Monday, October 08, 2007

Blue Skies

Looking out the window today reminds me of the sky when Ferris Bueller looks out and says "How could you possibly go to school on a day like today." Today's sky doesn't even have that one cloud yet.


It is much better than Friday when I went to the Sonex Fly-In in Crossville, TN. I had a blast. Although my Sonex isn't ready to fly yet (still a long way off), I flew in the Cessna 152 Texas Taildragger. The sky looked ominous although Crossville was clear and about 15 miles west of me was reporting better ceilings. I took off and found a hole in the clouds to go through. There were a total of 5 different layers of clouds. It was pretty amazing, well amazing after the scary moments. I was going to fly direct, but there were build ups of clouds that went through the layers. I was at 4500 feet and had to go around a few of them. One, near Asheville, was particularly large and I ended up in a white out situation. Thinking I'll break through in a second, ok maybe any time now, OK maybe now, Ummm maybe I should turn around, one more second...Ok turning around. I came out where I went in and headed around the other way, and they were everywhere.....so I headed Southwest towards Georgia. It would add a little time, but the mountains I'll have to fly over are lower and they are reporting better weather there too. I found another hole in the coulds and went up to 6500 feet and when it got bad, I went up through another layer to 8500 feet. It was not really bumpy at all, and the little rain I hit washed the bugs off the windshield.


The lower layers stopped at the mountains and I could finally see the ground sometimes. It was a little more relaxing so I could get a picture or two. Coming out of all the weather, I wasn't far from my destination. It was a fun and exciting 2 hours.




I had a blast, and one of my friends had painted part of his plane with Kandy Tangerine. I have a new favorite color now. I think painting the whole plane this color would be too heavy, but it sure looks nice.








It was nice renewing old friendships, having cocktails at the motel with my buddies, and I was a camera plane for the Saturday morning Dawn Patrol. I hope all the pictures of the other planes flying by turned out.




Now back to work on my plane full speed ahead. I'll have to fly less so I can buy some more of the things I need to finish my plane. Might even have to save up for a Kandy Tangerine paint job.



9 comments:

Mayden' s Voyage said...

"How could you possibly go to school on a day like today." Today's sky doesn't even have that one cloud yet."

I hate to tell you how much trouble that sentiment got me into in high shcool ;)
And now- decades later...I still get that feeling- so I go for a walk, or down to the Eno River...but I leave the beer and high school boys alone :) lol-

I love reading the passion you have for flight- makes me feel like I'm along for the ride~ it's wonderful Bob! :D

Bad Bob said...

Hi Mayden,
It's too cool to explain. I was 13 when I got my dad interested in it, and I mowed lawns, washed and waxed cars, washed windows so I could get a flying lesson a month. The youngest legal age to fly by yourself is 16, so I soloed on my 16th birthday. You have to be 17 for a private pilot's license so I got that when I was 17, and my commercial license at 18.
There have been times in my life when I didn't fly for years because I couldn't afford it, and then fly and then not fly again.
Now I'm flying as much as I want to, and maybe it isn't so wise to spend all that much doing it, but I'm happier now than I have been in many many years.

Aunty Belle said...

OOOH, I got so much ter share wif' ya!

Yesp, once my 14 year old came down ter breakfast and said "I ain't goin ter school today an' ya' cain't make me--I'm bigger than you now."

I cracked another egg into the pan an looked sideways to him--he was a pretty dern good kid, so I knowed this was one of THOSE moments.

"S'okay," I said " I ain't gonna be a mama today and ya cain't make me..in fact I'se gonna run away."

When his face let go of the shock, he asked "Whar' you goin'? '

We had such a fine day a Epcot.

Well, I followed ya' here from Mayden's, cause ya sounded reasonable. Then I see I really wanted to come ovver here casue at 251, youse mayhap the only-est one on the blogosphere older'n me!

Loved t he airplane pics.

Bad Bob said...

Hey Auntie,
Thanks for stopping by. I don't know why my age is listed as 251, I didn't put anything in there. I'm less than 1/5th that tho, but not much.

I'll check out your blog. It's good to play hooky sometimes. In fact I'm planning another one next week!

? said...

Forget Kandy Tangerine. Go for Screaming Gay Flourescent Pink instead. That's always been my favorite color.

;-)

Bad Bob said...

The Fiance has spoken. Hot pink it is...
http://www.tiny.cc/iWJus

FrostilicusFrost said...

Hmmm.. highly doubt that we are related, my family is French/Romanian. :) Have a nice day.

? said...

YAY!!! I think I'm gonna like this engagement thing.

Anonymous said...

top [url=http://www.001casino.com/]free casino bonus[/url] brake the latest [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com/]casino online[/url] unshackled no consign perk at the foremost [url=http://www.baywatchcasino.com/]www.baywatchcasino.com
[/url].