UPDATED COMPLETE ENTRY -- Out of Dodge (aka Mountain Home Arkansas) For Weatherford OK & Stafford Airport

---

---

First, the news via Anne Culver...THEN KEEP READING FOR HOW THIS DAY REALLY ENDED....

The C2C crew filed for 1 pm CT departure from Mountain Home after a fun-filled, three-day visit. Wrote Anne Culver, relayed from Bob Hawkins, "As far as I can tell, the townspeople will have a parade today, led of course by the Blues Brothers’ Chevy, but I have no information if the parade is before they leave (in celebration of their visit) or after they leave (in celebration of their departure). There must be at least one beer hall that is going through the stages of grief right now…"

Bob reported at about 1:30 EDT that he saw patches of blue sky to the west and their weather briefer said, "...t’s clearing and should be okay, but possibly windy." They might go on top of a broken/scattered layer for a while until it clears totally.

When asked about the incidence of cabin fever, Bob allowed as how they might have a little bit, but not so much that they would be tempted to rush off into the teeth of a storm. So, we can safely say that no one is suicidally bored.

Next destination is OJA - Weatherford OK, about 45 miles west of Oklahoma City off Route 40 - a three-hour flight - for a fuel stop. If it’s windy, they will stay. Dick was just making reservations in that event (dinner reservations, no doubt…). Now there are seven people - Bob, Ruth, Geoff, Dick, Bill, Donna, and Janice - in three planes. If the winds are favorable and the sky is clear, they may go on to Tucumcari, NM.

I don’t have a map for computing air miles, but I do have a road trip planning map that shows 430 miles to Stafford, OK and then another 470 to Tucumcari, NM . Of course, this is road miles, not air miles, but the roads are fairly straight once you get to Tulsa…. This once again proves the adage, “Time to spare? Go by air!” Seems to me that routes 412, I-44, and I-40- would have gotten them there, oh, two days ago? But that would not be sporting.

NEXT: The retrospective, ex post facto, from Geoff Hornseth:

We realized that the morning would provide a short window of broken clouds that would permit an escape to above the cloud deck at 5500 feet, so we checked out and scrambled for the airport after a quick call to the longsuffering Bruce, whom we had forewarned of our prospective narrow departure window, so he was there in time.

We pre-flighted and launched below what appeared to be a pretty solid cloud layer hunting for holes. After about 20 minutes, Dick radioed that he was ascending through a 1 x 5 mile hole in the deck that was centered over the Bull Shoals Lake Dam we had traversed the day before. This caused Bill Hughes in 624 with Geoff and Hawkins in the 172 with his students to turn back east from their location about 20 miles further west in hopes of finding the hole. Both planes arrived in time to escape upward through the then-closing hole with adequate margins for safety.

We found ourselves surrounded by clear blue all around for the first time in days, albeit bucking a headwind. Conditions gradually cleared below as we moved westward over the next three hours, arriving in Weatherton Oklahoma (OJA) around 5 pm.

That was enough for a day.

About the General Thomas P. Stafford Airport -- a glorious sight for sore eyes under equally glorious nearly-clear skies: In short, if you're ever in the area DO stop in!

For starters, it's a museum.

They have a replica of one of the Wright Brothers' gliders hanging in the entrance foyer, along with many other historical photos and memorabilia spanning First Flight through the Space Age. Adjacent to the lobby was the Stafford Museum, documenting the life, times and career of namesake and astronaut Thomas P. Stafford.

Very friendly, outgoing group, glad to see us, and very interested in our trip once they found out what we were about. We needed some small screws for one of the 172's fairings on the strut, and one of the nearby local mechanics kindly supplied those at no charge. He also provided the ubiquitous tour of the new renovations in his facility before sending us on our way and wishing us well.

Oh, and cheap gas: they priced gas at their cost plus profit, and that day it was a record-setting $3.82. They resisted gouging their customers, and told us we were getting it at the price they bought it for. Once THOSE 20,000 gallons were gone, the price would go up to market prices, but not til then...so we topped up while the getting was good.

The hospitality of the FBO staff was second to none. They welcomed us, come and see our museum... asked how they could help us, what information did we need, and how many of our lovingly kept Lincoln Town Cars would you like to borrow? (We needed two. No problem!) They also provided a map and many restaurant recommendations, from which we chose a BBQ Ribs joint after checking in at the Best Western and getting some flight planning started over a few beers.

Many glasses were raised in gratitude, both for getting to where we had arrived safely, as well as getting out of where we'd been. We declared the dissolution of the Arkansas Wing of the CFC (where we'd been for so long that we'd had time to establish a legal subsidiary).

---