Two Pilots & an LSW: Home Again

I passed out too early each night and got up too early each morning to be able to write in here over the weekend stop.

But I went to Lincoln, Nebraska in BOB the Beech with Kaylee and Morgan along. It took us 4.6 hours flight time to get there, which is a LONG time. Morgan hand flew most of the time, accumulating human autopilot time in the plane. We had a good time on the trip, even leaving at the buttcrack of dawn. It's not legal for us to leave before sunrise, so sunrise was 6:47 a.m. and that's when we launched. We arrived around 10:20 am there in Lincoln, and it was DEAD. The ramp was dead, the tent people were dead and glum, we just sat out by the airplane in our own lawn chairs and hung out. I did one ride, with only two people on it, all day. We left at dawn so we'd be there to do rides all day and it was a ghost town.

Kaylee got severely sunburnt, after she made fun of me for burning my feet, and then she burnt her whole head, face, and her feet. Karma. Her ankles swelled up so she had no ankle bone and her forehead swelled up too, and she looked like a tomato face for awhile. She's better today.

Friday evening was a group birthday dinner but I didn't have it in me. I've been awake so early so many days in a row, with more to come, and I just took the three of us out to dinner at Mexican instead, and then we crashed in our hotel rooms and went to bed at like 8 pm.

Woke up in the middle of the night needing to medicate...gee, lack of sleep, and dehydration again. Couldn't stop it, again, even after drinking a bunch of water once we got to Lincoln. But when I woke back up at 6 am to start the day, I felt fine. And this was one busy day. I gave 7 rides, and the whole vibe was different. The people in the tent were lively and engaging, there were people coming in the gate, and a lady named Sara St. Claire was selling rides like a machine. She was super happy, outgoing, friendly, but Genuine. She was Glenn, with Glenn energy, except for real vs like a salesman. I instantly liked her and so did everyone around her. And she sold rides like a MACHINE. Full plane. She'd go out and grab people and tell them they needed a flight on BOB and they'd do it. I had one empty seat so Kaylee suggested she go along on it. She was so excited about that she was jumping up and down. She just has great energy. I need her to follow me around on tour from now on. We'd make a ton. lol

Kaylee and Morgan were good helpers. Kaylee would help sell rides, talk to people, make deals even. Walk passengers to and from the plane, set things up. She was a lot like having a little Steve there. Morgan did the fueling, the oil, prepping the plane, and also escorted passengers. And while she was there, we decided if it was going to be dead like Friday, we'd go fly. It wasn't, but both mornings we went up flying before things started rolling, and got her some takeoffs and landings in, the real work.

Saturday morning we were on final and I see Fifi taxiing to the hold short line to take off. I didn't say anything, because I knew Morgan would get nervous if she saw them. She never did see them, but then the pilot called "Super Fortress holding short Runway 18 ready to depart" and she was like "OH GREAT". She then proceeded to Grease On that landing, on the centerline, smooth and straight and about perfect. We pulled off, fist bumped, and she declared this the best day ever. She rose to the occasion and made an excellent landing out of it. I had to text Steve and tell him. Lol We kept talking about how exciting and cool it was. We only did 3 TOLS that day, because then I got a text that a ride was ready, so we landed, and I gave 7 rides the rest of that day. Boom, boom, boom. Had a cold cheeseburger at one point when I needed gas and that was it.

There was no group dinner that night, so the three of us went for Italian nearby, then went for a drive. I drove over to the school I graduated from, Lincoln Christian School. And almost nothing about it looked familiar. I think one of the entrances maybe rang a distant bell, but other than that, I...I have NOTHING. I don't remember the parking lot, I can't remember the gym where I played volleyball or the rooms I could see through the windows. I don't remember the buildings, if they were all there before or not, I've got nothing at all. I've completely lost most of that year. I remember a few of the kids' faces, but the facilities? Look like I've never been there in my life. It weirds me out a little bit. I drove past my grandparents' house where I lived, and that was more familiar at least. Good thing I had Google Maps though, or I'd have never found it. There are like 20 turns through neighborhoods to find it. lol Neither Kaylee nor Morgan probably needed to see any of that, but I figured I was there, I might as well go look. And I looked at a history I barely recall.

Oh, on Friday, we had Runzas. They delivered them as the local specialty, and Morgan and Kaylee and other tour people were like "What is THAT" and I laughed. Hadn't heard that one in awhile either. I ate one, Kaylee can't because of Gluten, and Morgan is a picky eater and decided to eat chicken tenders instead. Haha! Ah, Nebraska, that's a flashback I DO remember.

Kaylee and Morgan are so much alike. Kaylee is what Morgan would be if she were an extrovert, and Morgan is what Kaylee would be if she were an introvert. It's so funny to be around them both at the same time. They both do this stream of consciousness thing, they both talk the same, they have similar senses of humor, and they both have this whole anxiety thing going on that factors into their personalities and interactions. They got along quite well, too, which is good, that could go either way.

Sunday morning I woke up with a headache, but not bad enough I thought I had to do anything, so I took Tylenol and got ready, but it got worse and worse until by noon I had to 'fix' it. Nothing safety of flight dangerous, just didn't feel great. I ended up doing 5 rides on Sunday. Steve and Cameron flew up in the Aerostar and they were there from 10:30 am on, watching us do our thing. Morgan and I flew that morning, and she got five more TOLS in, and they were all good, solid, and she's clicking in and getting it. Now what we really need is wind. She needs some crosswinds in it, and to run through everything one more time, and I think she'll be good to go. Which is exciting. :)

I was dragging a little more on Sunday because of the lack of sleep for so long and the long, busy days, but it was still a good day. The 5 rides were fun. I had a special needs girl named Maggie, the two boys I posted about on Facebook with their Grandpa who were really scared and then super excited by the end, I had one Vietnam Vet with PTSD who sat in the back and pretended to shoot down people from back there, and after we landed he said "You're the first woman pilot I've ever flown with, and I'll probably never fly with another". I was like "Ooookay", I laughed, and said "Oh??" and he said "I'm 74 and I've never met one before, so I doubt I'll meet another before I die, so my question is, is it okay if I hug you?" Not where I expected that to go, but I said "sure", and he side hugged me, and they took photos. Lol Several people bought BOB shirts, and everyone was a happy customer, which makes me happy too.

At the end of the day, I taxied BOB over to the other side of the airport, after Morgan topped it back off with fuel, and I filled out the book and paperwork, and we got a ride back to the other side of the airport, where Steve and Cameron were waiting with the Aerostar to take us all home.

Cameron and I were up front, and we all had fun going home. It was just a couple hours, and there was laughing and music and talking, and the five of us just enjoyed the whole way home. Landed when it was dark, with the hint of sunset still in the sky, came home and passed out hard.

Today I slept in until 8 and it felt pretty darned good to not have to get up. Unpacked bags, sent the CAF receipts, organized my schedule, worked on things, and then went to lunch with friends, where we learned Grindestone's has new menu items (yay). I hit the usual errands and then went out to the airport and flew Jerry's Citabria for an hour just doing takeoffs and landings. I was the only one in the pattern and winds were calm, so I'd take off on 14 and land on 23. Take off on 23 and land on 32. Take off on 32 and land on 5. Take off on 5 and land on 14. It's a clover-leaf kind of thing that saves a ton of time in the pattern as long as the winds are light to none and nobody else is in the pattern. So when Cameron came out with a student in the 172 and started doing pattern work, I hung it up so I wouldn't be a terrible influence on the guy, or scare him. After I did one engine out heavy slip to land on 14, and then a slip to a one-wheel landing on 23, and kept it on one wheel until I took back off. THEN I landed short like a normal person and taxied off and put it away, satisfied, and let them have the big boring pattern to themselves. ;)

Steve, Chuck, AE and I went to Windmill Grill for dinner, and then Morgan and I went up in Chuck's Citabria for another hour plus. I did some landings, she did some, we landed at Indian Hills, and a lot of people came out to watch us. I heard afterwards it's been sold and isn't an airport any more, but it's still on our current sectionals and there is no NOTAM that says it's closed, so I can defend my decision to land there. The runway was freshly mowed even. I buzzed it first to make sure it was in good condition. But we may be the last people to ever land there as a runway. It may become an RV park. We went over to Kokomo and did a bunch more landings, then topped off and headed back to Glenndale at sunset.

I have a bunch of photos but I need to edit them. I'll do that tomorrow, as I don't think I have a lot going on tomorrow. But then it's back to game on. Wednesday two stops for Ethan's one guy, Thursday stops for the other guy in the morning, then Andy to St. Louis in the evening. Friday we go to Vegas and stay there till Sunday. It's all good. ;)

Here are the photos from the weekend, and the Citabria(s) at sunset.