I did better than I thought I would on the first day. I made it all the way back to Texas, not to Coulter Field, but to Denton.

I was up early as you can gather from the previous post. I had a lot to do, tearing down the campsite, packing it all up, checking the weather and making sure Niner-Zero was ready for the return trip. As I was standing beside the airplane taking one last look around a volunteer in a golf cart noticed me and waved, I waved back got in my seat and strapped myself in. He gave me the signal to start my engine and then I followed him to the taxiway. I was soon in line behind several other airplanes taxiing for departure. I had my radio tuned to the control tower frequency and they were BUSY. I followed the flagmen until I was next in line at runway 18R for departure. The controllers standing on the platform right next to the runway wearing pink shirts (it’s an Oshkosh thing) instructed the white and red Kitfox to taxi into position and hold on the left side of the runway. The aircraft behind me was told to taxi into position and hold on the right side of the runway. I was then cleared for takeoff about 1/2 mile behind the last aircraft that took off and in a few seconds we were airborne!

The weather for the first part of the trip was of little concern. As we climbed away from Oshkosh there were a few low clouds which soon gave way to a cloudless blue sky. The temperatures were in the upper 50’s and the air was smooth. A few faster airplanes passed me shortly after takeoff but after a few miles I did not see another aircraft for a couple of hours. We were all spreading out and heading to different locations. Unlike a week ago when everyone was inbound to the same location.

It took me a little over three hours to make it to the Mississippi river and land in Hannibal Missouri just a few miles west of the river and just beyond the green fields seen here on the right side of the photo. I knew the weather was not going to be as good for the next leg so after I landed I fueled up and borrowed the airport courtesy car. I made it to the nearby Subway and back in about 10 minutes.

I sat down in front of the computer at the airport with my lunch and planned my next leg.  There was a large area of thunderstorms  covering central Missouri. My check of the weather before leaving Oshkosh indicated that this was probably going to occur. They were already approaching my planned route and were going to shortly move east directly across my route. I used the Skyvector web site and picked an airport, Poplar Bluff, that seemed to be well ahead of the storms and plotted a new route of flight. You can see that route here as a magenta line. My planned route would have put me in the storms and I was hoping that this new path would keep me just east of them as they moved east. I also knew that if the weather deteriorated I could just fly east into clear weather, land and call it a day.

As I approached Poplar Bluff I was able to turn south and cut the corner a bit. In doing so, the storms were about five miles to the west and here you can see the leading edge of the rain. I continued on and landed in Batesville Missouri. This leg was also a little over three hours. Although I was ahead of the storms they were still a threat and heading my way. I was contemplating just staying in Batesville for the night but on checking the weather I saw that they had a 80 percent chance of storms for the next couple of days. I decided to get out while I could. The weather looked pretty good if I could stay ahead of the main mass of storms. There were some others forming well to the south but it looked like the next 100 miles should be no problem. I left Hannibal in such a hurry that I had only eaten half of my lunch. So I quickly ate the other half, fueled up and took off.

I was listening to Little Rock approach on the radio and it was obvious that there was a lot of weather to the east of the airport. There was none along my route of flight as I passed west of Little Rock. But, a little further south I could see that there was a line of showers forming across my route of flight. I landed at a small airport to access the situation. There was no office or computer and the place seemed to be abandoned. I called flight service on my cell phone and told the briefer where I was and what I was seeing to the south. There was a line of showers a few miles to the south but there was a bright spot that looked promising. My concern was what might lie further to the south. She confirmed that on radar there was a long but narrow line of moderate rain showers with several openings to my south. She said that there was nothing south of that line all the way to Texas! I thanked her, climbed in and took off.

As soon as I broke ground I turned towards that opening in the rain. This is what it looked like as I approached. A bright opening in an otherwise continuous line of rain showers. The ceiling was about 2000 ft and the air was smooth until I passed between the showers. There were a few bumps and some light rain but about 10 minutes after departing the rain was behind me.

This is what it looked like on the other side. A few high clouds but mostly blue sky. Due to the delays I realized that I would not make it to Coulter Field before dark and would have to stop for fuel anyway so I diverted to Denton Texas. My younger daughter lives there and I thought I would surprise her and spend the night at her house. I was able to fly at about 5000 feet with a little bit of a tailwind and although it was getting warmer as I flew south  away from the storms it was still fairly comfortable. That was not to last. As I descended into Denton just after sunset it just kept getting hotter and hotter. I though maybe I was descending into Hell. But, finally the runway lights came into sight and I realized it must be Denton as I’ve heard there are no landing lights in Hell.  The final two legs took about 4 1/2 hours and I was back in Texas. My daughter was indeed surprised and picked me up and took me home. I was exhausted.

The next morning she dropped me off at the airport. As I was preparing Niner-Zero for the final leg an air traffic controller appeared on the balcony of the tower and asked me some questions about my airplane. She wanted to know if the airplane was metal of fabric. It’s fabric. I fueled up and took off for Coulter Field.

It was already hot so I climbed up to 5500 feet for the final leg. Much cooler and smoother and there seemed to be no wind to factor in so why not? Here she is flying hands off in level flight. I have gotten pretty used to this view. By late morning, after flying two hours we were back at Coulter Field having left just over two months before. I had built my own airplane and flown it to Oshkosh and back. I plan to stay for about a week before heading to the west coast. The adventure is not over.