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.

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!

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.

On Wednesday, July 16, 2008, Pam, Kayla, Mallory, and I departed Columbia (KCUB) at around 10:00 a.m. and traveled to Reynolds, Indiana, to see Pam’s sisters and their families.

We took off from Owens Field a little later than we wanted to due to some marginal VFR in the upstate between us and Asheville. As the weather reports predicted, the low cast  was gone by the time we got to the upstate. We were at 4500 feet until around Spartanburg and the mountains south of Asheville. We climbed to 6500 feet south of Hogback Mountain and over flew the Asheville area and were treated to beautiful mountain views, with Mount Mitchell towering hazily far to the east.

As we ventured on over the Blue Ridge Mountains we climbed to 8500 feet to give us a good margin to clear the Great Smoky Mountains into Tennessee. For a while we were flying under a cloud layer that was getting close above us so we descended to 6500 feet and enjoyed some beautiful views of the rippled and raked terrain of the northeastern Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky cumberland landscape.

After about two and a half hours, we landed at London-Corbin Airport (KLOZ) in Kentucky for our fuel stop and to let everyone stretch their legs and take a break. The runway at London is 150 feet wide so my landing flare was a bit high as I am so used to the view of CUB’s 75 foot wide runway. We were still well above the runway when I expected my tires to be touching, but we continued to sink right down and down until finally a couple of mild barks of the tires and we were there.

London is an excellent airport. The folks were friendly and the FBO was large and very well maintained. The lady at the desk said there was a restaurant on the field, but was closed for now and would reopen on August 1st. The girls and I were hungry and had to settle for snacks from the machine. Perhaps we’ll venture back to London someday and try it out The Hangar Restaurant.

On past Lexington, Kentucky, and west of Cincinnati, we flew. The girls slept on and off as Pam and I both worked the cockpit. Pam changed frequencies as required and wrote down flight and ATC numbers – and thank goodness! Cincinnatihanded us off to Indianapolis and I reached over to set the transponder code. What a goofball! I quickly realized that I had changed the transponder to the altimeter setting. I was thinking, “Oh $&@!#!” Thanks goodness Pam had written it down. I changed it back so quickly that perhaps ATC didn’t notice, I hoped.

The flight was pleasantly smooth at 6500 feet. We descended to 4500 feet just beyond Lexington to clear the scattered layer and put it above us. Cincinnati routed us east and around some restricted area and an active MOA and then we were straight on course again southeast of Indianapolis. The terrain was flat farmland as far as the I could see. Beautiful country!  We descended to 2500 feet for the last thirty minutes of the flight. There is no shortage of places to land if an emergency were to arise. We radioed White County about ten miles out and listened for traffic. We were met by Pam’s sister, Sharon, who was waiting for us on the porch of the FBO. Since we had an Automaic Position Reporting System (APRS) onboard,Sharon had been monitoring our flight on the internet all day so she knew about when she needed to be at the airport.

White County Airport is a nice venue. It sits two miles south of the town of Monticello and on the west side of the north-to-south runn
in
g, snake-like Lake Freeman. We taxied up to the FBO and parked at a tiedown. The FBO is a small and simple looking structure parked under a larger oak tree. The FBO staff was very welcoming and friendly. White County has a new FBO that was built behind the existing FBO which will be torn down as soon as the new one is up and operating. We were given a tour of the new FBO by Phil Gutwein, a prominent figure in the community as well as the Airport Board President. The new FBO is much larger, has vaulted ceilings covered with wood panels, giving it a warm and welcome feel. It is absolutely beautiful! They also plan to widen and lengthen the runway and improve the taxiways and parking areas.

In Reynolds, we enjoyed a week of Indiana farm life. There is corn growing everywhere. Pam gave me the grand tour of the area. Pam’s sister, Sharon, and her husband, Ron, and their family farm about 3500 acres in the area and are gearing up for suppling corn to an ethanol producing plant being built next to his land. Corn is king right now in this area. Ron gave me a tour of his farm equipment and even let me drive one of his John Deere riding mowers. This was a heavy duty machine, not the kind you find at Lowe’s.\

Pam, the kids, and I got a chance to go to Indiana Beach, a local theme park located on Lake Freeman, a couple of miles north of Monticello. All week while we were there, the White County fair was taking place only a block from Ron andSharon‘s house. There were craft displays and judging, farm livestock contests and plenty of great food. The fresh made vanilla ice cream was the best I ever had.

The last day before we were to depart, I got a chance to take Ron and Pam’s other sister, Sheila, for an airplane ride. We toured Reynolds, and Monon to the north, where Pam’s parents used to live, and flew over a bunch of Ron’s farmland. We flew over Indiana Beach and circled over Ron and Sharon‘s house a few times, and then flew back to the airport. It was a great visit, and educational as well. I never realized how high-tech farming actually is, with GPS driven farm machinery, vast drainage systems and canals, to the impressive crop dusters with their turbo props. We got to watch several fly over the fields during our stay and got to watch them take off and land at the airport. They sound like P-51 Mustangs – loud, strong and commanding in their presence.

Our week in Indiana had gone by quickly and it was time to head back to South Carolina. I had been keeping track of the weather on Weathermeister.com everyday, and it looked like Tuesday, July 22, was our best weather window. Back at the airport, we loaded up, fueled up on the self-serve pump, and departed around 10:00 a.m. We climbed above some lightly scattered clouds to 2500 feet and enjoyed a smooth cruise to the south. I chose to fly a route south towards Atlanta and then east to Columbia because the weather reports indicated cumulus clouds building at 5000 feet about the time we would expect to be over the mountains towards Asheville. So we planned a stop in Tennessee for fuel, fly south towards Atlanta and then once out of mountainous terrain, make a course east to Columbia.

The flight started out nicely, but we got zig-zagged a bit by ATC around Louisville and Fort Knox. We could have done without that. It cost us 10 or 15 minutes of flying time and more importantly, fuel. Over the Kentucky foothills, the sky was very hazy and it was getting hot. Kayla was not feeling well so we began to divert to a nearby airport. I checked the chart for airport information and it indicated that the runway was only 2600 feet and there was no fuel service. With the density altitude reports of 3900 feet in our area, we decided to continue for the twenty to thirty minutes longer to our planned stop at Crossville, Tennessee. Their “fuel pumps were not operating,” so we had to fly east a few miles to Rockwood (KRKW) where we topped off.

The weather was looking very bad, so we tied down for the night. While still at the FBO, a bad storm came thru and it rained as hard as I had ever seen and the winds were blowing hard, and the lightning was flash-booming on the airport property. Pam and I were looking out of the FBO at the heavy rains and wind and suddenly the wind shifted and you could hear that spooky whoozing wind sound through the gap in the FBO door. I told Pam, “That sounds tornadic!” And suddenly, she yelled, “That plane is moving!” Then she told the girls to get into the bathroom and rushed off to usher them in. We both had just seen a twelve and a half ton, three mi

llion dollar business jet parked on the tarmac skid around ninety degrees, trying to vane into the hard-blowing wind and rain. The FBO operator came running out of his office and ran outside in a panic. Realizing there was not much he could do in the rain, wind, and lightning, he came back inside the FBO to wait it out. After the hard rains and wind subsided, he went out to secure the by parking his truck in front of the aircraft.

With the excitement over, we rented a car and drove a few miles to nearby Harriman off of I-40, ate a nice meal and stayed the night at a motel. The next morning, the weather was not very promising as there was a heavy fog that concealed the hilltops. It was predicted to lift by 9:00 a.m. but it was lifting slowly. We made our way back to the airport and Pam turned the car in as I gave Betsy a good preflight inspection – making sure to note if any water had collected in the aft fuse and tested the fuel several times. This is the first time Betsy had to stay outside in bad weather since I have been flying her. It was no surprise that there was some water in the one of the fuel tanks, but it wasn’t very much. Betsy was ready, so we loaded up, cranked up and taxied to runway four.

Flight service had reported 1200 scattered at the closest reporting station and clear to 12,000 feet. With Rockwood’s field elevation at around 1660 feet that seems interesting to ponder. Rockwood airport is on top of a hill. It looks like they just shaved off the top and put the airport on it. Looking down in the valleys around the airport we could only see low clouds all around. Some clouds above us were starting to move in as we prepared for our flight, but it looked clear above them.

We departed around 10:00 a.m. and headed south. We climbed out to 3500 feet first and then climbed to 5500 feet, weaving our way around clouds and trying to stay out of them. With severe clear above them we found our comfortable altitude at 7500 feet. Flight Watch reported that our waypoint airport, Pickens County (KJZP), north of Atlanta was now 1200 feet overcast. They advised Gainesville to the east was reporting scattered, so we immediately changed course to the east. As we fly closer to Gainsville, although well north of it, the sky opened up nicely and the scattered clouds became sparse.

On to towards Columbia we flew with the girls sleeping soundly in the back seat. We descended to 5500 feet at the Georgia/South Carolina border and then to 3500 at Abbeville. The air was bumpy there so we climbed back to 5500 feet until we contacted Columbia Approach. Columbia directed us straight down the center of Lake Murray as we descended, which made for much smoother flying over the water. By the time we reach the dam, we were at 2500 feet at ATC gave us the go ahead direct to CUB.

Once on the ground, we got Betsy topped off again and put her in the hangar. Pam and I both gave her a kiss on the cowling and a hug – a thank you of sorts for taking care of us. We had flown our first long cross country – to Indiana and back! Loaded with kids and luggage and looking for adventure, we had flown the Appalachian Mountains, toured the geographic marvel of the Tennessee and Kentucky cumberlands, the vast flat farmlands of Indiana, and the foothills of Kentucky andTennessee.

In retrospect as a pilot, this trip demanded from me almost everything that I know about flying. What piloting skills and knowledge I possess, I used – what I lacked was revealed. And thinking back, the trip seems like a dream – too good to be true. Thanks goodness we have plenty of pictures to remind us of this wonderful adventure.