Yesterday I cranked up the Q and headed east out of the mountains of NC to the coast of VA. Made two previous attempts but morning fog postponed them. Yesterday the fog burned off at 10:00 so I headed to Newport News to have lunch with an old Air Force pilot training classmate. It was worth the wait. The wx was spectacular. Not a bump one in the air, no clouds in the sky and visibility was 30 miles (really something for around here). I climbed to 7500' where the wind was light and variable. Had a 2-4 mph tailwind component all the way. (oddly enough had the same component coming back at 8500'.

I set the A/P, stretched out and watched the world fly by. According to Dr. Dynon, I was truing 170mph. That must be pretty close because I traveled the 356 miles in 2 hrs 6 minutes. I didn't think that was too bad for an obese tri-gear weighted down with baggage and tools (I always bring tools because I usually have a need for them along the way (no comments Terry) - not this time!!!!!). Had a wonderful lunch, and swapped war stories for 4 hrs and came back home in the same smooth air. A widely scattered layer developed at 5,000' just to give me something beautiful to look at on the way home.

Its times like these that make the 14-year building process and all of the following "tweeks" REALLY worth it. As all the others say, "Keep building. You will be glad you did."

Jerry Marstall
608 hrs