality, she could see that if I could become confident and talented and accepted, that she could too.  She could feel the change in her over the year, making decisions, being in charge of the airplane and of her choices in life, etc. That made me feel pretty good.  I always love watching a nervous, uncertain young person flip the switch and become a self-confident decision maker and good pilot.  

Both she and one (two actually) of my former students are going to Purdue this Fall.  She and he were talking about it, and a couple folks were talking about her showing him up at flight school.  I piped up with "Hey, he's pretty good".  I said she's pretty good too.  They both looked funny so I said "You guys know me well enough to know by now I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it.  You DO do a good job".  They were both like "that means a lot coming from you", and I felt almost bad that they didn't already know I felt that way.  Those two picked up things very quickly.  He's a little further along than she is, though I didn't say that part, but they're both good Private pilots and will be good professional pilots too.  It's interesting to note a difference you can make in someone's life with a word or comment.  The instructor I remember the most, I can't even remember his name off-hand.  Hayes, I think.  I was getting into the plane with him, and this idiot student was yelling mean things over at me. His last name was Cole, I remember that.  He was talking about how I should go home, didn't belong there, was a joke, something along those lines, not the first time he'd "informed" me of that kind of thing.  My instructor ever so casually said "Oh, shut up Cole, this girl can fly circles around you."  I was stunned.  Nobody had ever said anything nice to me about my flying to that point, nobody had really been nice to me at all.  They'd been polite, some of them I should say. Some were dismissive, some were cold, some were outright mean like Cole, some tried to sabotage me, some threatened me, some were just distantly polite and did their jobs, and of course one dated me and a lot of other students tried for awhile, but none of them had ever said anything like that to or about me.  My face was bright red and my heart was pounding and I didn't know what to say, so when we finally got in the plane and I pulled out the checklist and I was getting ready to start up, and neither of us had said a word, I finally just looked straight ahead and said "Thanks".  He nodded, and we never spoke about it again.  Next year one other instructor, Grant, said, with a surprised tone of voice, after we got out of the plane on our first lesson together, Commercial I believe, "You fly pretty good.  And I don't mean for a girl, I mean you just fly pretty good."  I did not say "Well. I flew well.  But thank you."  :D  Again I just said "Thanks".  But they were drops of hope to someone who didn't have a clue how I was doing compared to other people, what the norm was, how this was supposed to look and go. I sort of assumed I sucked. I just kept my head down and kept going forward, but those words meant a lot to a student pilot.  Long story to say I try to tell people when they're doing well and be positive with them if they are struggling. They're reaction to me saying that this time shows that I hadn't made that clear enough before, and that I'm going to be even more deliberate about it in the future.

Oh, something funny.  The student that I did spins with in the Champ. She had showed her mom that video via text, and her mom sent a barf emoji and then told her to tell me that I was fired.  She never passed that on to me, but I saw her mom at the Poker Run, and she informed me that she'd told her daughter to tell me I was fired.  I laughed.  She was half serious, she's horrified at the spins, but she's trying not to stand in her daughter's way of doing what she enjoys.  I thought that was funny though.  "You're fired, by the way".  Lol

It was a good day.  We didn't get home until like 10:30 pm, sat around, cleaned up, hung out, chatted, and eventually wandered home. 

I think I'm going with Kaylee to get her fake nails removed today, and tomorrow I may be transporting a C-150 Texas Taildragger to Wisconsin because he can't find anyone local with that kind of airplane time, and I do have some.   Memorial Day Weekend I may be moving the PT-26 down to Nashville for an event down there with the COO of the entire CAF main HQ organization, to save the day for something he needs help on, which will only serve to be a good thing for me too.  And it's all expenses paid, so I don't have to worry about that, either.  Steve could go with me as it's an overnight, but he can't go with me because it's an overnight.  I do wish we had an option where we could both leave at the same time. But it is what it is!

Steve's off mowing the yard, I haven't heard from Kaylee yet, the internet is actually down right now while I type this, so I think I'll go take a shower and get ready for the day, do some laundry, you know, go do stuff.  :)  

Friday

I texted Kaylee this morning and asked if she was still alive.  She said "Yep" but that was it.  She stayed in bed until close to noon today too, and then she started feeling better.  She got up, she got out and about, she even went to her university's health clinic and had them draw blood to check her CBC and iron levels, which the local doctor had missed.  I was proud of her, she went in by herself, she did not freak out, and she said she didn't hyperventilate this time either.  She left there and said "I want soup and my mom".  So I met her at Panera, we had some late lunch, and then she came home and curled up on the couch with me.  Normally SHE falls asleep and I play on my phone, but this time *I* fell asleep and she couldn't.  I woke up after ten minutes flat, but she was still amused.  She felt so much better after food and relaxing a bit at home that she was ready to head off back to school and hopefully work on that big paper she's got due on Monday.  I hold out no hope that she won't wait until Sunday and then panic on it.  Possibly be late on it.  She's worse than I am on procrastination.  I used to procrastinate, but I *always* got it done on time.  She runs late and doesn't care enough to stop doing it.  Bleh.  But at least she's finally feeling better.  :)

I took a student over to Muncie today to do tower controlled field takeoffs and landings.  It was her second time over there, and she did a great job with it.  Except she couldn't hear with her headset.  It's an old, bad headset.  So I gave her my Bose and switched with her, so she could hear him better, so I could get out and she could do the solo takeoffs and landings and know she could hear him better.  She did well, and I went to the restaurant and had a coffee and a bagel and watched her out the window.  When she was done she came back and picked me up, we left, and once we were clear his airspace, we swapped headsets again.  Ahhhh.   ;)  And I'm 1.5 hours closer to the next big round number.  Probably won't happen tomorrow though. 

Mom is in Eureka, and I'm glad.  The family is going through a lot of health issues right now and it's important that she get to be able to see everyone.

They had lunch at Glenndale today, but they had ham salad sandwiches (barf) and ham and cheese sliders (ehhhh), so I brought my own Wendy's.  When I hit the drive-thru, I thought the same thing I've thought a dozen times. That particular Wendy's is GOOD.  They're fast, efficient, keep their drive-thru lines moving, they're accurate, and they are the best fast food restaurant in town for that, not just Wendy's, but overall.  So when I got to the window today I noticed it was the manager doing the cash register, she's been there forever, so I told her all that.  She was so appreciative that she stopped the line just to tell me that, and to say that if I was willing to fill out the survey online off of my receipt, that their whole store is judged by feedback, usually about 25 a year, and that the only people who usually provide feedback are the unhappy people.  So I told her I'd do it, and when I got home, I did exactly that.  Told HQ about her, and how even during pandemic times, they have keep accurate orders, fast drive-through times, clean stores, and just been the best in the area, that I go out of my way to hit that Wendy's.   I hope it helps. She/they have worked hard for a long time and deserve some sort of recognition for it.

Steve told the Glenndale people he wasn't going to be getting the 100LL out there any more.  It's step two for us, but step one that they know of so far.  They can provide their own 100LL as they see fit, and it'll save us a lot of hassle and money.  We pay people to pump and pick up a tank of gas, drive it over to Glenndale, pump it into the tank, keep the tanks measured, and we lose fuel every week.  Only to be accused of making money off of something we dramatically lose money on.  So, no more.  We're out of the 100LL fuel business at Glenndale. Step one that will be step two to them, will be disclosed officially next week after our Poker Run this weekend is over, with the public announcement that the BBQ Bash will be moving to Kokomo and revamped.  Looking forward to it, that'll be fun.

One of the guys out at Glenndale has had another temper tantrum and has said he won't be mowing any more because Chuck didn't get the A&P to stop by and look at his (J's) airplane for annual. A&P couldn't stay, he had to leave, it's not Chuck's job to drag him down to J's airplane, and I have no idea what mowing has to do with any of it, but this guy is more emotional and illogical than anyone can accuse a teenage girl of being.  Temper tantrums and all.  Give Me A Break.  It's too bad this one fellow with the assist of one other illogical and emotional-and both rather unscrupulous too-fellow are the main catalysts for the collapsing of what was a good thing out there at the airport.  Too Much Drama.

Our Poker Run is tomorrow. Doesn't feel like it, so I wonder what the turnout will be like.  Last year it was huge. Nobody wanted to be quarantined and they defied it.  This year...we'll see.  Either way the weather looks great and it's an excuse to hang out at the airport and maybe fly something.  Win/Win.

S. Carolina

Up at 6 this morning, drove to Frankfort, and the plane was out on the ramp and ready to go.  I preflighted, and was in the air by 8:30 am, as planned.  About three hours of smooth air later, I arrived in Charleston, S. Carolina again.  Topped off with fuel, and Ethan and Amity showed up and brought me a Subway sandwich. When we went to leave, I checked the fuel, and the fuelers hadn't gotten the tanks full on two tanks. So we made them come back out and put more in, and it's a good thing.  We were cruising along, and switched the wing locker tank on, and it quit after 10 gallons. They didn't even get THAT one full, and there was barely enough fuel all total to get home with reserves. We were at 45 minutes, not my preferred hour. But it was severe clear, so no worries.   You can't see and have no indicators of how much fuel is in the wing locker tank. I always told them to fill it and they always did. But now I've gotten one where they didn't get it full.  If I'd have been IFR, I'd have had to stop for fuel halfway home.  I'm glad it worked out.

On the way home I stopped at an ice cream place in Frankfort, and they had a small "red hot flurry", or blizzard.  Red hot candies blended up in ice cream with cinnamon syrup. It was REALLY good.  I'm going to have to do that again.  

Kaylee got really sick from her second shot.  Congestion, chills, muscle pain, and "a wicked headache". She missed class today, missed working on her paper, which means she can't do what she was hoping to do and visit a friend this weekend, because now she has to work on that paper.  She laid in bed and felt sad and crappy most of the day.  Kind of unfair considering she already HAD Covid.  They don't know that the vaccine will give you any more or longer immunity than actually HAVING the disease gives you, so not only is she sick for two weeks with it, now she's sick from the shot, too.  She should feel better tomorrow, I hope.  She'd better.  

It's interesting that the people I know who have gotten the shot that are all older, sixties and above; none of them have gotten more than a sore arm.  The young people getting shots are the ones getting the sickest.  Some say it's because they have a stronger immuno response to it.  I dunno.  So then is it not effective to the people who don't get a strong immuno response to it?  Who knows.

So far my mom, step-dad, husband, mother-in-law, dad, step-mom, and daughter all got the shot. Only Kaylee got sick. I'm the only one not getting it.  I don't care.  lol

I'm 4.9 hours away from breaking 12,000 hours.  That could happen on Saturday, during our Poker Run. Maybe I'll have to do something fun with it.

Half-Way

Warbird Digest did an Article on the TBM Avenger Gathering.  I was mentioned a couple times in passing, and there is a picture of me taking off, and then a couple formation photos of us arriving.  I'm glad that on the ones where the spacing is off, it's not me that's off.  :D  I can't save off the photos from the site, so I can't post them here, but you can scroll through the link and see a few, anyway.

Kaylee got her second vaccine shot today.  She said she didn't kick anyone, and she got it done.  The only bad thing was that the nurse told her to move her arm. She wouldn't do it, she never moves her arm after shots even though you're supposed to.  So the nurse grabbed her arm and physically forced her to move it against her will.  Now...my eyebrows went up at that.  I agree she should be smart and move her arm. I agree it makes it worse if you don't.  But it's her arm, and if she wants to let it be more sore by not moving it, it's her right to decide that.  You don't get to grab my kid and physically force her, even if it's just to move her arm, even if it's for her own good.  Somebody grabbed me I'd have a hard time not getting really unpleasant.

I spent most of today on finishing up Ann stuff.  I took her to a foot doctor appointment, then stopped at Kroger. They didn't have crackers, so after I delivered round one, I went to another store to get those.  Called the doc office, they said they sent through the script we needed, I go to CVS, they only have one of the two done, and say they never got the other one.  So now I get to call the doc's office again.  *sigh*  I waited at CVS for 20 minutes but at least got the one med.  I went out to Kokomo to pick up my headset and some cookies from my student Morgan. Raspberry white chocolate cheesecake cookies. I haven't had one yet, but ooh la la. I spent time working with a family who lost their 20 year old Type 1 SMA daughter, and need help financially with the funeral expenses.  And Steve and I went down to Kempton tonight and met up with a few other pilots for the Wednesday night dinner.

We're getting ready to announce the "Wings over Kokomo" event in lieu of the BBQ Bash this year.  Steve met with the mayor and the board on Monday, and it was approved, and they're excited.  Tuesday night we brought it up to the CAF and they're "in" and excited.  So the news can go out now.   It's a positive thing.

This Saturday is our Poker Run. We don't seem to have as much momentum on that this year as we did last year, but we'll see how it goes. Weather looks great, so that always helps.

Tomorrow I go back to S. Carolina to pick up Ethan and his wife.  Weather looks good.  I'll take it.

The Day

Kaylee got her blood test results back, and they ended up not testing her iron levels, which is what she went in there for in the first place.  They tested everything else, and she's low on bilirubin and her cholesterol is great, everything is in the "middle", just like it should be for a healthy 20 year old.  But no CBC or iron check.  She wondered if her iron levels were causing her fatigue.  Nos she's probably just going to get some some iron supplements and give it a try and see if she feels better anyway.   That was irritating though--the main reason for going in there and going through two sticks and them not getting a lot and hyperventilating and freaking out and she didn't get the test results out of it.  Unreal...

I wrote out a list of things to do today, and accomplished all but two of them, and I wasn't sure I wanted to do one of the two anyway.  I made it to the eye doctor, I returned phone calls for hours, got stuff caught up around the house, did some online shopping for supplies I needed at the house, did banking/paid bills, picked up taxes for SMA Support that were just filed, called about Ann's medications, went to CVS for a few things we needed, yadda yadda. 

Tonight was a CAF meeting at the hangar. It was actually a pretty good meeting.  We introduced the Wings Over Kokomo Airshow event being held Sept. 18th in place of our BBQ Bash.  Everyone seemed excited about it. We had good food, a lot of people there, and we're going to be working with Saab and one of the Tuskegee Airmen chapters not of the CAF, and we're acquiring a BT-13, and...things are really growing in the Wing, rapidly.  That's a good thing.  We covered a good amount of ground.

Saturday it was raining in Illinois and I went up to the fuel truck which was at a TBM and the guy up on the wing was fueling it. I yelled up and said hi, asked him if I could get a top off at the T-6, and the look on his face...he said I'd have to ask them and pointed to the two guys standing next to me. Who were the actual fuelers. He was the pilot of the TBM. Whom I spoke to a couple times earlier. I just wasn't paying any attention to who he was. I laughed, said sorry, he was holding the hose and I just started talking, etc. Well, I offended him. His face at the time was pretty disgusted, and tonight he unfriended me on Facebook. I'm embarrassed, but wow. Steve says he didn't unfriend me because I didn't recognize who he was at the time, but we've been FB friends for a lot of years, I saw his face, and he unfriends me when he gets back.  Why else?! Nothing I can do about it now, but that's a bummer of an end.  I'll try not to lose too much sleep over something I can't control, but sheesh.

I also think I had caffeine too late because it's almost 1 am and I am not even slightly tired. Or maybe I don't want to lie in bed and think about that guy.  :D  At least I did get a lot done though today. I feel pretty good about most of the day.

S. Carolina

I got to sleep in this morning, and then drove the hour to Frankfort to hop in the 340 with Ethan and his wife. The forecast was getting bad, the clouds were coming down to IFR, the rain was moving in with some convection, and the icing forecast was really bad. I was thinking we'd have to keep it below 11,000' for half the state to avoid some severe icing.  It was ugly looking and getting worse, and I spent a lot of time going over my options, where the weather was the worst, how to avoid it, etc.  

We get in the plane, and it's...nothing.  I mean, it's IFR, but the rain isn't bad, and I got ZERO ice. After all that forecast, absolutely nothing came of it.  Not that I'm sorry, I was not looking forward to this.  He's not instrument rated and he's still catching up on the plane and I don't know the Garmin 750 well so I didn't need a big challenge.  But it all worked out great.  

Three hours later we arrived in Charleston, SC.  It was warm and sunny and lovely.  I topped off all the tanks, grabbed some chips and a granola bar, and headed three hours home.  I like flying by myself, and I enjoyed the time. I read a book, listened to music, had the autopilot on, and just cruised.  My heart rate was around 63 bpm, which is my resting heart rate.  I'm cruising along in the clouds looking at rain, and my heart rate is totally at rest.  That's about right. 

When I got home, I saw a video that "Airshow Stuff" took of us arriving at the Avenger Gathering in a 6-ship formation.  For once I was pleased with how it looked. I can't post it here because it's just on their Facebook page and I can't save off the video. I wish I could.  So you'll just have to see it on my Facebook Page.  I'm kind of pleased with it.  :)

Pics from today aren't nearly as fun as the formation video, but here they are anyway.

Look, it's the Atlantic Ocean over there!

Pretty colors in Charleston, SC

Blue skies until we got about halfway home.

My aux tanks fuel gauge isn't reading properly

Most of my trip out and back looked like this.

Ohio

Today was my day off, sort of.  Kaylee spent the night here, and at some point in the early morning, she kicked a shelf in her sleep and it bumped into the wall hard enough that I heard it through our wall and it woke me up.  lol  I never got back to sleep after that which was sort of a bummer because I did have a job to do today.

I'm stiff and sore today, and it's from the formation flying and rides in the T-6, and being tense.  Tense at formation, tense landing all those times in front of a big crowd and a lot of cameras.  I haven't seen any photos yet from the event, really, and I'm tense about that too.  I'm just tense in general apparently.  :D  I took some Advil this morning and I'm still a little stiff.  It's kind of funny and kind of sad.  It tells me I need to make more of an effort to relax my muscles when I'm formating.  ;)

Steve mowed the lawn and made us breakfast of hash browns and eggs with cheese and bacon.  Good stuff.  When I got done with that, and ready, I drove to Frankfort where I met up with Ethan, and he flew me over to Ohio in his Cherokee Six, and I picked up his 340 and brought it back to Frankfort.  Some time on the ground there, time in the air, and a two hour drive later, I was home for the day.  

Tomorrow I take him and his wife to S. Carolina for vacation, drop them off and fly the plane home.  Go pick them back up on Thursday.  It may be IFR, it'll be the first time in actual IFR in this plane, and I don't know the 750 well, but...it shouldn't be a problem.

One of the guys I took on a T-6 ride friended me on Facebook, and said he'd had the best experience of his life.  That was cool.  :)

Our formation loose, from the air.  Far left, Mark, Yellow T-6 is JP, big dog is Jordan in the C-47, I'm to his right, and way behind me on far right is Twin Beech with Jordan Ray. :)

Messy me and my happy rider.

He seems pleased.  ;)

Us as the sun is going down.

TBMing

I woke up at 3:30 am, and didn't really get back to sleep.  Doggone sleep things!!  Once the brain starts going, there's no stopping it.  I was excited about flying in the show today.

Unfortunately, it rained.  The ceilings were high enough that we could still fly, but it was raining, so they canceled the main event to the public.  They still wanted us to fly and make noise, so I was looking forward to that, too.  I hoped we'd put up a 6-7 T-6 ship formation, but they stood around and stood around and stood around and nothing happened.  Meanwhile, I got topped off with gas, I paid for gas, I stood in the drizzle, I talked to people, I got wet socks and wet shoes and wet hair and wet everything. And waited.  Eventually I got tired of waiting, and Jon put the radio back in the plane, took off the cover, and we got ready to go.  I don't think they ever put up a T-6 formation group, I think we all just left in bits and pieces as we gave up.  

When Jordan was ready and loaded up, he took off in the C-47, then I took off in the T-6, and tried to catch up to him, which I did poorly (found out later he extended because of a gear issue), we did one pass that wasn't great, and then did a second pass where I was right up on him in a tight turn.  I think my wing was overlapping though, with a lot of photographers there for this one, so probably not the best either.  The plane is so big I keep creeping in on it, and the wings stick way out there. I'd like a redo of it, but don't get one, so I hope when the pictures come out it's not too bad.  It was a cool view though, seriously.

Jon and I flew home from there, in the mist and rain and slightly poor visibility, with the Garmin 530 taken out of it just in case water got back down in there and hurt it.  So I didn't have a GPS to navigate by, couldn't switch to the VOR without the GPS unit in there to switch over, didn't have terrain, weather or traffic. So it was all old-school.  I still didn't get lost, but I did use my iPhone to help out now and then.

When I got home, Jon and I put it away, and then Kaylee wanted to go eat.  I was exhausted but I went for it anyway. We started at Texas Roadhouse and they had a 2 hour wait. So we went to McCallisters instead.  She's alone at school and bored, so she came home for tonight to have some company.  :)

I'll post pictures when I get them. For now this is what I got... 

Me with a rider. :)

TBM under a Flag

Checkertail in the Rain

Jon and Steve T putting radios back in in the rain

Aeroshell Team in the hangar

TBM at night

Running Avengers

The crowd watching the TBMs on one side

Watchers on the other side

Aeroshell team spinning out with smoke on

Crowd watching Aeroshell

Me giving a ride

Airport at Peru, IL

Steve and Steve by Checkertail

Some of us in formation on the way there

I sent this to Kaylee when she said something rude about my sweet personality.