We ALMOST went flying today. The ceiling was at least 10,000 feet in the morning, but it was raining lightly, and I was eager to get in the sky, even if it was raining. The winds were calm, the temperature was about 70. Everything was excellent, except for the light rain, but that was not a show stopper. When you are flying, the rain never touches you, it just blows past the open cockpit.
We checked out of the hotel, picked up the laundry, and headed for the airport with full intentions to fly out of Lansing and go.... anywhere! Art drove the car, and I called Flight Service on the cellular phone to get a weather briefing for various potential destinations. North to Mackinac Island was totally socked in, with a ceiling of 100 feet. South was heavy rain and thunderstorms. West is stupid, because it's Lake Michigan. East was only good for about 50 miles, not far enough to fire up the engines, and besides there was nothing of interest there.
One of the small cosmetic jobs I had done on my plane was to paint the propeller tips to match the trim on my wings (burgundy). The standard color for the prop tips is a really yucky green, all Wacos are the same. Ever since I picked up my first Waco 3 years ago, I felt that the prop tips were an eyesore and should be changed, but the prop manufacturer wouldn't make any changes, and the idea was dismissed by the Waco factory. Yesterday I brought the subject up again, and they went for it. They did the job last night. This morning when we got to the airport, the difference in the appearance of the plane was amazing.
As soon as he saw how great my plane looked, Art just had to have the same thing done to his.
We are running out of things to buy from the Waco factory. I checked with the management and the mechanics, and nobody else has any ideas for stuff we can do to make the planes better, safer, prettier, cleaner, etc. We now have the best Wacos in the world, and it is senseless for us to stay here any longer. Tomorrow we will leave, even if it is only twenty miles down the road. Lansing and the weather has kept us here for 8 days, and we used the time the best way possible, but we have completely used up everything Lansing has to offer.
With clean laundry, full fuel tanks, and the world's best Wacos, we will, we MUST fly out of here tomorrow. I hope Mother Nature smiles on our plans.