Chapter 32 Poteau, Thanksgiving and Burnet

Playing catch-up.

It is now mid-October, and thanks to the maintenance woes (and my own stupidity), I only have a little over 60 hours for the year. To stay on the goal of 100/year, I should have had 75 hours going into October. We have one other destination in mind for this year, weather permitting, so 100 looks doubtful. The effective loss of 3 months indicates that 75 hours would be a reasonable expectation, but I would like to beat that.

Gas run and fish fry.


The rest of October passes with little decent weather. Sandra is going on a trip with her brother and sister the last weekend of October, so we have nothing in the hopper. We would like to take a flight over the Ozarks as the leaves are turning, but that is a hit or miss proposition depending on the weather required to turn the leaves anything other than brown.

Sandra leaves for the trip on Thursday after school and I am a bachelor for Halloween weekend. I am hoping for good weather on Halloween night so I can go get night current as well as avoiding the trick or treaters. The weather pattern indicates a series of fast moving fronts which will give us cloudy mornings, some sun in the afternoon and lines of showers in the evening. The sunny period on Thursday and Friday are too short to use for flying, but Saturday looks like I can at least give the Mouse some exercise.

There are 2 teachers that want a ride, but one of them is totally unavailable this weekend and by Saturday morning, I haven't heard from the other one. I call Ben Retta, but he has other obligations for the day. Oh well, I can always spend the day with the other old airplane nuts at the airport.

I get to Dave's shortly after 11:00 and we wind up going to lunch at noon. After lunch, I go get the bird out and determine that fuel is low enough to require a trip to a gas station. It is clear with a light southeasterly wind, so off I go. It is so clear that I can see the water tank at Sherman on the downwind and I amble that way. Somewhere between Van Alystine and Howe, I change my mind and head for Gainesville. As I taxi in, there is a Baron at the pumps. I stop on the other side and a Cessna pulls up behind me. The guys filling the Baron are apparently unclear on the concept. The self service pumps require you to enter a maximum to dispense in either gallons or dollars. They underestimate twice and have to recycle. The guy in the Cessna pushes his plane back and calls for the fuel truck. I have nothing better to do, so I wait.

By the time I put 42 gallons in the Mouse, I am the only plane around. I go sit on the patio with the FBO manager and another old guy, drink a Coke and tell tall tales.
 
Finally I go back to the Mouse. The other old guy walks over with me and admires the Mouse. I take off and fly straight out to the south, gazing in awe at the blue norther that is gathering on the western horizon. Eventually, I turn east over the south end of Lake Ray Roberts and continue until I am directly north of Aero Country. Then back into the pattern for a nice landing.

Get the bird put to bed and back to Dave's. We sit on his patio and critique the landings of others and some one stops by to tell us that one of the hangars is having a fish fry starting at 5:30. We sit there while other people come and go and about 5:45 go to the fish fry under gathering clouds. The fish fry has to move into the hangar due to rain eventually, but we all get well fed.

What a beautiful night!


We are now back on standard time and it gets dark at 6:00. It will be dark at 5:30 by Christmas. In order for us to plan any travel between now and March, I have to be night current. The series of fronts finally peters out by midweek and Thursday is beautiful. Low 70s, clear skies and little wind. Sandra won't get home until 9:00PM, so here is one of the best chances I am going to get.

I get to the airport about 4:30 and stop at Dave's. If he won't or can't go with me, the plan is to simply hop over to McKinney and do my three then call it quits. The alternative I propose to Dave is the circuit: Fly to Redbird (now Dallas Executive) about 5:30 for dinner in the cafe. From there, a landing at Lancaster, Mesquite and McKinney on the way home.

Ground stations are all reporting less than 10 knot winds generally from the northwest, so we take off from 35. As I turn crosswind, the sun is just touching the horizon. Get the RBD ATIS and contact Dallas Approach for clearance across the Class B. No problem, but since everybody is landing to the north, we are routed around the east side of downtown. The sun is completely below the horizon as we turn from a right base to 35 onto final at Dallas Executive. A really decent landing and taxi up to the base of the tower.

The cafe is dark when we get inside. The night man says that they closed up Saturday Night and haven't been back since. Well, Shoot! Back out and struggle to re-start the hot engine. Get the new ATIS and call tower.
"Executive, Musketeer Five Niner Four Lima Bravo with Oscar. We would like to go over to Lancaster." "Roger Four Lima Bravo. Taxi to 35. Right turnout on course approved."

As we start the turn away from the tower, "Uh Four Lima Bravo, be careful. The taxiway lights are out after you cross 31."  No big deal, just pay a little more attention to staying on the center stripe.

Now for some nighttime navigation. 13-31 at Executive points right at 13-31 at Lancaster, 10 miles away. Runway heading on 35 until I am past the end of the runway then turn parallel to 31. Climb easily to 2000', pass behind and above a Cessna on a right base to 35 and level out. In what seems like no time, I can see the runway lights at Lancaster. Announce and descend into a left downwind. Although the approach on final is a little shaky, the touchdown is great. Slow until the airspeed needle is on the peg then take off again.

Another right turnout to where I estimate Mesquite to be, 14 miles away, and level out at 2000'. The night sky is absolutely, positively, perfectly, clear. The air is silky smooth. We are looking out from an area where there is solid lights to the steadily diminishing lights in the distance. This is one of the things flying is all about.

In a few minutes, I can see the green-white beacon of Mesquite directly ahead. From the CTAF, we can hear several other planes active there. I head a little to the left to give me room for a correct pattern entry. The final is a little more stable this time, but the touchdown is a little firmer than I like. As we are climbing out, Dave remarks on what I am doing "wrong". "Your feet are getting lazy on the rudder which is causing more extreme movements on the yoke."

Taking off from Mesquite, McKinney is 26 miles dead ahead. Flying up the west edge of Ray Hubbard, it seems like we are suspended in this jeweled night. As we get over the south end of Lavon, I call McKinney and report in. They tell us to fly straight in to 35. I start towards the runway, but decide that I ain't ready to quit just yet.

"McKinney, Four Lima Bravo would like to continue north and come in on a right base."
"Approved as requested, report turning inbound."

This will also prevent a long straight in over the town of Fairview which is very noise sensitive.

Then, "McKinney, Four Lima Bravo is about ready to turn inbound."
"Roger, Four Lima Bravo. We'll get you in ahead of the Cessna on Downwind."
"McKinney, I have the Cessna in sight, I'll just do a right 270 here and come in behind them."
"That'll work, Four Lima Bravo. Cessna XXXX, Cleared to land."
Me, "It's so beautiful out here, I'm not in any hurry to come in."
"Understood and appreciated."

We make 2 good stop and go landings and then head for home. This is simple, straight out until north of 380 and then keep just north of it for 7 miles. Level at 2000', I realize that the 4-6 knot surface wind must be more like 10-15 up here. Every time I relax a bit, we quickly start drifting back towards 380. That must be why the 25 miles from Mesquite to McKinney took more than the 15 minutes it should have.

No problem, I announce a crosswind entry to Aero Country and as we come even with the warehouses off the north end I key the mike for the runway lights. No lights! Key it again. No Lights! Dave grabs the microphone and keys it. NO LIGHTS!

"Dave, what do we do now?" As visions of going back to McKinney and arranging transport back to T31 go through my mind. These are followed by "should I just let him land it"?

"I'd go ahead without the lights. You fly the airplane, I'll keep trying the lights."
Sober reflection. If I am to try landing after dark on a runway without lights, this would be the only one I would be willing to try. The fly in the ointment right now is that with the northwesterly wind, the landing must be on 35. The good news is that after the 2600' of pavement (After the 300 foot displaced threshold), there is 1300 feet of grass. The bad news is that final to 35 is over a golf course which has no lights or other features to give a line on the runway location or good feel for crosswind drift.

On downwind, I think it out. I will make the approach high and a little fast. If I touchdown not far past the crest of the runway (about 1000' from the south end), I will have plenty of length plus the grass. All I have to do is find the runway. There is a road (Rock Hill Road) that crosses 100' from the south end of the pavement. There is some traffic on this road to give me a linear starting point if I can visualize a threshold 500+ feet from there. There are low trees on the south side of the road on both sides of the runway centerline. If I approach the road high enough to easily clear these trees, I should be able to see the gap soon enough to make the lateral adjustment before touchdown some 1000' down. And by this point, I will be low enough for the landing light to find the runway.

I turn final with one of the shallowest turns I have ever made, enabling me to straighten out exactly on the line I want. But I am dismayed by how featureless the golf course is at night. I have no idea of drift other than a floodlight by the south end hangar. Its light does not extend to the taxiway, let alone the runway. A vehicle goes by on Rock Hill just as we level out, giving me a distance marker. I keep the airspeed at 90 and look for the tree gap. When it appears, I am too far to the right. I am probably "in the trees" on the east side. As I drop the left wing and turn the nose slightly left, the landing light sweeps across the end of the runway. Let it slip to the left and straighten it out, keeping the landing light "puddle" on the runway. I come back to level as the threshold markings flash by and we are only about 20' up. Pull the rest of the power and begin the flare.

We gently touch down on the centerline just at the crest of the hill. I don't really want to do this again!

Poteau, OK


Out here on the prairie, we don't get much leaf color change with fall. The nearest hardwood forests are in the Ozark ranges. We had hoped to catch them turning this year in the late October, early November time frame. So after looking at what would constitute a "day trip", we settled on a trip to Poteau, OK, some 20 miles south southwest of Fort Smith.

The good weather from Thursday was forecast to hold through the weekend, so we will go. We leave the house, all dressed and briefed about 9:45. Stop by Dave's to pick up a bucket for the oil change when we return. Preflight done, we lift off right at 10:30. It is another startlingly clear day. Winds are light and the air is smooth as we climb to 3500'. I aim slightly east of the Sherman water tank and we settle down for the flight.
Past Sherman, just east of Durant to pick up the 55 degree radial outbound and then over the most empty part of eastern Oklahoma.

Between McGee Creek Lake and Antlers and into the Arbuckle range. The sectional has numerous warnings about rapidly rising terrain, but this is slightly misleading. I wouldn't want to be scud running here, but at 3500 we are well above anything in our path. We pass south of Sardis Lake and Clayton, then just south of Talihina. We can now see over the next ridgeline to Poteau Mountain and Wister Lake.

Just clear of the ridgeline, I begin my descent, dropping to about 2000' as we pass over the east end of the lake. The airfield should be 5 miles ahead, right about where the highway and railroad turn towards town. Pattern altitude is 1500', but I stay over 2000 looking for the airport. We finally identify it dead over the nose about 3 miles ahead. I swing right and begin a serious descent. Level at 1500', we are now below all the ridges which surround this valley. This is a new and beautiful experience. I turn back to the north into the downwind for 18. Nice landing and taxi in just as my watch says noon.

That ridgeline to the west is about 2350', as is Poteau Mountain. There is another "hill" just east of Poteau that is 2568'. I know those who live among the big rocks out west won't call these mountains, but consider that the airport at Poteau is at 450'. These "hills" rise 1900' and 2100' respectively above the valley floor and they are only 10 miles apart. So I guess the locals are justified calling them mountains.

After relaxing for a few minutes, we take the courtesy car and head for town, armed with murky directions to a "home cooking" eatery. It is right where the airport road finally crosses the main highway. We aren't sure if that is the place, so we head up the highway towards town. After driving all the way out the north side of town, we turn around and go back. The food is very good and quite cheap. Stomachs full, we then drive into the center of town, about 3 blocks off the highway. There is just barely nothing of note, so we head back to the airport.

While the Mouse is being fed, a guy takes off in a Christen Eagle and does a few loops and rolls before heading back towards Okmulgee.

Just after two, we launch for home.
Rather than take a no-traffic right turnout to the southwest, I do a full pattern. Sandra takes pictures of the mountain to the east on downwind and then downtown and then Poteau Mountain as we fly alongside it climbing to 4500'.

We had closed the air vents this morning, but now even though the outside temperature is less than 60, we are sitting in the direct sun. Open the vents back up and bake. I take up a heading that takes us back just south of our course this morning and we drone along. By the time we are past Antlers, the sun is low enough to come in on our faces. I begin to feel like sunburn city, but we can now see Lake Texoma ahead and slightly to the right. Soon, I turn 20 degrees south to pass just southeast of Sherman and begin descending. We pick up a few bumps around 2500, but at 2000 it is smooth again.

Into the pattern at Aero Country and on final, there are 2 planes waiting to takeoff. Having witnesses normally guarantees that I will make a sloppy landing. This time, it is smooth with a chirp of tires just after the stall warning horn. Taxi in and shut down in front of the hangar. 1.5 hours out and 2.2 hours back. Another nice trip in our magic carpet.

We open the hangar and push the bird back until the nose is in the shade. I fetch the bucket and the drain hose from the box. Open the cowl, route and hook up the hose, position the bucket and start the oil draining. Get the rest of the required tools and loosen the oil filter while Sandra wipes down the nose and wing edges. As soon as the oil has drained out, remove and disassemble the filter. Close drain, remove hose, assemble and install new filter while Sandra starts pouring in the new oil. Tighten and safety wire the filter and clean up. Pull back out away from the hangar and start up for leak check. Shut down and inspect, no leaks. Put everything away and head for the house.

400 hours in the book.


This trip now puts me at 404 hrs. Time for a little reflection. The biggest thing to me for this 100 hours is that my landings have gained a degree of consistency. To the point that Sandra no longer comments on them unless they are very very good or very sloppy. The last 2 trips have been largely by pilotage and we have hit our targets dead on each time. We have flown in some marginal weather and I have flown in some less than marginal conditions. We have learned from that and I learned from that.

In summary, our ability to get where we want to be continues to be good. Our selection of places to go continues to widen, we made Poteau the equivalent of a $100 hamburger at 150 NM. We have made a trip when we couldn't complete as planned and worked it out. I have found my self in a life threatening situation and kept my head.

So, on with the adventure. Sandra has the entire week of Thanksgiving off. Looks like we need to make a trip, weather permitting. We plan to go to Galveston, but leave the exact date open. Thanksgiving festivities are scheduled for Thanksgiving day at our house, so we would need to be home Wednesday and Thursday. Galveston would be a 3 day trip, so that leaves Sat-Mon., Sun-Tue or Fri-Sun. The Special Olympics volleyball tournament is set for November 20, so that knocks out Sat-Mon.

By Monday, Nov 15, it is apparent that the weather is back in the rain, rain and more rain mode. Other family considerations cause the family get together to be reset for Friday, eliminating the Fri-Sun option but possibly adding the Mon.-Wed option. The only days in the forecast which look promising are Friday 19 and Saturday 20. Galveston is now a no go. I look for some possible passengers for a Saturday flight, just in case. By Thursday, even that window is closing. Our grand niece (my Brother in law's granddaughter) is coming to stay with us for the holidays. Her family is in Washington state, but she is going to college at Abilene Christian. She has a ride as far as Fort Worth, and Sandra will pick her up there Wednesday at noon.

Got the picture? The ever atrocious weather this year is shutting out another trip. On the weather report Sunday the 21st, the weatherman noted that the average rainfall for Dallas is 27 inches. We have 46 inches already this year and Monday and Tuesday are to be "significant rain events". They were and it was still atrocious on Wednesday when Sandra drove to Ft. Worth to pick up Carrie. Being card carrying members of the shopping gender, they shopped all the way home from Hulen Mall, arriving after dark. But the weather had been improving all afternoon as forecast and Thursday was to be the first of several nice, if slightly cool days.

After short discussion, Carrie jumped at a chance for an airplane ride, so after a late breakfast, she and I left Sandra with Thanksgiving cooking and headed for the airport. After a 3 week layoff, I do a careful preflight and startup, Taxi out and off we go. The plan is to take the girl to Paris (even if we don't stop). Level at 3500', the air is smooth and I offer her a chance to try this flying thing. She demurs and then slides her seat up so she can reach the pedals. After a brief walk through, she gives it a try. She starts out "white knuckled" on the yoke and soon we are gyrating all over the sky. I straighten it out and after telling her again to relax, give it back. This time, the initial oscillations quickly damp out and soon we are making good progress towards our destination.

Reaching Paris, I circle over the north side of town, then over the little lake NW of town before heading back up the Red River towards Texoma. She quickly learns how to look at the terrain and match it to the Sectional to determine our progress and soon we are over Oklahoma just south of Durant. Turning south, we head for the Airport at Sherman for gas. The airport is deserted (This is Thanksgiving Day after all), but the fuel is self-serve.

With the tanks full, we take off again and head for home. At dinner, we discuss the possibility of flying her back to Abilene on Saturday, weather permitting. Friday, the clan gathers at our house for Thanksgiving and we three watch the weather for Saturday. The forecast is for severe clear, but windy. And we all decide that we will leave the house at 10:00 whether we drive to Abilene or fly.

The weather briefing says that we will have high winds east of Mineral Wells with moderate to severe turbulence until mid afternoon. Good weather west of there does us no good if we will get beat to death getting there, so we drive. There are wind driven whitecaps on Lake Worth when we cross it on I30 and we are glad we are on the ground. I am having a little trouble with the van in the crosswind. The wind is light when we get to Abilene and Lake Worth is nearly calm when we cross back over it at 5:00PM.

Getting ready for the annual.


December is annual time. We could push it into January this year as New Years Day is a Sunday. But there are 2 items on the squawk list that need taking care of sooner rather than later. Thursday Dec 2, I make arrangements with Dave. Weather permitting, Sandra and I will go out for lunch and deliver the plane to him. Otherwise, I will come out Saturday Afternoon and move the plane. Then Dave and I will start on the annual on Monday.

Saturday has high clouds and as we learn later, some visible moisture at lower levels. The outlook is not good enough for a real trip, so The Redhead and I plan for lunch at Lancaster. We get ready for takeoff about 10:30 and Sandra takes the van over to Dave's while I taxi over to pick her up. We launch and soon are level at 2500' heading down the east side of Dallas (Outside of LBJ Freeway). The visibility is more than good enough for a short flight over ground that we know well. The visible moisture is forming layers wrapping the towers of downtown, but not visible along our route. We easily enter the pattern at Lancaster, land and taxi in to park.

While we are eating, 2 couples finish and leave. Sandra is sitting where she can see the ramp, and says that I won't need to do any preflight before leaving, there are some people out there doing it for me. The 4 of them are closely inspecting our bird, looking in the windows and under the wing, pointing at this and that.

We finish up and leave. The sun is mostly out now, but the air is very still and smooth. We decide that we don't want to go straight back and head out over Terrell before turning north. Up over Caddo Mills to 380 before turning west. Back across the McKinney airspace to a good landing at home. Taxi over to Dave's and park on the grass. Dave and John are leaning on the wing of the 310, and claim to be deciding how to move it and the Cherokee so we can put the Mouse in the hangar. Just then, Travis drives up, so now we have 5 bodies to push and pull planes as needed. Soon, our bird is inside and we head for the house.

Monday morning, I get to the hangar about 10:30, after running by the "Mouse house" to pick up my tools and stuff. I get the disassembly done before Dave comes in from his PT. We grab a bite at McDonalds and begin on the engine. About 3, we knock off for the day and I leave with a list of items we will need from Tex-Air.

Tuesday, I do the interior cleaning and we get the rest of the under the cowl work done. No new items to add to the list, so I will go to Tex-Air in the morning. By Wednesday afternoon, it is all done except for repacking the wheel bearings and bath. Dave and I agree that we will use lunch at Lancaster as a test flight and I go home.

Thursday morning. I finish buttoning her up and we push her out on the ramp in the sun so I can wash her. Bill shows up ready to go to lunch and before I finish, Travis comes in also. After some discussion, It is decided that Dave, Bill and I will leave while Travis goes and gets his Swift. We circle the pattern once and can see Travis closing the canopy as we go by headed south. Today is clear and sunny, but a little bumpy. Bill in the back seat is impressed with the roominess of the plane. I have to fight it all the way down final in the gusty crosswind, but make a reasonable landing.

We eat a good lunch and I order some gas for our trip Saturday. Then we start arranging ourselves for the trip home. I was sorely tempted to let Dave fly Bill home in the Mouse while I rode with Travis. His Swift is a masterpiece, and I have coveted a ride in it for years. But, Bill gets the ride and Dave and I head for home. I go out over Ray Hubbard, hoping for smoother air, but it is bumpy there too. Another landing that I have to fight every inch of final for, but Dave says, "Good job!" after we touch down.

To Burnet.


We had seen a blurb in the travel section about Christmas activities around the town of Burnet, 170 miles SW of here. That was our next day trip target. The idea was to get there at lunch time and return to Dallas after dark, getting in our Christmas Lights Flight at the same time.

It had rained all day Monday while I was disassembling the Mouse, but cleared nicely on Tuesday. The forecast was for the nice weather to hold into next week, so there was some incentive to get the annual done before the weekend.

Saturday was cold when I went out to get the paper, but not a cloud to be seen. We are on the way to the airport before 9:30. The weather briefing said winds 340@30 at 3 and 6000', so we should have a tailwind for the 170nm flight. But the winds should be shifting to the south all day and the flight home should also be with a tailwind.

We taxied out about 10:15, but had to wait for 3 landing aircraft and a departing Citabria before entering 35. My normal pattern is Com1 to CTAF and Com2 to the McKinney ASOS with the listen button in on the audio panel. The ASOS comes in as soon as we clear the trees and I can then set the altimeter to the real number rather than to field elevation. As soon as that is done, I switch Com2 to 124.3 for Dallas Approach.

Passing the approach end of 35 on the downwind at 2000', I switch to Com2 and try Dallas Approach. No answer.... I try again. They are busy, but others are coming and going. I switch Com1 to Approach and just as I am about to switch the audio panel, they come in.

"November Five Niner Four Lima Bravo, Squawk XXXX. Remain clear of Bravo until I get you located."
"Four Lima Bravo."
By now, I am almost over the turnpike which marks the beginning of the Bravo, so I start a left 360. We have completed about 270 of that when we are located and cleared to 3500 on a 170 heading. Oh goody. The north wind means that we will go around the east side rather than across town. We are just inside of LBJ over Central when they shift us to 125.2. The Controller asks,
"Say designator for destination and desired cruising altitude."
"Four Lima Bravo for Bravo Mike Quebec, Burnet Texas, would like 4500."
"Four Lima Bravo, where is Burnet?"
"About 50 miles Northwest of Austin."
"Four Lima Bravo maintain VFR at 3500, come right to 190."
"Four Lima Bravo, 190 at 3500."

Apparently the first controller wasn't sure where Burnet was. Anyway, now we pass just south of the runways at Love with the downtown skyscrapers reaching up under the left wing. We pass just west of Dallas Executive and as we are passing east of the antenna farm at Cedar hill, we are cleared on course to 4500. We swing over to 220 and climb to 4500'. Leveled out, it is clear, clear, clear and smooth.

By the time we near Lake Whitney, we are picking up the Lampasas VOR, and I am beginning to think the forecast tailwind isn't there. I ask Waco for a groundspeed readout and get back "100 knots". Whatever wind there is up here is not helping our ground speed at all. We continue on, passing just north of the Clifton airport. We can see Hamilton, some 25 miles to the west.

Just past Hamilton, Gray tells us that the Operations there are done for the morning and we can proceed direct to Burnet If we wish. They give us a vector and tell us to report Burnet in sight. We paddle on and pass just east of the town on Lampasas. We can now see Lake Buchanan and what should be the town of Burnet straight ahead. When We can definitely identify the airport, we close Flight Following and begin a descent. It is left traffic to 19, so I head for some low hills about 2 miles east of the runway, taking us just east of downtown. Sandra easily finds the Whataburger on the main east-west highway.

A one thirty five puts us on the proper 45 to the downwind and the landing is uneventful. Sandra calls for the rental car while I am in the bathroom and then I go back out to clean up the cockpit, make the picture and check the tanks.

The guy from Thrifty arrives while I am putting in the fuel order. He takes us to the Wal-Mart in Marble Falls to sign out the car. (we want a car for 4 hours and the courtesy car is only available for short term use.) By the time we get this done, It is nearing 1:00 and we are hungry. We cruise Marble Falls and find a good Cafe for lunch.

Back to Burnet where we learn that there is not much to do. They have an attraction called "Main Street Bethlehem" that is reported to be a re-enacted Roman era village, but it is only open 6-9PM. Having seen all else there is in Burnet, including some of the normal shopping traps, we drive out to Buchanan Dam and back. We arrive back at the airport around 4:00. The CAF group has already put all their planes away and are closing the hangar. I do the preflight and we sit in the FBO, to eat our to-go coconut pie from the cafe in Marble Falls. Shortly after 4:30, we go potty and head for the airplane.

An extraordinarily beautiful flight.


Sunset is 5:20 and we planned to get back to Dallas after dark to do our annual Christmas lights tour. As clear as it is today, this should be a nice flight. Engine Start is 4:40, and we are soon airborne. The sun is already low enough to place shadows on any contour. Climbing out on the downwind, we pick up Flight Following from Gray Center and climb to 5500'.

Passing between Lampasas and Copperas Cove, we can see Belton Lake, 30 miles to the east. Over a river valley, the shadows of the tree lines extend halfway across some green pastures. A low east west ridgeline has "fingers" extending north. These are very visible with the low sun angle. We drone on and I am soon aware that we have a tailwind component. I begin to wonder if maybe we took off too soon.

As we pass west of Clifton, the sun is touching the horizon from our perspective, but much of the ground still has sun on it. The low rolling country to the northwest is now dark dappled shadows with some light on the ground. To our right, we see a quarry with only the east face still in bright sunlight.

The shadows cover more and more of the ground and near Lake Whitney, we see a farm house and barn still sunlit while all of the fields are in shadow. North of the lake, we are now seeing lights beginning to come on on the ground, even though we can still see Navarro Mills Reservoir 30 miles to the east.

Passing just west of Grandview, ATC drops us to 3500 and clears us direct Love, direct Aero Country. We go between the east shore of Joe Pool and the antenna farm on Cedar Hill and it is almost suddenly full dark. All of Dallas lies before us, in air so clear that we can see individual lights many miles away. From our perspective, the traffic on I20 is a string of red jewels moving one way and a string of white jewels moving the other.

We pass over Love, watching a SWA 737 take off under us and then over Addison. Having told ATC that we wished to go to 2000' north of Addison to look at the Christmas lights, Regional turned us over to Addison Tower. They cleared us to turn north and descend. We crossed George Bush at 2200 and directly over the Frisco Mall. Then out to the northwest over some areas that were well lit last year. This year was just as good.

We continued east over Celina and North of Aero Country. I tested the lights as we passed the centerline, then called McKinney Tower for permission to go south over Stonebriar. We went south almost back to Plano, then west. After circling over a couple of areas that were well lit up, we pass over Frisco Mall again and turn inbound for Aero Country.

As I enter the downwind, I notice that my Port Nav light is not on. It had been on, but no longer. We land and taxi in. I stop just short of the hangar and Sandra gets out to move Earl's pickup. Swing around and shut down. The end of another nearly perfect trip.