All Over Illinois

It was an even busier day than it was supposed to be. I woke up at 5:45 am, when I didn't have to get up until 6, but once you're awake with only 15 minutes to go, I'm better off just getting up. The sunrise this morning was a stunner. Bright coral skies, but I was flying the wrong way for most of the time, and when I was facing the right way, I was in the pattern, where I kind of had to concentrate. So I only got a couple of photos, but it was sure purty in my memory. 

I flew from Marion to Delphi to pick up Stephen. Had him get in without shutting down to save a hot start. Took him over to Decatur, topped off with fuel to avoid a landing fee. Took back off within the hour to go to Springfield to pick him up there. There was a $125 landing fee just for being there for that one. Picked him up and took him over to Bloomington, IL where he met up with another guy. I ran into town and got brunch there, topped off with CAA fuel again, and ran up to Lacon, IL, where I waited about an hour before picking him up there. From there I took him back to Delphi, had him get out with me still running, flew over the top of Kokomo to say hi (Steve said he saw the top of my wings, which he may have, as I was definitely at, um, 59 degrees bank angle, give or take 20 degrees), and went back to Marion to leave the plane on the ramp, done for the day.  Many of those legs were 15 minutes long. Fast little hops all across Illinois.

Driving back, I stopped at Kokomo Airport, with a kind of plan. A kid named Josh had the Champ until 6. We had an EAA meeting tonight at 7 at Glenndale, so I figured I had 30 minutes to take the Champ up on a pretty sunny Fall evening. Morgan was there too, so she came along. The plane had full fuel and was ready to go, and I hopped in, flew around a bit and enjoyed the Fall colors, and then did several takeoffs and landings. Some good, some average, a couple excellent. A good way to end a flying day, and put me in a better mood for the meeting.

Left that airport and went to Glenndale Airport for our Chapter 235 meeting. We didn't have a guest speaker, so we ate chili, hung out and talked. Fine by me! :) 

Ran and got an M&M McFlurry for Kaylee, and got home around 8:45 pm. Long day, but not a bad one. 

Tomorrow the sewer guy is supposed to be back, and I only have two things on tap. Picking up the 340 from Ohio, and doing a tailwheel lesson with a guy. He's already a tailwheel pilot, flew with Nick and flies the PT-26. I have noticed he usually cancels when there's any crosswind. He contacted me and said he wanted to go up and assess where he is with tailwheel, and basically do some advanced training. We've had nothing but dead calm winds for weeks now, so I was most pleased to find out that tomorrow we're supposed to have a 40-50 degree crosswind gusting to 18 knots. That will do just fine. I will try to not let him cancel--I will be able to tell where he really is in those conditions and hopefully help him out.

Pulled onto Runway 4, ready to go

Sky behind me

Orange and Coral

Hard to see the details. The clouds were etched. Pretty