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The first thing the weather briefers said this morning was "AIRMET for mountain obscuration: VFR flight not recommended along your route of flight." Attached picture is what that looks like. To fly, we need to get over the mountains. To get over the mountains, we need to SEE the mountains. And right now we can't see the mountains.
The weather overhead is exasperatingly lovely.
The other issue, after discussion with the pilot who has the most experience by a factor of at least six, remains icing. If the air is saturated, or close to it, then ice can form very easily and fast even when we are not in clouds. The temperature and dew point are only two degrees apart -- 9 and 7, respectively -- at our purported destination, Missoula, right now, and rainshowers were already moving into there at 9 am when we called the briefer.
Weather reports this morning might have let us get a ways east, but the system that is hanging out over the Midwest and generating tornadoes in Kansas would have stopped us for another few days in Missoula even if we got there. Weather is not great for a couple more
days at least.
Having decided we are staying put for one more day, we arrange some chiropractic services for the pilot that needs them and then embark with gusto on a Three Stooges exercise in accommodation. After checking out of the Comfort Inn, which said they had no rooms for us on Saturday, the staff shuttled us over to the Super 8, where they'd said they'd reserved rooms for us. When we arrived, THOSE reservations had evaporated because they were done incorrectly. The Super 8 is next to the railroad tracks, has a pool, and is walking distance from the grocery store. A lot of comely women in leather are walking through the lobby: a Harley riding club is checked in here. Our attention is fast slinking down Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At one point, three levels of management of the very apologetic Super 8 people, and Ruth, and Judy Strock by phone and internet with Dick, were all hunting for alternate rooms. If the new motel has room for us, at least it has a pool.
Finally things begin to look up: chiropractor did good work, and Bob called to say he's feeling MUCH better --
Packing Out Of Comfort Inn...
...only to return two hours later. Thanks, Michelle! "snap, crackle, pop did the trick!" he exclaimed .
"So, do y'all travel a lot together?" asked the woman who was driving us from the super 8, where we thought we were going to have to stay, back to the Comfort Inn, which had no rooms for us three hours ago and just came up with two after all.
"Not anymore," came a unanimous chorus.
At this point, beyond predictable laughter, the strain of the last few days finally broke as Dick Strock totally lost it, and we watched him dissolve into a helpless puddle of hysterical tears.
The afternoon settled down as people got some time away from each other.
Sensible people in Walla Walla are celebrating what's turned into a quite lovely memorial day weekend Saturday here, better than forecast on the ground. There is a high school baseball tournament in town, family reunions are everywhere, and middle America is having a life. For today, itinerant and slightly-less-tightly-wound-than-usual pilots are doing a bit of the same.
Bill and Dick went out to Martin Airport, where our planes waited more patiently than sometimes we do, to store stuff and get charts. In its
Mountain Obscuration
Can you see much room between cloud bottoms and mountain tops? We didn't...though much of the sky all around us that day was beautiful and dramatic. heyday, Martin Airport trained about 2500 pilots for the US Navy's needs during WWII. Good times are back, under the loving care of the current airport owners David and Wilma Cheney. The airport (S95 for those looking for it on a chart) is now home to Experimental Aircraft Association 604 as well as a flight school that focuses on providing light sport aircraft for sport pilot certification. Today, EAA Chapter 604 had organized a full contingent of volunteers giving plane rides to kids from 8-17 years of age. Young pilots took part in a short ground school and got some simulator time prior to their flights. The well-organized operation had already flown over 110 rides by early afternoon, and no sooner had the last aircraft of one batch left than the first one landed to start all over again. After that, Bill and Dick hit the McDonald's and went for a swim. T
Bob took the advice he got from the chiropractor and RESTED. Ruth headed out to party hearty with Aunt Marty -- it's her 90th birthday and Ruth didn't expect that she'd actually BE here for the occasion, so the weather delay is a great blessing for her and her family. Janice and Judy walked into town for lunch at the Destination Grill and then to see the Indiana Jones movie before heading back to our home-away-from-home to start a swim just as the boys finished theirs. The boys dined in the bar; Judy and Janice sashayed on over to the ever-so-stylish Elmer's where we've got the menu memorized, but at least it's close by.
It's about time. Eventually, the weather will move on. Eventually we will fly. Eventually we will get home.
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Joe Stubblefield
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Another pool done
Congratulations to Danny Hayes, he won the pool on who would require medical attention first. We all wanted to pick Bob. Also, seems it is too late to put a pool together on who would require psycological help the first. Here's hoping for good or at least adequate weather before you all start looking like biker chicks.