One of the teachers who had "crashed" the presentation wanted to take a ride, so we arranged it for Saturday or Sunday weather permitting. Sunday was fine, so we set it up to meet them at the McKinney FBO early in the afternoon. Sandra and I went to Aero Country to get the plane. Sandra took a book along to read while they were flying. We borrowed an extra headset from Dave and took off for McKinney. This would be the first time Sandra had been there.
We turned crosswind and I called McKinney Tower:
"McKinney Tower, Musketeer Five Niner Four Lima Bravo, Off of Aero Country, inbound for Landing."
"Musketeer Five Niner Four Lima Bravo, Report right base for one seven."
"Four Lima Bravo will report right base."
Juke to the left, level out at 1600' and cover the by now 2 miles to US75. Pull power to hold 100k, drop one notch of flaps and, "McKinney, Four Lima Bravo established on right base."
"Musketeer Four Lima Bravo, you are number two behind the experimental on left base."
"Four Lima Bravo has the experimental in sight, will follow him."
Then follows as smooth a landing as I can make. We taxi in and get out. The Redhead is still bragging on that one all the way into the lounge. Our Guests arrive in about 10 minutes and after the normal preliminaries, we go out to the plane.
To avoid the "noise sensitive area" just south of the airport, I request a turn to the southeast over the lake from the crosswind and it is approved as requested. Staying in contact with McKinney Tower, we go south over Lake Lavon and turn back in to go over Allen. They see Anderson Elementary and their house and we continue out towards Frisco Mall at 2500'. Turning north from there, I climb to 3500 and we continue almost to Lake Texoma. I turn northeast between Grayson County and Sherman Municipal and up over Sherman and Denison, almost up to Eisenhower Dam. We then turn south east of Sherman and back towards McKinney. Reporting In north of Melissa, I am given a straight in to 17. Trying to duplicate the previous landing, I run out of airspeed over the numbers while still 2' off the ground. It only bounces a little, and a little throttle smoothes out the second "landing", but I am still embarrassed.
We all go back in and sit in the lounge and talk for a while. They are going to an event at four, so when they leave, we go out and take off. It is too pretty to just hop back over to Aero Country, so we head out to the northeast. I suggest that Sandra try to "fly" a little and to my amazement, she agrees. She leans forward and takes a "white knuckle" grasp on the yoke with both hands. It isn't very pretty, but it is better than Harlan had done. We goof around some more, ending up nearly to Lake Lewisville before heading back in.
I make a good approach and another greaser. Go Figure!
A high school Graduation
We have mentioned the Stanley's before. Our first cross-country (June 2001) was to Mineola Weisner to meet them. We went to Tyler to eat dinner with them in Jan 2002. On that trip, I took the daughter Molly for a ride. Molly is the prettier side of a set of twins. Sandra had taught with Retha and (big) Kerry for years in Lindale, just north of Tyler, before moving back to Dallas where she met this itinerant computer jock. I first saw the twins when they were a year old and we have all visited back and forth over the years. Kerry Bob will graduate fifth in his class. Molly missed the honors group by 2 places out of a class of 194. The graduation will be held in the Tyler Junior College Gym at 10:00AM on May 31, and we have got to go! Because of the early hour, we decide to go Friday night and spend the night in a motel.
I have everything ready when Sandra gets in from school. Weather briefing holds no warnings except for some haze with restricted visibility on Saturday. We are in the air by 5:30. The flight is uneventful and the visibility is good. We take 55 minutes from startup to shutdown at the Tylerjet FBO. The car is waiting, but a midsize was not available so Enterprise had supplied a Jeep Spirit. The vehicle is terminally "cute". We check into the LaQuinta and go looking for a place to eat dinner. We are both reasonably familiar with Tyler, and find a Mexican restaurant on South Broadway. The food is excellent and we eat too much. After Dinner, Sandra calls one of her other old compatriots and we stop by to visit them. We agree to take Becky and their son Steve (in college) for a ride after the graduation and dinner on Saturday.
We get to the graduation site 30 minutes early and the parking lots are already filling rapidly. We cannot locate the Stanley's inside and conclude that they are not inside yet. This assumption is reasonable as Big Kerry does stand out. He is about 6'5, 300lbs and has silver hair. I go back outside and find them immediately. Our party now contains us, Kerry and Retha, Both sets of parents and siblings. We occupy 3 rows, 6 wide on the bleachers. It is a normal high school graduation, and after it and the obligatory picture sessions outside, we all head for the restaurant for a dinner. Can you say "party of fourteen"?
We leave the dinner about 2:30 and Call Becky on the way to the airport. I have the plane pre-flighted and ready when Becky and Steve arrive. After a short briefing, we take off. We fly out to the north, over Lindale and back down the east side of Tyler. We locate the neighborhood where Becky lives, but the profusion of large trees prevent us from seeing their house. We continue around the south side and out to Lake Palestine. Then back in to the downwind to 22. The landing is not one of my better ones, but they seem impressed.
At about 4:30, We take off for home. We plan to make a "detour" over Canton where Sandra's sister lives. Sandra had called her just before we walked to the plane. We follow highway 64 from Tyler to Canton, do a circle over Marie's at 2000' and then head northwest. The visibility is lousy. From Canton, we can just barely make out Lake Tawakoni 15 miles away. From the west shore of Tawakoni, we can't see Lake Ray Hubbard. This is really bad, as large lakes are more visible than any other ground features. The Redhead asks to try the controls again and this time she does much better.
I make a lousy landing at Aero Country, but all in all, it was a good two days.
Angel Flight #5
Due to weather and lack of suitable missions, I am falling behind on my personal goal of 8 Angel Flight missions this year. I missed one around the insurance renewal date when the AF computer system got over zealous, But one pops up to Joplin, MO. We are already planning a trip to Joplin this July to visit some old friends, and this would be a good "pathfinder" flight.
The weather looks iffy all weekend for the flight on Tuesday, but the signs are good. The first pilot of the relay will call me before leaving San Antonio with the patient and meet me at Sherman. There is a front slowly moving east into Missouri and Arkansas and another one coming across western Oklahoma. If the leading one will keep going, I can get up and back between them. The only fly in the ointment is several bands of clouds running east-west between them. These are expected to dissipate during the day.
Tracey calls and gives an ETA at Sherman of shortly after 12:00. I shower, get dressed and eat a good brunch. The weather briefing is positive (barely), so I file flight plans and head for Aero Country. Preflight, saddle up and head for Sherman. Tracey announces inbound just as I enter the downwind. He is turning base just as I turn off the taxiway to the fuel pumps. I fill to nearly 50 gallons as he taxis in. The patient seems to be about 10' tall, and has 4 bags. We put 2 in the baggage compartment and the other 2 in the back seat, then go into the FBO to freshen up and fill out paperwork.
On takeoff, I begin to wonder about carrying 50 gallons with all the baggage. The best I can get with the outside temperature of 90+ is an average 400fpm climb. It takes until Durant, OK to get to the cruise altitude of 5500', but the outside temperature there is 70. There are widely scattered clouds beneath us, that seem to get thicker way out in front of us. North of McAlester, we go over a band that is nearly solid. The tops are about 4000', and I can see what looks like a break in the distance. Besides, Muskogee is reporting clear. Sure enough, the band ends just north of Lake Eufaula and by the time we cross I40, it is nearly clear under us. But I can see another band ahead of us. At the dam on Fort Gibson Reservoir, another band lies. I cannot see the end of this one. Joplin is reporting broken at 3000' and scattered at 2000'. I don't want to chance staying on top and not being able to find a hole for descent.
Tulsa Center is very nice about letting us go under and will keep an eye on us. At 2500', we are below the solid clouds, but are still over and occasionally in the scattered layer. I bob and weave between 2700 and 1700 as we pick our way northeast. We identify the dam on Grand lake as well as Grand Lake Regional airport. We identify the north end of Grand Lake and Wyandot. Only 20 more miles and suddenly we are in scattered clouds at 3000'. Dang, I wish we had stayed on top.
Handed over to Joplin Tower, I enter a left base for 36 and do another poor landing. Poor is relative, 2 years ago, I would have been happy with it. We schlepped his bags into the FBO and he went to call his ride while I went potty. After he had left, I called Eddie. He picked up after I started talking to the answer machine.
Eddie, and his wife Terry, are the parents of Donna. Donna had been project manager for a contract I worked on in '95. Our working relationship had become a close friendship with each of us mentoring the other in complementary areas. The friendship had virtually made Donna a member of our family. We had kept in touch after she took a job in Houston and attended her wedding in '97. That is where we met Eddie and Terry and Donna's sister Jennifer. As part of the wedding, reception and party after, we had all formed a friendship.
We kept in touch with Donna with cards and an occasional letter, and when her marriage got into bad times, the contacts dwindled to just us sending cards to her. Last month, we got a long letter from her detailing her separation, divorce and move to California. Then followed a frenzied email catch-up. After her comment that she wished to see us again, I mentioned that if she were coming home to Joplin this summer, maybe we could meet there. It happens that the family was planning a get together for July 12-13, and Eddie and Terry were ecstatic that we might be coming also.
Now, I am in Joplin, needing a relax and dinner before flying back to Dallas. Donna had given me their number and said that they would be glad to hear from me. Eddie said that Terry was at work, call him back in 10 minutes and he would see if he could arrange for us to get together. Eddie has serious emphysema and cannot drive, so it would all depend on whether Terry could get off early as I had to leave no later than 6:30. When I called back, he said that Terry would pick me up at the terminal a few minutes after four and we would go from there.
As I was at the FBO, not the terminal, I go out to check the bird and clean it up for the return. Then I walk out front and wait. The terminal is around the corner from the FBO, a distance of maybe 30 yards. She will have to drive right by the FBO to get there, so I wait there, and wait there. Time drags when you are waiting, don't it? I finally notice that the vestibule to the FBO has seating that faces the entrance road. I can sit inside and watch the road for her white car. I go in and sit down. Just as I lean back and cross my legs, the white car comes around the corner into the airport.
She and I talk and talk as she drives back through town. We stop for carryout for supper and go to their house. Eddie looks good and just as I remember him (Terry is obviously Donna's mother, Anyone knowing Donna would recognize Terry). We have nearly an hour of catching up over the fried chicken before Terry has to take me back to the airport.
After an updated weather briefing and updating my flight plan, I call Sandra from the ramp to give her my ETA. There are clouds at 3000' that are about 80% coverage. My plan is to take the first hole and get above them. I take off and turn southwest from the downwind leg. I had just leveled out at 2500' and opened my flight plan when I came under a large opening. Throttle forward and climb. The opening wasn't quite big enough and I made the last 500' through clouds. I broke out at 4800' and continued up to 5500'. I could read the Davis VOR (Muskogee, OK) from here and the course was 195. That's close enough to use this altitude.
I tell flight service that the tops are at or below 5000' at my location and they stretch out as far as I can see to the east at that altitude. However, they rise to well above my altitude west of me. And the air is smooth as silk.
This is incredibly beautiful! Imagine you are standing at the edge of a valley. The flat plain to your left and the gentle slope up to your left. The whole area you can see is covered with unbroken snow. The sky above is Siamese cat eye blue, with the bright sun still above the hill. Now expand that mental picture to cover the size of this. I can see clearly 30+miles to the east and south and the tops of the rise to the west must be 15 miles away. I know that this must extend almost to Muskogee which is about 50 miles away.
I marvel at this beauty for 30, all to quick, minutes. There is one break that allows me to see a portion of Grand Lake and Grand Lake Regional airport. How fortuitous that the one place where I can see the ground gives me a positive fix on my location. I am right on course!
I know from the elapsed time and the quicker deflection of the OBS needle that I am nearing Muskogee. I can now see the edge of the cloud deck ahead and Davis is reporting clear skies. My next brief glimpse of the ground shows a major highway intersection, and then I am back over clear sky and Davis airport is right below me.
I descend to 4500', turn to 210 and tune in the McAlester VOR. The sun is now just above the cloud bank I have just left. I can see the remains of the earlier bank north of McAlester, but along my path, it seems to have broken up. There is a band of high clouds shading these clouds, so they are a dirty gray. Not as impressive as the snowy white I had been over, but beautiful with their feathery edges. Across I40 and down over Lake Eufaula, there is adequate ground visibility to be sure of my position even without the VOR needle.
McAlester, Atoka, Durant, Eisenhower Dam, Denison, Sherman slip beneath me as the sun grows lower to my right. After Sherman, I pull 200rpm and trim down to a slight descent. I plan to make my altitude go away just in time for pattern entry at Aero Country. I pass over the nursery that I use as a landmark and get Preston road just off my right side. Too suddenly, I am crossing 380. I am perfectly setup for the left downwind to 35, but am still 500' too high. I do a right 360 with power off and straighten out in the right place at the right altitude. By the clock, it is just sunset, but I turn the runway lights on as I turn base anyway.
This has been one of the most enjoyable, relaxing flights I have ever made.
Getting ready for the reunion
I scheduled another Angel Flight for the next week, trying to get back on the 8/year schedule. The day dawned good after some before daylight thunderstorms, but by noon, a solid line was lying along the Red river above Sherman and moving SSE. We canceled and the line moved down and sat across the route I would have been flying.
Oh, well, I still need an oil change before the big trip. We plan to fly to a family reunion in Pontotoc, MS and then on to Nashville for sightseeing and meeting another friend from the internet forum.
The trip is to begin on Friday, Jun 20. On the 18th, I go to Tex-Air and buy oil, filter and sectionals for the trip. Out to Aero Country to change the oil. This oil change is nearly routine and afterwards, I fly up to Sherman and put in enough gas for the first leg of the trip.
After much revising and reviewing, the plan is to leave mid morning and fly to Camden, AR, via Sulphur Springs VOR and Texarkana VOR. From Camden, it will be pilotage only to Pontotoc as the only nearly enroute VOR is in Tupelo, MS, 15 miles beyond Pontotoc. From pre reunion discussions, there will probably be several attendees who would like a ride on Saturday. The reunion is scheduled to break up Sunday afternoon when we will take off for Nashville. After a day (Monday) sightseeing in Nashville, we will leave Tuesday morning, flying to Stuttgart, AR for lunch and on home that afternoon.
By Thursday afternoon, the weather forecast looks very good for the entire 5 days.
Flight to Mississippi
The first leg to Camden is about two hours, so we don't want to leave much before 10:00AM. I get the weather briefing and file flight plans at 9:00 and we head for the airport. We launch at 10:10, open the flight plan and climb out over McKinney. By using a slower climb rate, we slip out from under the Dallas Class B shelf before we get high enough to require clearance. Leveling out at 5500', we are over varying clouds that have occasional fingers billowing up to above our altitude.
In bright sunlight, these are beautiful. Big piles of cotton. As we are tracking the Texarkana VOR, dodging among those at our altitude is no real problem. We make good time and are soon passing over Texarkana in a big opening between clouds with some haze. There are more clouds to the south, and we listen to TXK trying to vector a guy with a very British accent in a Warrior in to their field.
Past Texarkana, the clouds get a little thicker, with more at our altitude. There are very few ground reference points along our route, so dodging among the clouds while keeping track of distance is no longer an option. I find a big hole and do an anvil descent, leveling out under the clouds at 2500'. We get back on the proper radial outbound from the TXK VOR and drone along, trying to match the ground below to the sectional. The depiction of Camden shows 2 built up areas, north and south and the airport NE of the northern area. We hit Camden right between the 2 areas and have no trouble locating the airport. The landing on the 6500' runway is a non-event, and we make the first turnoff. The runway diagrams from AOPA and Flight Guide both show only the one turnoff, but as we get on it, we see the taxiway has now been extended to the far end.
There is a motel/restaurant just outside the airport entrance, so after ordering fuel and going to the facilities, we walk over there. There is a highly recommended (by the FBO) seafood buffet, but we don't want to eat ourselves silly. Sandra has a hamburger and I a BLT. We walk back, visit the restrooms again and take off before 2:00.
The cloud/haze situation is unchanged from the first leg across Arkansas. The decision is to go back to 5500' and rely on seat of pants and time augmented by the occasional ground references for the remainder of the flight. The only major visible checkpoints will be the town of Dumas, AR, the Mississippi river and Lake Enid.
Coming around a cloud, we tentatively identify Dumas off the left wing, putting us slightly south of course. The cloud is covering the west side of town where the airport should be for positive ID, but that is the only town of any size in the area. When we suddenly see the river, we are almost exactly where we should be. The route follows a stretch of the river that runs NE-SW parallel to our course for more than 10 miles. During that 5 minutes, we make the necessary adjustments and reset the DG for the next batch of cloud dodging. Just as we are beginning to worry about Lake Enid, we see it under the next cloud bank. Our course would take us over the south end of the dam instead of the north end. Not bad for 150 miles of cloud dodging!
On the other side of that clump, is clear sky with no haze! This was supposed to start in mid Arkansas. We can easily see Sardis Lake to the north and we pass by south of Oxford. We get to the Oxford Pontotoc road and are looking right down runway 11 at Pontotoc. After checking Tupelo Weather, I enter the downwind for 11, but don't make enough allowance for the crosswind. It blows us in and shortens the base to the point that we are way high. I execute a go-around and try again. We taxi into the parking area to the waves of Sandra's sister and brother (our chauffeurs for the reunion).
The perils of using "low use" rural airports. Pontotoc has no FBO. No self serve fuel. Just a nice 3000' runway, a ramp and some hangars scattered about. I can see some activity at a hangar about 50 yards away, so I stroll over to see about getting fuel. The man working on a Pitts was more than eager to talk. Among other discussions, I got the names of some people who had keys to the gas pump. (the normal mode here is that there is a large above ground gas tank and the locals fill it and then pay as they pump into a fund to refill it.)
We loaded all our stuff in the car and headed for town. After checking into the motel, Sandra "freshens up" while I try to find someone with a key. Finally, with the help of the innkeeper, we locate a very friendly man who volunteers to pick me up at the motel Saturday morning around 10. The only way to the airport goes right by the motel. That settled, now we all pile into the car and head for the reunion.
This reunion is for Sandra's mother's family. The host, Aunt Syble has lived here for a few generations and most of the people have some roots between here and Clarksdale. In fact, Sandra and her siblings were born in Clarksdale, 75 miles west of Pontotoc. Aunts, uncles, cousins galore. Between now and tomorrow evening, over 40 people put in appearances. They all, like Sandra are a loud, happy, easy going bunch. But we are the talk of the group. We actually flew to the reunion in our own airplane!
During dinner, etc., we are kept busy explaining the lure of flying, aircraft characteristics, navigation, etc.. For tomorrow, we have 2 people who want to take a ride, and 3 more maybes.
Saturday morning, 18 of us have breakfast at the motel with a couple who are going on to a wedding at Gulf Shores. The 3 maybes are going with others on an excursion to one of the old family cemeteries and may not make it back in time for the rides.
Marlin arrives promptly at 10 and we go out and gas up the plane. I put enough to do 3-4 short joyrides and still leave enough to get to Nashville on Sunday. Back to the Motel and Sandra and Marie soon arrive with aunt Joyce, saying that Peggy and her husband are already on their way to the airport. One other thing about this family, 200lb women are the rule, not the exception. Both Peggy and Joyce conform to the rule and since the day is already getting hot and the runway is short, they will have to go separately. We arrive and Peggy and Joyce decide who will be first. I walk through the preflight in great detail with them and get in. Peggy joins me and we fire up and taxi out.
We take off and as I level out at 1500', Peggy looks at me with big eyes and says, "Now I see why you and Sandra love this."
We fly over town and around to the reunion site. It is easy to find on a peninsula of a fair sized lake SW of town. Then back over town and back to land. After a short break, I get in followed by Joyce and we do the same route. These 2 hops will furnish much talk for the rest of the day.
Back to Aunt Syble's for lunch, lazy afternoon in lawn chairs under the big trees in the huge back yard and a munchies supper. Back to the motel and sleep off all the food.
The flight to Tennessee
Sunday morning, another 18 of us eat breakfast and we all begin going our separate ways. We are at the airport and ready for takeoff by 10:00. I call Angeline to give her an ETA and off we go.
There are no clouds of note today below 12,000', and the morning haze is not bad. We aim north of Tupelo to pick up their VOR northbound. We fly in smooth 65 degree air across Pickwick Lake and a very small corner of Alabama into Tennessee. At the Centerville VOR, we turn 25 degrees east towards Nashville. Ten minutes later, I call Nashville approach for instructions. After Squawk code, etc, they tell us to descend at our discretion and maintain at or above 3000 on our current course. A few minutes later, they advise to alter 10 right. I tell them there is a large tower there, so they tell me to continue and when clear of it, turn right. In the meantime, continue descent to 2000. After turning, I ask for vectors to Cornelia Fort and am told that my present course will take us right over it.
We are passing just north of downtown Nashville at 2000' (1500' AGL). The downtown buildings are magnificent. The new Titan stadium stands out very clearly, we can almost see the individual seats. But not the airport. Approach assures me that it is 12 o'clock, 3 miles. Still no joy. Suddenly, it is right in front of us.
"Approach, Four Lima Bravo. The field is right under our nose."
"Four Lima Bravo, Squawk VFR, Radar service terminated."
I descend quickly to pattern altitude and turn into a right downwind. We land and taxi in and a guy in a golf cart guides us to a parking spot. We shut down and Sandra gets out while I clean up the cockpit and jot down the time on the Hobbs. As I climb out on the wing, I see Angeline and Jody (her son) walking from the parking lot to the FBO. I wave and they see us.
We get the plane attended to, the lineboy loads our bags on the golf cart and we exchange hugs and handshakes with Angeline and Jody. I go inside the FBO for potty and to close the flight plan. Then we all pile into Jody's Beemer and head for Angeline's home.
Cornelia Fort is the first airport I have seen that has no access from a major thoroughfare. It is a small privately owned, public use field built on the old floodplain of the Cumberland River. It has a high ridge to the west which is why we didn't see it until we were on top of it. The roads to it wind through 2-3 miles of residential areas built on that ridge. The field is named for Cornelia Fort, a WWII WAAF pilot who was killed in a crash while ferrying aircraft.
Out of the residential area and a couple miles north, we go back towards the river through another residential neighborhood. Angeline is telling us that they could have gotten to the airport easier by canoe. The house sits on a bluff overlooking the river. Jody lives on the main floor and Angeline has an apartment on the lower floor. Her apartment has a balcony over the river on the north side and a larger balcony with steps to the upper balcony on the south side, also over the river. The living room has a picture window view of the river.
We eat a sandwich and spend the afternoon, relaxing on the north balcony, watching boats go by, talking and planning tomorrow. After a late, but delicious dinner, we go upstairs to bed. But not before seeing a tug with 6 barges go upriver.
Monday, I am up at 6. I shower and dress and am in time to help Angeline finish walking Buddy. After a light breakfast, we get in Angeline's car and head downtown. We park just off the river and walk to the Ryman Auditorium. Like all good tourists, we take the tour. The video presentation is nice, and the artifacts around the back of the auditorium are interesting. So are the picture galleries upstairs along with the old WSM radio booth.
After a quick visit to the souvenir shop, we walk around some more, winding up at the Country Music Hall of Fame. We spend over 2 hours there. It is now 2:00 and past time to eat. We soon learn that most of the eating places downtown are not open on Mondays, close at 2:00 or want 10 bucks for a sandwich. We finally eat at a small Mexican place. Imagine the irony of Texans eating Tex-Mex food in Nashville, Tennessee. But it was quite good.
After the food, we go back to the car and head for Centennial Park. The attraction there is a full scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens. This building is very impressive. It is closed on Monday.
Back to the house just ahead of the evening rush hour. We get to see the tug and 6 barges going back downriver and other boats, relaxing and resting and talking on the balcony. After another good meal, it is off to bed.
And so to home.
I am up shortly after 6 and we all eat ham and biscuits for breakfast. Angeline and Jody take us to the airport at 9: and after good-byes, briefings and flightplan filing, we launch at 10:10. Our departure takes us in sight of Angeline's house. Cornelia Fort sits in a cutout of the Nashville Class C airspace, so I immediately contact Nashville Departure and request flight following. I figure with flight following, I can go through the Memphis Class B instead of going around it.
"Musketeer Five Niner Four Lima Bravo, make a northwesterly departure, remain clear of Class C. I'll have a squawk code momentarily."
The floor of the Class C is 2400, and by the time I reach that altitude, I am swinging west, north of the antenna farm which is clear of the Class C completely. Departure comes back with the squawk code and gets my proposed route. We climb to 4500 and only have to dodge a few cloud tops. Soon we are getting the Jacks Creek VOR and on course. Just about to Jacks Creek, we are handed off to Memphis Center. There is some haze, but not bad and the air is smooth and about 70 degrees.
Over the Jacks Creek VOR, we settled back to enjoy the flight. The stewardess passed out the in-flight snacks. I had just popped the first pnut butter cheese cracker in my mouth when:
"November Five Niner Four Lima Bravo, Traffic at 10 o'clock, 5 miles, northeasterly heading, showing 4200'"
That sucker may be heading right for us, about 300' below us. And me with a dry mouth full of crackers! "Four Lima Bravo is looking for the traffic." Sandra said that there was a shower of orange crumbs all around the mike as I spoke.
As I had hoped, we are handed off to Memphis approach and advised to maintain course and altitude. Straight in and over the top of Memphis International at 4500'. Looking down on the rows of Fed Ex planes. On out and across the Mississippi towards increasingly numerous clouds. With the increasing clouds and accompanying haze, coupled with the lack of features in the rice paddies below, we are tracking our progress along the outbound Memphis radial by watching the changing bearing to the Marvell radial. Passing over Claredon and positively identifying it, we begin our descent into Stuttgart.
The airport is nearly deserted and when we go into the FBO, there is a sign on the inner door saying the attendant will be back at 1:00. When he returns, we learn that there is no car we can use to go eat, but he has the fixin's and will make us a hamburger. OK, sounds good to us. I go out and gas the bird and clean the windshield while he goes into the shop and fires up a gas grill to cook.
The hamburgers he fixed, when placed on regular sized buns, had a 1/2" annular ring of meat hanging out. They were done to perfection and the fixin's, while plain were adequate.
Bellies full, we saddle up a little after two. At the end of the taxiway, I do the pre-takeoff checks and announce for runway 18. As we start moving towards the end of the runway, I see a Cessna on base.
"Cessna at Stuttgart, are you landing?" as I swing back onto the taxiway.
"Ah, Musketeer, go ahead, we'll go around"
Back on to the runway and take off. When I opened the flight plan, Flight Service advised that there were rain showers forming just west of Hot Springs. Slight revision to the route. We take the 230 radial from Little Rock and since the clouds are getting thicker, we descend to 3500'. It is warmer and rougher here, but at least we can see where we are going. We fly on to between Arkadelphia and De Gray Lake, where we turn west until we center the 240 radial from Hot Springs over Lake Greeson. This will take us to an inbound radial from the Paris VOR. On past De Queen, AR and just south of Idabel, OK. Across the Red River and we are back in Texas.
Soon we pass Paris and turn more westerly. Flight Service had warned us of some rain beginning in the Dallas area, and we can see some showers as we approach. There is a shower over Allen as we get into the pattern at Aero Country, but it is a couple of miles from where we are.
At 6:00, we are home and unloading the van. It has been a good trip, 4 new airports, 1 new state and 13 more hours in the logbook.
