IL & OH

I went to two "D"s airports. DBK and DLV, one in IL, one in Ohio. I took the Meridian, and Stephen. It was nice on the way over to IL. I landed, and even though Stephen was in the back of the plane, when he got out, the line guy asked him all the questions, and then they both left before I even got out of the plane, so when I went inside I had to go back up to the guy and tell him what the fuel order was, etc. Like dude, you can see who is sitting up front, ask THEM what services they need, maybe!

I took a courtesy car into town to eat breakfast--the car didn't have Air Conditioning, but I was glad to just be able to go. lol I had eggs and toast and coffee, and it was good. A Crumbl Cookie place was right next to it so I grabbed a couple of those, too. It's a good thing we don't have one in Kokomo because I'd be 800 pounds if we did. Those things are addictive, and like 5000 calories each. So dang tasty.

This first place is CAA, so I hadn't gotten fuel at Marion, I just loaded up over there in IL. I bought over 100 gallons of fuel there, and they still charged a $60 landing fee, not waivable. Their HANDLING fee was waived with 75 gallons. I was like...dude.  Then we go over to nowhere, Ohio. THEY charge a $50 landing fee, but they won't waive it for less than 100 gallons of Jet A. I can't fit anywhere close to that in there after that short hop, so I had to pay their $50. 100 gallons is a lot, for the record. Most FBOs, even the expensive ones, will waive it for half that fuel or less on a single engine. That's just crazy...

In Ohio, he got done and said he was headed back, but by then storms were all over, and some big ones were headed for us. He got there right before the first cell hit, and we were sitting out there with 3 other (jet) pilots in pilot costumes. I told him that we couldn't beat that storm out safely, and would have to wait until the first round passed. The gust front went through first, and the wind sock jumped straight out (45-50 knot winds), the rain started pounding sideways against the windows, and I was like...that's why. I was watching. There was a gap, and as that cell faded, I told him if we moved, we could beat the next round out. We ran out while it was still raining, picked up the clearance on the taxi out (ATC told me it was smart to wait that first one out, I was like...yeah... lol), and bugged out of there. Dodged cells most of the way home. Dropped him off in Delphi where there were 3 planes in the pattern, then circled over Kokomo to say hi on my way to Marion. I knew Morgan and Steve were down there. Steve later said that Morgan heard me and came out to look and said that it looked cool, and that since she usually flies it, she's like..."maybe I'm kind of cool after all too!" Lol! It IS a neat little airplane, sounds good, looks fast, and nice. I like it, would just like it better if it was wider, like me. 

Parked at Marion, told the guy there it needed gas and put away for tomorrow, drove to Kokomo Airport where we ran up BOB to check for oil leaks, then went out to Pastarrific with Steve, Morgan, and Kaylee. Nice end to the day...

Tomorrow I go to Austin, Texas, in the Cheyenne.

These are a bunch of pictures of Chicago skyline, some clouds and the water, all murky and misty and foggy

And the rest are thunderstorm 'bombs'

Rainbow up there, harder to see

Oh, and this: