Today was tiring. Not only was I up past 1 am because of how late I got home, I woke up early whether I wanted to or not to check weather to get the 340 back to Ohio to do an oil change and fix the heater. Because oh yeah, I forgot to mention in my last post about the trip that the heater doesn't work and I was at 20,000' where it was -25°, and going into frigid Indiana. It was okay when the sun was out and shining in, and it was okay down in Florida, even though they were chilly too, but it was downright cold on the leg from Georgia to Indy when the sun was down and there was no heat or light. I. Was. Cold. And tired. So anyway, I needed to get it to Ohio for that. Except the weather sucked. Moderate icing along the route, and the plane I was going home in was a Cherokee Six, not FIKI (Flight into Known Icing). Illegal and dangerous both. So we waited, and waited, and I kept checking the weather, and I needed to be done by 3-ish in order to go out with Kaylee for her birthday. Finally it lifted, and when I had given up, it cleared off. So I spent my entire morning until 12:30 or so staring at the computer and texting the mechanic, the owner, Spencer who I was bringing with me, and the ramp guys at Frankfort, all of us keeping in touch and trying to figure out what to do when. Then I said "GO!" and we went. I drove an hour to Frankfort, hopped in the 340 with Spencer, I had had the line guy top it off for me and pull it out, so it was ready to go. We flew over to Ohio and had a nasty crosswind landing with blowing snow, but it was good practice for him. Dropped it off, picked up the Six, took back off, ended up back at Frankfort with another nasty gusty crosswind, more good practice for him. I ran to my car and drove straight home, changed my shirt, picked up Steve, and we went right down to Noblesville and met up with Kaylee and three of her friends, for her 21st birthday!
She ordered her first cocktail, a spiked lemonade, and she was pleased with it. We went to a place called "Ford's Garage" restaurant. Their napkins are "shop rags" with hose clamps to keep them in place. The bathroom sink is a tire, with a pump for a handle/faucet. Neat atmosphere, and the food was really good. We enjoyed it. The server carded Kaylee for her drink, and she still has the "pink" background, which the lady frowned at when she saw it at first, so I piped up with "Today is her birthday!" So later in the evening the server came back with a crew and sang Happy Birthday to Kaylee and gave her a sundae with several spoons. The funny thing? The people at the table to our left also had a birthday. And the people at the table to our right ALSO had a birthday. So some random Sunday we had three birthdays in a row on the same day. lol
Kaylee went back to school with her friends, including the one who was the designated driver, even though each of the other girls all only had one drink. Good. Thank you. :)
Kaylee's at a Christian University that has "no drinking" as a rule, even if you are over 21, and even if you are off campus. So she can't post a photo of her first official drink, or even admit to having done it. I'm familiar with that rule. ;)
Now, tomorrow we have another situation like today. I need to get the Aerostar to Illinois, but the chase plane is a 172RG, no FIKI, and tomorrow is another snow/ice event. Possibly. So if we wake up and it's good enough, I'll go over in Aerostar and Spencer will pick me up in the RG. If it's not good enough for the RG, but still reasonable, John will come get me in the C-421. But he's not familiar or comfortable with icing, so if it's much, he's out, and Nathan and Steve will take the Aerostar, and I will go fetch them in the C-340. And we're not going to know what's going on until we see what the weather does tomorrow morning. So we wait....again. *sigh*
Well, Kaylee's back at school, it's after midnight, I'm really tired from the last couple days, and I'd better wind down and get ready for tomorrow.
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