Annual Done

Roy finished the plane Saturday, so I headed to Cleveland on the 1:40 ExpressJet flight from MSP. After replacing the liquids the TSA confiscated from me at Minneapolis, Phil, Roy and I headed for Akron to get the plane. There were no major issues, just lots of little ones that were expertly repaired. The happiest news: While the engine's well used (I have about 1,600 hours on it), it's still healthy. The new window seals are gorgeous.

It was too late to head home that evening, so I left after breakfast. While I'd planned a nonstop flight to the Milwaukee area, the 6 cups of coffee forced a quick stop at La Porte, Indiana, a pretty airport but very quiet this particular Sunday. The only other engine turning belonged to this Comanche:


For a change of pace I went up the east side of Chicago, right past the skyline. Mayor Daley can't stand small airplanes, is infamous for closing Meigs Field illegally, and may someday make this flight impossible, but Sunday it worked. I took a bunch of pictures but only a couple were sharp enough to post; here's one of them:

Capitol Airport in Milwaukee was the fuel stop of choice - $3.18 for each gallon of 100LL was the cheapest on my route and made the rough runway worth it. So did the very nice folks running it. The young man who pumped the gas had just moved back from an instructing stint at Flying Cloud Airport and knew Anoka well. The last leg of the flight was pretty doggone uneventful, almost boring - I really need to get that music input to the intercom fixed one of these days.

Not a bad trip: 11 hours roundtrip, two new airports in the logbook (181 now), a great annual, good Mexican food and homemade ice cream in Wadsworth, and pretty Chicago views. We're now all set for our Georgia trip for fall break this week. Roy's got a list of ideas to run with at next year's annual, and I'm running out of little things to do to 55R that don't cost a fortune. Next stop: panel rework. Uh oh.