I’m pooped!
Got out to Kokomo this morning, and Jon and Justin H had worked on the prop governor settings. I was supposed to take off and head to Alabama, but on takeoff, the RPMs weren’t right, so I relanded and they adjusted it. Another attempt, not right, I landed, they readjusted it. I’m climbing down the ladder in the hangar next to BOB’s engine, and I take that last step back, and my foot comes down with the big orange tow bar right behind my ankle, and I go down like a felled tree, straight back to the concrete behind me. I’m lucky I didn’t spear myself on the pitot tubes. My head hit, and I of course landed on my left side, too. You know, my already damaged left wrist and arm. I just laid there for a second while the guys ran over to see if I was dead. I held up my hand and said I was okay. Justin was going to haul me up but I told him to let me stay down for a second. I had to assess the damage. No concussion, just a sore spot on my head. My wrist and arm are sore and aching again, and stiff. Too bad I don’t have any Aleve or Advil here. Anyway, I got up and carried on. By the end of today, I can feel it, but I’m hoping it’s minimal.
Anyway. Third time was the charm, and I was able to top back off, launch, everything went well, and I headed to Huntsville, AL. The weather had also been holding me up. Low IFR in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Rain. Some storms. I had a window but I was missing it because of maintenance, but the weather was moving back in on me while taking too long to lift to VFR. I couldn’t go on top of the low IFR layers because there were too many other layers above it and I didn’t want to get trapped in the clouds in that airplane. Illegally too. So I went under, and a few times I was just at 1000’ above the ground and there were a few mirky areas, but I stayed VFR and safe.
Landed in Huntsville, and couldn’t find Fifi. Fifi is a big airplane and I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t find it. Because I’d been sent to the wrong Huntsville airport. There are two, and I was at the international one and needed to be at the “executive” one. They’re only 17 miles apart. So I had to call up tower and ask them to let me depart back to where I was supposed to be. lol My rental car had been set up at the wrong airport too, so I didn’t have wheels. Fortunately the folks here had enough empty seats to get me from the airport to the hotel and the hotel to dinner and back.
When I landed, I got out of the plane and was met by a guy who said his daughter had bought him a ride but they wouldn’t honor it there. I said of course we’ll honor it. Then the desk told me I had a full plane whenever I wanted to take it, and I said I’d take it right now. Fly when you can, Rule #1. So five folks from one family went up with me and we did a ride, and we took photos and they had fun. I get out initially, and a cicada lands on my arm. Buzzes my head. Lands on my flight suit. There are cicadas everywhere down here. I didn’t miss them in Indiana. Fortunately I’m not scared of the things, but I don’t like it when anything dive bombs my head and gets caught in my hair which has also happened a lot. They are SO LOUD in the trees around us too. Dead ones all over the ramp. They’re definitely a thing down here.
The birthday guy, we needed two more people to go to pay for the flight. So HE went around to anyone who walked through the gate and tried to convince them to go flying in BOB with him. He finally won someone over. A married couple who both sat in the back and were Super kind to this man. They paid $300 total to go on a flight so this man could have his birthday flight. I’d have taken him even if we lost money on it, but I’m glad we didn’t have to lose money on it, and even more glad to witness the true kindness these two shared. Even though they all bought back seats, they asked if he could sit up front since nobody bought the front seat anyway, and let the like 75 year old birthday boy sit up there. So I did. Why not, right? It was sweet.
I’d topped off with fuel, and at the end of that flight it was the end of the day. I put tie down straps in, put the oil canisters on, the plugs and covers, locked the control surfaces, did all the things which took a long time, and we were getting ready to leave, when someone called our “leader” and said the forecast was calling for severe storms with hail tonight, and they’d talked to their corporate guys and asked if we could borrow the hangar to put even BOB in overnight, and they said yes. Not charging us, not harassing us, just “yes”. So I had to undo all of that, and taxi it over to the hangar, and they put it in for us, and said if there’s any oil we’ll need to clean it up. I said definitely but the oil canisters should prevent that. It was super helpful and appreciated, and who knows, may have saved us from hail damage.
I went to dinner with five folks instead of with the big main group, who all went to Mexican. Mexican seems to be the restaurant of choice for airshows and tours. I only like a little bit of Mexican, not a lot of Mexican. But I really hate big crowds and long lines, and that place had both. So five of us went to Logan Steakhouse instead and had a nice evening.
Now. I have to be up at the buttcrack tomorrow and start a hot, humid day of potentially not great weather. We shall see what we get. In the meantime, I’m going to bed!
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