I did not want to drive the long distance again. I had hoped to get someone to fly me up to Nashville from our airport, Jim Hamilton-LB Owens Airport (KCUB), but there were not too many people around. EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2011 was still going on and several of our folks were there. Others were traveling elsewhere, so flying commercial seemed like the only option available to take advantage of a good forecast on Tuesday, August 2, 2011.

As Pam and I planned and discussed my trip to retrieve Betsy, our daughter Mallory, ten, said she wanted to go. I asked her if she was up to a long day of travel and explained in detail what we would be getting in to. She was excited and so I booked two one-way tickets to Nashville. We packed our GPS, two headsets, a change of clothes and went to bed early.

Pam got us up early at 4:00 a.m. and drove us to Columbia Metropolitan Airport (KCAE) to catch our flight. We were on the 5:45 a.m. flight to a stop in Charlotte, then on to Nashville, departing Charlotte around 8:00 a.m. We tried to catch up on sleep during the flights, but it doesn’t always happen.

Out of Charlotte, we saw the mountains over Asheville, with low lying clouds hanging in the valleys, next up was Knoxville, then we saw Rockwood Airport (KRKW) way off to the north, then Crossville Airport (KCSV), then we landed in Nashville. I thought of how funny it was to see most all of I-40 from the mountains throught Knoxville to Nashville from the air that Pam and I had just driven only three days earlier.

After we landed in Nashville, Mallory and I quickly made our way to the where the taxis awaited. We boarded a taxi driven by a man wearing a red turban. He said it would cost around $45 dollars for the drive to John C Tune Airport (KJWN) on the other side of town. He was close – it was over $46. Enroute, I had called the FBO at John C Tune Airport to have them pull Betsy up to the flightline. When we arrived, we could see that she was there waiting for us. We did not waste time departing after a good preflight check.

My gats fuel drain cup after sitting in the baggage compartment for three days while tied down at John C Tune Airport (KJWN) during a hot Nashville summer.

We departed on runway 20 and climbed on up to 5500 feet after talking to Nashville Approach. The flight was very nice on to Chattanooga. Mallory was doing great as my co-pilot. With Chattanooga in view, it was on to Dalton, GA. We had planned to stop there for fuel but now that we were at 7500 feet and flying nice and smooth, we opted to fly on to Gainesville Aiport (KGVL). As we approached Gainesville, I listened to their ASOS. It was reporting 3400 density alitude. This would be the highest DA that I will have encountered so far in my flying days. The runway was plently long, so I was not worried.

"Praying for cooler weather" at the Gainesville Airport (KGVL) in Georgia on Tuesday, August 2, 2011.

7500 feet over north Georgia on Tuesday, August 2, 2011.

The clouds at altitude were getting more cumbersome to navigate so we descended to 5500 feet as we approached the Georgia/SC border. It was still smooth at 5500 feet and the outside temperature was still below 70 degrees. It was pleasant. We flew on into South Carolina and before long Lake Greenwood showed up on the horizon, and then Lake Murray. We began our descent and flew straight up the lake, over the dam into bumpy air at 1600 feet. We flew over Forest Acres over our house and then pointed towards Jim Hamilton-LB Owens Airport – home. Runway 31 greeted us with its customary burbles on short final, but otherwise an uneventful landing. Nashville trip done!

This Foreflight radar image showing the weather than blocked our path home. This was about 1.5 hours after we decided not to fly.

Pam and I had flown to Nashville on Wednesday, July 27, 2011, in a pretty much uneventful flight. We enjoyed a couple of days in Nashville and attended our business meetings. We were set to depart on Saturday, July 30th, but an early morning storm system stretching from Nashville to Chattanooga would delay our flight.

We arrived at John C. Tune Airport (KJWN) on the northwest side of Nashville at around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. It had been raining hard this morning and there were some gloomly looking low, misty clouds coming and going, so we waited for all of it to cook off, hopefully, later in the morning. They had pulled the Cessna to the flight line from the tie down area, so I loaded her up and preflighted. Eleven o’clock came and it looked like we might be able to depart soon. But that storm system was hanging around and blocked our path home.

Betsy on the flightline at John C Tune Aiport (KJWN) in Nashville, Saturday, July 30, 2011.

The FBO at John C Tune Airport (KJWN) in Nashville on Saturday, July 30, 2011.

We decided to venture out and see if we could get home. As we sat on the flightline with engine running, the XM weather signal finally showing on the Garmin GPS 496, I took one more look at the Nexrad images on the GPS, looked over at Pam, and said that I didn’t think we should depart. So, Pam agreed, and we shut down, rented a car and drove the 455 miles back home to Columbia. It wasn’t an unpleasant drive, but almost eight hours. We had planned from the beginning to rent a car and drive home if the weather was iffy, so plan B it was.

This Foreflight radar image showing the weather than blocked our path home. This was about 1.5 hours after we decided not to fly.

At the airport, I looked Betsy over, checked the fuel and oil, loaded our bags inside, and departed Columbia (KCUB) at 10:00 a.m. A low scattered layer around 1600 feet kept us weaving around under the Columbia Metro (KCAE) Class C veil until we cleared their airspace. It was clear blue sky above, so we climbed out and got above the scattered layer. We climbed on up to 4500 feet as we passed over the length of Lake Murray. Below us to the south, the scattered layer thickened and to the north it was clearer as we approached Greenwood (KGND). We stayed a bit north of our GPS track towards Greenwood. It was nice and smooth so we stayed at 4500 on past Elberton, Franklin, and Jackson airports in Georgia. We saw our waypoint, Gainesville, to the south and headed on to Dalton Airport. There was a ridge line that came up so we climbed to 6500 feet. At 6500 feet we were dodging occassional clouds. It was a pretty flight so far.

Our flight time was looking great so I keyed in Shelbyville Airport (KSYI) into the Garmin GPS 496. Our original plan was to land at Dalton for our one fuel stop. It looked as though we could make it on past Chattanooga to Shelbyville, TN, at a little over an hour away, so I considered it. Dalton was on our path and after considering the change in plan we opted to go with our original plan and not push the fuel limit.

We started climbing from 4500 feet to 6500 feet as we approached the ridges at Amicalola Falls State Park. As we passed over the valley area a few miles south of Ellija I looked at the altimeter I saw it suddenly begin to show us loosing altitute. We were at around 6600 feet and were dropped 600, over a period of about a minute. That was a weird sensation. I check the airspeed – nothing had changed there. I checked engine instruments – all good. Tachometer showed around 2600 rpms – nothing different there, and the engine sounded good. Not sure what was happening. Looking out the window, everything seemed normal. But the altimeter was dropping and finally stopped around 6000 feet. A downdraft? A change in barometric pressure? I don’t know. We were still plenty high enough to clear the next ridges south of Tatum Mountain.

Shortly after that interesting episode, I plugged Dalton back into the GPS and we saw it to our south, so we descended and dropped in for fuel. I hated to give up our altitude as Betsy takes her sweet time getting up there, but we decided to stick with our original plan and fuel up in Dalton. There were reporting 2700 density altitude and we had already passed a few airports that were reporting 3000 and 3100. Dalton has a 5400 foot runway at around 700 feet elevation, so it looked ideal for the fuel stop as the day was heating up rapidly.

We announced our downwind and the fellow on the radio warned us to be mindful of the “moors” on the field. “Moors?” Were they some kind of bird or something. Pam thought he said “boars”. I radioed back for him to please repeat his transmission and he said that there were mowers cutting grass. Ah! We had a laugh over that.

As we pulled up to the FBO, a gentleman parked us, greeted us and fueled us up. We were there for about 30 minutes – long enough to used the restroom, check weather, pay for fuel and then we were on our way. Thanks to Bob for his kind hospitality! Dalton was great.

Back in the air, we climbed out to 4500 feet heading straight for Chattanooga. I contacted Chattanooga approach so we could fly straight over the top of their airspace. They handed us off to Memphis Center for several miles. We climbed to 6500 to get over some occassional clouds we were dodging at 4500. We weaved around a few clouds and flew in between some up there. It was very beautiful. Memphis handed us off to Nashville as we got to within 30 or so miles. As we got closer to Nashville, approach told us to descend to 3000 feet and diverte us to stay clear of their airspace. We hated to give up our cool spot up there, so we set up for a very slow descent and headed 290 degrees as told. Nashville gave us a frequency change and that lady kept us clear of their airspace. We flew to the west of it until about 10 miles from Tune (KJWN), our destination. The approach gave us direct to the airport. We announced we had Tune in sight and approach gave us “sqawk VFR” and “have a nice day.”

We contacted Tune to find the winds not a factor, but it got bumpier as we descended to pattern altitude as we arrived on downwind for runway 20. It was hot as we taxied to the ramp. A nice fellow parked us and help carry our baggage into the FBO. They called a cab and about 20 minutes later we were on our way to the hotel, the Marriott at Vanderbilt University.

I found a website that had photos showing disassembly and replacement of the tiny internal battery. The website gave reference to the replacement battery I would need to buy, so I bought one – well, two – they were cheap. The shipping cost more that the two batteries.

Here is a link to the website that I found very helpful.

I ordered the battery online from Digi-Key. The item number is: SY103-ND. It is a 3V rechargeable lithium battery about 7mm in diameter with two leads attached to it for installing on a circuit board. The batteries cost $2.68 each.


I removed the eight screws and the antenna mount ring nut, pried the unit open with the edge of my pocket knife very gently.

There is a ribbon that is attached to both halves. I removed the ribbon from the main board by pushing the small dark plastic clip where the ribbon enters the mount towards the ribbon and then lifted the clip up and slid the ribbon free.

Next, I gently unplugged the screen’s red and black power wire connector with some needle nose pliers and lifted the screen from the board. There is a ribbon underneath connecting the screen and the board. This one I left attached and gently set the screen to the side to reveal a foil covered area. I gently pried the foil away from the circuit board with a very small screwdriver, the kind used for eye glasses. After a couple of minutes of gently lifting the foil away from the sides all the way around, I lifted the foil off. There is some adhesive on the foil, so I was very gently with it.

Removing the foil revealed what looks like the brain area of the GPS. There are four small screws to remove from the board, two of which are in the area under the foil in the corners. The other two are outside of the foil area, one near the center of the board and one in a third corner. Before removing the circuit board, there is a ribbon on the end that needs to be removed from its slot. The ribbon mount is a larger version of the earlier one. Slide the clip towards the ribbon and lift to an angle and slide the ribbon free.

The circuit board can now be lifted out of the case by prying along the edges gently with a small screw driver. I gently lifted the circuit board out of the case to find yet another ribbon attaching the circuit board to the case. I left this one attached, but turned the circuit board over to reveal the tiny internal battery attached to the board along the edge opposite that to which the ribbon is attached.


I used a soldering iron with a fine point to remove the battery. I held the battery with some needle nose pliers in one hand and touched the soldered leads one at a time, back and forth as required to get the battery loose. I was careful not to bridge the two leads with solder as I heated them.

I placed the new battery in position on the board and pressed down on it firmly to hold it against the circuit board as I touched the soldering iron onto first one lead and then the other. I put a tiny amount of solder on the iron for each joint. I check to make sure it was soldered securely and that’s it!

I reassembled everything in reverse order, gently all the way, and the task was done.

I took the GPS outside and started it up. Whew! It started up! I had to wait several minutes for it to find the satellites and it finally when into 3D with several satellites found. The time then reset to the correct time. I turned the GPS off and back on several times over the following hour and each time, the time was correct and it had its satellites found.

This procedure seems to have worked out well. I will report back if that changes, but for now, I think I will go fly!

The trip over at 5500 feet took us right at two hours. It was a perfect day for flying. Blues skies and smooth. We flew almost directly over the airport by the Atlanta Motor Speedway. What a sight. The airport is only a short walk to the speedway. About 15 to 20 minutes later we arrived at Falcon Field, entering into downwind from the east for right traffic runway 13.

There were many RV’s in attendance. I wish I had taken more photos, but I was too distracted by just looking at them. They had an array of great food to eat, which we really enjoyed.

There were several of us RV-minded folks from KCUB there. We all got golf carted to the very nearby Aircraft Spruce, adjacent to the airport. How convenient for the folks at Falcon Field. We shopped for about an hour. I pulled out my CC and burned it up good there. Yikes!

Great to meet the folks at Falcon Field. They really put on a great fly-in event. I look forward to going back soon!

The weekday tour stop was not ideal as the kids are in school, folks are working, and the state fair was in town that week. A weekend tour date is preferable, but EAA saves those for the highly lucrative stops in bigger cities. So, we made the best of it.

Tom Roberts and I volunteered to head up the volunteer crew and manage the event in hopes that we might get to fly onboard the B-17. When the B-17 relocates to its next stop and they have seats available, the B-17 crew will offer them to EAA chapter volunteers. So, we put together a great volunteer crew including Tom, myself, Harold Moxley, Gerry Biehl, Xen Motsinger, Ron Shelton, David Graff and Paul Carter. We had never done anything like this before so our lack of experience didn’t help, but we managed to host an enjoyable and profitable event.

Tom and I met with Paul Bass, Eagle Aviation’s manager, to request to have the event at their FBO. Paul was gracious and helped us tremendously in planning the event. Thanks to Paul and Eagle Aviation for all your help! The even offered the B-17 crew a 66 cent per gallon discount on fuel, which saved them a lot of money.

EAA National hired a media company to call on all the local media including TV, radio and newspapers. Ron made a called and lined up an old veteran pilot so that the media would have someone to interview and develop a story around. Only one local TV station showed up on Monday – media day – as the B-17, Aluminum Overcast, arrived. That was WACH Fox 57. Thanks Fox for coming out and covering the event! I missed being there Monday because I had to work. The chapter volunteers that were there Monday were treated to a free ride on the B-17. Because of the low media turnout, they had plenty of extra seats for volunteers on the media flight. It seems that the local media must have preferred covering the State Fair everyday instead of something like a B-17 warbirds giving them free media rides. Oh well!

WACH Fox 57 aired their story on the 6:30 PM and 10:00 PM reports Monday night. That was enough to get the attention of many local folks as they turned out to see and ride the B-17 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The EAA B-17 Aluminum Overcast arriving at Eagle Aviation at Columbia Metropolitan Airport (KCAE):

We volunteers arrived Tuesday morning to set up. We met Bo Bowman, the local pilot and representative of Angel Flight, a non-profit charitable organization that provides free transportation flights for patients in need of medical-related transportation. It was a joy meeting Bo. We had emailed a few times before the B-17 visit. He flew in to CAE and set up his booth at the tour sight Tuesday morning. On Wednesday morning, Bob, another Angel Flight volunteer, arrived to man their booth. Bob was great to talk to. I wore shorts the whole event. It was chilly in the mornings but in the upper 80′s by afternoon. About the first words Bob spoke to me were, “Are those your legs or are you riding a chicken?” LOL, I was not sure how to take that at first, but every time I think about it I crack up laughing. Thanks to Bo and Bob for bringing such good cheer to the event.

On Tuesday, there were only two flights of the B-17. The rest of the day was dedicated to walk-through tours that folks could buy for $5.00. There was also merchandise for sale and we served sodas and potato chips. On Wednesday, there was only one flight, but we had plently of folks turning out to see Aluminum Overcast. Overall, and considering our minimal media exposure, we had a great event and event made some money for the chapter.

The EAA B-17 Aluminum Overcast crew were a joy to work with. The seemed to enjoy their time here and expressed their thanks for the rental vehicle we helped provide them. They got upgraded from a mini-van to a Suburan! They also liked eating at Lizard’s Thicket.

The days came and went and all of a sudden it was Thursday morning. The B-17 crew had told us on Wednesday that they had six extra seats for the relocation flight to their next tour stop in Concord Regional Airport (KJQF) in Concord, NC, just northeast of Charlotte a few miles from Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

So six of our chapter members that were able to make the flight showed up Thursday morning and hopped aboard Aluminum Overcast with great enthusiasm. We were: myself, Tom Roberts, Harold Moxley, David Graff, Cantzon Foster and Bob Stearns.

Here we are waiting to taxi for departure:

Now we are taxiing to runway 5 for departure:

Here we go, departing KCAE:

A view from the nose, where the bombarier was stationed:

A tour of the bomb bay:

Back in the aft section – views from the machine gun ports:

Scenes on the flight deck:

Flying northeast of Charlotte, straight into downwind at Concord Regional Airport (KJQF):

Landing at Concord Regional Airport (KJQF):

This was my first time flying about a B-17, a lifelong dream of mine since I was a kid. The B-17 was my all time favorite warbird and now I was able to fly on one. When I stepped on board the first and wandered about the airplane, I pondered what it must have been like to be a crew member during World War II. I cannot express enough gratitude to those airmen who served during that time in our history. And when I stepped off after our flight, I felt Aluminum Overcast become a part of me, and I, perhaps, a part of it.

When I arrived at my doctor’s office, the desk lady gave me a clip board and the usual paper work and a copy of my last third class application form from two years ago to go by. I worked my way down the form to the “are you taking any medications?” Ah, there is the one thing different than last time. I am now taking Levothyroxine, a generic of Synthroid for my newly acquired thyroid condition. My family doctor has been working with me over for almost two years, at first working to get the prescription amount correct and then six-month check ups to monitor my condition.

Once my doctor zeroed in on my prescription everything went back to normal for me health wise. The thyroid condition had been causing fatique, slight hair loss, chaffing eyebrows to name a few things. The daily medication has fixed all that. The unfortunate part is that I will be taking this medication everyday for the rest of my life. My doctor finds that I am doing perfectly well now – my follow up checks and blood work reports all indicate such. For me, yep, I feel better and the physical things like hair loss and chaffing eyebrows have ceased – expect some hair loss due to getting older and having for daughters in the house.

Many months ago when I started taking Levothyroxine, the thyroid hormone generic equivalent to Synthroid, to treat my hypothyroidism, I was instantly concerned about how this would effect my ability to keep flying. Hypothyroidism is a condition where the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone. Hence the daily supplement. I asked my doctor if this would keep me from flying and he assured me that I need not worry about it. I left his office feeling comfortable that my flying days were not nearly over. Thank goodness!

When I got back home, I immediately visited the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assoiciation (AOAP) website and searched for “thyroid and synthroid.” The one search result that came up was link to FAA accepted medications. This is a database of medications that are acceptable to the FAA. The table shows a list of acceptable (or not acceptable) medications according to the FAA. The table also tells the class of medication, what it treats, and what acceptable conditions are based on. There is also links for some medications for more information.

I checked for Synthroid and Levothyroxine and, great for me, they were listed as exceptable. I do not remember the conditions listed way back then, but I seem to remember that I was completely in the clear. So I did not think about my thyroid condition or the medication further with regards to flying.

So, at the doctor this time around, filling out the third class medical form, I wrote in “Synthroid for thyroid condition” and what other pertinent information the form asked of me – and past doctor appointment dates to the best of my knowledge.

The assistant called me back and put me through the usually rigors: pee in a cup for the urine test, check my height and weight, check my vision – an now I have reading glasses, so I brought them along. After a good wait in the cool room, the doctor came in and we had a pleasant conversation while he checked me over. He noted the Synthroid use on my form and this is where my world started to unravel a bit. We discussed the condition and he explained to me how the FAA is handling thyroid patients differently that before. Now it is on a case-by-case basis. They just do not shove you through any longer. My eyebrows raised and perhaps my blood pressure too as we talked this thing through.

He was looking out for my best interest when we told me to obtain a copy of my last blood work and an indepth note from my doctor as to my status – a status report. I said, “No problem, I will get that too you asap.” As we walked out of the room to the front desk, he told me that he would just hold my medical certificate until I got him those two documents. I was caught off guard as I fully expected to walk out of his office with my third class medical in hand. Not the case. I was floored. I perhaps showed it, but I reached over to shake my doctor’s hand once again and thanked him for all his help.

Back in my truck heading home, I felt almost devastated. I kept telling myself that my doctor is only looking out for me. See, he explained that if he sent my medical in to the FAA without the proper medical documents from my family doctor, that the FAA would request them with time-dated letters and this could snowball into a really unfortunate series of transactions with the FAA that could prevent me from flying until the case was solved. So, disappointed as I might have been that my doctor held my medical, I assured myself that he was looking out for my best interests – this was the case. He has no reason to do otherwise.

I called my familty doctor and explained to the nurse what documents I needed and she passed the information on to my physician. A few long days went by and I called again on Monday, July 26th – we’re getting awfully close to the end of the month! The nurse told me that my doctor was out of town traveling until the next Monday. Oh my! That pushes this thing past my July 31st deadline. I pleaded with the nurse to try and get in touch with him before then as time is of the essence. No luck, but I did send an email to my doctor that week hoping he would be able to handle this from out of town. I emailed him a link to AOPA’s Introduction To The Airman Medical Certification Process – What Is A Status Report? This contained some information that I thought my doctor might find helpful in preparing my status report.

So, the week dragged on. I thought Monday would never come. But on the Friday prior, my doctor replied to my email that he was sorry that this coincided with him being out of town and promised to have the required documents for me no later than Monday afternoon. And, indeed, when Monday came, my doctor’s assistant called to tell me that the documents were ready for me to pick up. I drove to my doctor’s office, picked them up and raced over to my AME’s office to drop them off. The assistant took my documents, and my AME doctor happened to be standing by and said he would handle this right away, so I stayed put. After about a ten or fifteen minute wait, the assistant came out and handed me my third class medical certificate. When I got back in my truck I kissed the medical certificate and put it safely away in my wallet.

This all turned out okay, but next time I will set my appointment with my AME a good bit earlier in case something like this comes up again. From what I understand, the FAA now looks at thyroid conditions on a case-by-case basis. If they have any concerns, a yearly update may be required. Time will tell whether the FAA will contact me regarding my thyroid condition and medication use, but for now, I’ll just enjoy flying as usual but with the thought always in the back of my mind that things may not be as easy as they once were with regards to obtaining my third class medical certificate.

I was looking online for airline tickets but had not purchased one yet and while at the airport one day, I got to talking to Mac about Oshkosh. He was going. There would be a large number of T-28’s there that Mac wanted to inventory to see which ones he had flown in his Navy career, and there was the Wednesday night dinner where Ron Shelton would receive his Young Eagles Coordinator Of The Year Award, hopefully presented by Harrison Ford. And there was the chapter leaders breakfast on Saturday, where they would announce and award the chapter Newsletter Editor Awards. Also, there would be a record attempting formation flight of at least 36 Vans RV airplanes which would include 242’s own James Clark and Ken Harrill, and we hoped to get to see that.As we were talking, Mac said, “Why don’t we just fly up there.” That sounded like a great idea to me.

We planned to depart on Tuesday, July 28th, to give us some leeway for weather. We definitely wanted to be there in time for Ron’s award dinner Wednesday night.Off To OshkoshTuesday morning finally came, and at O-early hundred, I got up, loaded my bags in my truck and left home at around 6:15 a.m. Pam and the kids left at the same time to head down to Florida to see her folks. Kisses and hugs and we were on the road.I arrived at Mac’s house at 6:30 a.m. We packed up as Pat saw us off and stopped by Starbucks for coffee and cakes, then headed to KCUB. There we packed up the plane, preflighted and departed for Oshkosh at around 8:15 a.m.We had to stop in Spartanburg for a while due to IFR over Asheville. There is a great mural painted on a wall in their FBO of some WWI biplanes and their pilots.When Asheville was reporting VFR, we headed for London, Kentucky. After about two hours, we arrived into the London area. I was showing the airport just ahead on my Garmin 196 and Mac was showing the airport about four to the north. What? After a bit of “what the heck is going on” we saw the VOR that I had been navigating to with my GPS, and then we saw the airport about three miles to the north that Mac was navigating to on the 496. Mac and I agreed that it would be best if we both were navigating to the same place – and that place be an airport! So from then on, I double checked that I had the airport programmed into my GPS rather than a VOR.

At London, I showed Mac how to do a carrier landing – as if he really needed or wanted to see it – all 2100 pounds of us slamming onto the run way. Not as bad as I have done before, but it seems London has my number. Same thing as last year when Pam, the kids, and I came though on the way to Indiana. The extra wide runway is still deceiving me. No excuses though: London two, Mike Hoover zero. There, we refueled, took a quick break and took off for our next planned stop at Crawfordsville, Indiana

.In the area near Fort Knox there are some MOA’s and restricted areas we had to navigate around as Cincinnati told us they were active at the time. It was about this time, and funny enough, about the same time as last year’s trip to Indiana with Pam and the kids that I reached down and changed the transponder to the barometric pressure that Cincinnati called out. Mac quickly alerted my to my goofy error and we got it changed back. But this time, Cincinnati noticed and told us to check our transponder setting. Not sure why I keep doing that around that area. Must be in the air.

The weather was iffy in this area and having the Garmin 496 on board was a must. Thanks a bunch to Cantzon for lending us his Garmin 496. It is at this point we really could not continue on safely without it. I just drove and got to witness Mac navigate us through the weather, around some storms and cloud columns at around 6500 feet. I learned and experienced a whole lot of new things as I watched and witnessed Mac’s wizard-like manipulation of the weather around us.

On to Crawfordsville, Indiana, after about 2:45 of flight time since London, we stopped for fuel and to analyze the weather that was between us and Oshkosh. Crawfordsville is a nice airport, with courteous folks and a really nice new FBO, but they had not yet installed computers in their flight planning room. So we had to use whatever technology we had with us. Again, the Garmin 496 gave us the information we needed to continue on. The line of stormy weather blocking us from proceeding north to Oshkosh was moving ever closer to us, but after some analyzing, we decided to try and make it to Danville, Illinois, right at the leading edge of the weather. We launched again and got there after about twenty or thirty minutes. That is where we determined that we’d stay put for the night.Danville is another nice airport with all the amenities. They lent us their courtesy car for the evening so we could drive to the hotel – and this without us having bought fuel. How extraordinarily nice of them.

The bad weather we avoided by stopping at Danville hit us about the time we checked into the hotel. I saw a bolt of lightning hit behind another hotel nearby. It was a flash-boom. A tall, thick column of white energy hitting the ground so hard and loud that sparks flew off of the it. So, we decided to brave this bad storm and head out to find some dinner. Down the interstate we went about four miles through hard rain and flash-booming lightning and sparks like I’ve never seen, both us of glad that we had decided not to venture further today. We arrived at The Beef House, a highly recommended restaurant. It was good, but expensive.

We got an early start the next morning, loaded up the Cessna and turned the courtesy car in and then we were on our way. It was a very beautiful morning. Clear skies and smooth as silk at 2500 feet. We stayed down low to enjoy the beautiful landscape of flat green terrain. Cornfields divided by the north/south and east/west roads as far as you could see with white farm houses speckling the landscape, all resembling each other – a repetitious pattern for many many miles.

We decided to land at Dekalb, about an hour and a half short of Oshkosh to refuel so we would have plenty of fuel on our approach to Oshkosh. As we got closer and closer to Oshkosh, we listened to the frequency called out in the Oshkosh NOTAM. The controller was speaking constantly as if announcing some sports event on the radio, and all the time with a mild mannered and welcoming tone – a good bedside manner – identifying each aircraft with the command of “rock your wings,” and then complementing them with a “very good, welcome to Oshkosh” and then sending them on their way.“Once you reach Ripon, do not navigate straight to Fisk. Follow the railroad tracks. Expect your next instructions at Fisk. If you are not at Fisk, we are not talking to you,” the controller repeated many times.“White low-wing, rock your wings. Very good. Turn right heading 090 and follow the road. Monitor frequency xxx.x. Red high-wing, rock your wings. Very good. Continue to follow the railroad tracks. Monitor frequency xxx.x.“

As we got within twenty minutes of Ripon we began to let down to 1800 feet per the NOTAM and prepared to slow to 90 knots. Faster folks could let down to 2300 feet if they could do 135 knots. Maybe when I get my RV-9A built, I can use that altitude and speed. Perhaps it will be just a little bit less bumpy.It was very bouncy at 1800 feet and we flew this altitude for 15 minutes straight to Ripon. By the time we got within a few miles we could, all of a sudden, see a line of airplanes out in front. Amazing! We were in “the game!”

We slowed to 90 knots reluctantly and tried to keep the half-mile separation from the airplane in front of us. As we approach Fisk you could see each airplane rock their wings on command and then be assigned to turn to 090 and follow the road, or continue on, following the railroad tracks. What they were doing was splitting traffic between the two runways in use. At this time they were using 36 and 27.At Fisk, 90 knots at 1800 feet, the controller had us rock our wings – it was our turn! “White and blue Cessna, rock your wings. Very good. Turn right heading 090 now and follow the road. Turn now.” And so we did. We were given a frequency change and waiting further instruction. Heading 090 we followed the airplane in front of us, hoping he knew what he was doing. Oshkosh was there to our left, huge with aircraft all over that place. How magnificent!The aircraft ahead of us got his order to rock his wings. He did and was told to “turn left now” and take runway 36 right. Moments later we were ordered to rock our wings. We did. “Turn left now and take runway 36 left. Land on the yellow dot.” So we set up for landing. I landed 300 feet before the yellow dot, but that was okay.

We were ordered to turn left off the runway into the grass immediately. They were landing two or three at a time each runway so we knew someone was behind us, albeit with instructions to land on the purple dot closer to the threshold. Our yellow dot was half way down the runway.We turned off the runway and were directed to follow to the next guy directing aircraft. It was very obvious what to do. Just follow to the next guy waving you on. We taxied in the grass all the way up to runway 27 and down and back up the length of it in the grass, bouncing the whole way on the bumpy terrain. This took about 15 minutes and then we arrived at our parking spot where we shut down.

The linemen helped push us back into our spot in the tightly packed aircraft parking lot. We were parked close to the terminal but, not knowing the place, I hadn’t realized what a great spot we had right close to the terminal.A nice line guy with a golf cart took us and our luggage to the terminal where we proceeded to the curb to catch our bus to the college dorms. We were the only two at the bus stop, so we unpack our fold up bag chairs, sat under a shade tree and drank a beer – toasting to our long journey and finally having gotten to Oshkosh.

The bus to the dorms finally arrived at the terminal  so we loaded up and after 20 minutes or so we arrived at the dorms. Mac got off first, and then after struggling with my over abundance of luggage, I stepped down from the bus. The bus driver thought it necessary to inform me that by far, I was the one with “the most luggage” he’d seen at Oshkosh. Thank you for that!

Once settled into the dorm room, we set out again for AirVenture museum, where we would be attending the awards dinner. This was a special evening. Ron Shelton had been awarded Young Eagles Coordinator Of The Year and we would be sitting at his table for dinner. We were looking forward to seeing Harrison Ford, the EAA Young Eagles Chairman. We sat at table number one with Ron and a life long friend who he had invited, Ken and Melinda Harrill, Xen Motsinger, James Clark, and Rachel Haynie, who had come along to report on the event for a local Columbia paper. Paul Carter was there as well.We heard Harrison Ford speak and then awards were handed out.

Ron received his award from Mr. Ford, and then we were treated to a great speech by ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles. It was a very entertaining speech. What a great evening! Ron had earlier spoken at the Young Eagles workshop, where some of our very own CA?Johnson High School students were in attendance.

Thursday morning, Mac and I went to eat breakfast at the college cafeteria. They had a variety of breakfast foods to eat, in a mall-like setting, with several food serving stations and plenty of tables.It was cold and drizzling rain, so Mac decided that morning would be good for catching up on some work. So he stayed at the dorm to work and I set out for AirVenture. I met up with John Pipkin outside the dorms and he was kind enough to offer me a ride. When we arrive at the airport, John and Xen got out at the airplane judges’ trailer. They would be judging aircraft all day. Then Joyce dropped me off at the nearby gate.?Thanks to the Pipkins for the ride!

There I stood at the entrance of Aviation Mecca alone, cold, and drizzly damp. The first thing I did was find a clothing vendor, which happened to be the Vintage Aircraft store. I got a nice long sleeved T-shirt and a cheap plastic poncho and set out to discover aviation at Oshkosh.The weather cleared, so I decided to wait in the long line to get the Airbus A380 tour. It took over an hour to get in. It was neat to see the inside but it was not decked out for air travelers. It was still in the test flight mode, full of exposed wiring and water drums located throughout to simulate passenger weight. Big bird!

I met up with Mac in the early afternoon and we made our way down to the area where Vans Aircraft had their tent set up. We got to meet Van himself and other folks there, who were very, very friendly and giving of their time. Thanks to Van and all of his staff for a great visit. We got to see the new RV-10 and RV-12. Two great looking airplanes.Friday morning, we set out early to AirVenture. The bus driver didn’t recognize me without my 60 pounds of luggage. Whew!We spent a solid day at AirVenture.

Afterward, I had blisters in places on my feet I wouldn’t have thought possible. It made getting around for the rest of the trip sometimes painful. But there’s nothing like airplanes and aviation to get your mind off of everything else. We engulfed everything aviation that long day.We went over to where all the T-28’s were parked on the flight line. Mac inventoried as many as he could to see which ones he had flown during his Navy career. Several days after the Oshkosh trip Mac told me that there were several he had indeed flown.On Saturday, we were up very early to make the 7:00 a.m. breakfast at the Chapter Leaders’ breakfast. There we listened to Tom Poberenzy speak. Then Paul Poberenzy for a few moments. Then they announced some chapter awards. I was pleased to see Al Patton from Chapter 172 over at the Pea Patch near Augusta recieved an achievement award. Congratulations to Al. It was great to finally meet him in person. He told me once that he had been doing their chapter’s newsletter for forty years!

Then Newsletter Editor Awards were announced. They called third place, then second place…What happened to forth and fifth? So I was surprised when they called me up there for the First Place Award. This was great – a grand finale to such a wonderful time at Oshkosh.

Mac and I quickly made our way to the terminal to depart OSH as weather from the west was already arriving in Oshkosh. We taxied out of our perfect parking place about 100 yards to our launch point on runway 27. Constantly, airplanes were lining up two side by side, one departing then the next – all the time, just listening, not talking. Then our turn, “Taxi into position on the right side and hold….Cessna 7-8-Lima cleared for takeoff. Thank you for coming.” And we were off.The Trip HomeWe made it back down to Dekalb (DKB) before the weather got us. We studied the weather and tried to get back out, navigating through some low scud, hoping to get through the system that was moving in the same direction we wanted to go. We flew out for about 10 minutes before we decided to turn around. We would stay overnight in Dekalb. We found a nice motel and a great place to have dinner, and got some rest.Up early Sunday morning, the weather was beautiful. We were rewarded with smooth air at 7500 feet all the way to Kentucky. It started getting thick, so we descended to 3500 feet. It was hot and hazy. As we leveled off, I reached over to lean the mixture. Something new I learned is to always alert your flying partner when you lean the engine, especially if he has his head buried in a chart trying to figure out where you both are at. Just common courtesy that will save your flying partner some stress and prevent a brown out.We finally found Crossville, Tennessee, for some fuel. They had fuel this year! Off we go again, on the long cli

mb to 7500 feet. It tightened up over north Georgia, so we dove back into clear air below the clouds again at a hot and bumpy 3500 feet. We made a quick fuel stop at Elberton County Airport (27A) on the Georgia/SC border. This place was about as laid back as I have ever seen. There were two kind fellows sitting in the quaint FBO, hangar flying. We told them we needed fuel and they said to help ourselves and leave the money on the manager’s desk.Our last leg might be interesting as there was a bad storm between us and Columbia. The great Garmin 496 GPS weather showed us that we might just be able to fly to the north of the weather. And if Betsy can keep the speed up we might just outrun it and drop into Columbia ahead of it. A great tailwind helped us do just that. We were showing groundspeeds as fast as 147 mph over Lake Murray, where we descended from 5500 feet just in time to sneak up under Metro’s Class Charlie.Back on the ground we were greeted by Pam and the kids at the hangar. After we put Betsy away we joined a party in progress behind the SAC, where folks had gathered to celebrate Tom Roberts having gotten his Private Pilot Certificate thursday, July 30th, while we were at Oshkosh. Congrats Tom!It was great to be back home after such an eventful trip. Ole Betsy was solid the whole way, and Mac taught me a whole lot about navigating the weather and flying above the scattered clouds, where the air is smooth and cool. Thanks Mac for such a great trip! It will be hard to beat this, our Oshkosh odyssey.