With the Easter weekend coming up we decided to pack up the RV and head North 625 miles to visit the Easter Bunny of my childhood AKA Mom.

A nasty rain and windstorm blew through on Wednesday night but Thursday, our departure date, promised to be clear with light winds.

5:30 AM Thursday morning Torque the Wonder Dog woke me with his whimpering, which means he has to "go out" now.  Once in the hallway I realized Nora was up and surfing the web.  As it turns out, the windstorm woke her a half hour earlier and she couldn't get back to sleep.

Oh well I was up, might as well check the weather. Sure enough, the cold front had passed and it was clear all the way from Charlotte to Mid-Michigan.  Only one small problem, the winds were blowing like CRAZY.  OK, we can deal with that.  We still have to shower, eat, and drop Torque off at the kennel.  This left plenty of time for the winds to calm down before we departed.

The drive to the airport was uneventful.  I was watching the trees, flags, and anything else that might tell me how bad the winds really were. The trees  hardly moved and the flags were limp, as were both the airport's windsocks when we pulled in.

We leisurely preflighted and loaded up.  While warming the engine, I kept my eye on the windsocks but they were still limp.  It is not often NOAA gets the weather that wrong, so I didn't exactly trust what the windsocks were telling me.  After all, there are trees lining the runnway.

With oil temps at 93 degrees, I did the run-up, and completed the last of the preflight tasks.  We soon found our selves rolling down the runway and heading North.  Nora's notes indicate we lifted off at 10:30 AM and climbed to 4,500 feet then up to 6,500 feet as we cleared Charlotte's airspace.  The OAT was 33 degrees F and the winds were out of the North at 62 MPH.

With Charlotte's class Bravo airspace behind us, I contacted Charlotte departure and asked for Flight Following to University Of Ohio (KUNI) 301 miles distant.  Level at 8,500' we were above the clouds and high enough to make sure none of those clouds contained granite or in the case of West Virginia, coal.  Nora noted the OAT's at this altitude were a balmy 26 degrees.  She brought a wool blanket to wrap around her legs and promptly fell asleep.

The CLT controller asked us to verify our destination. Right after doing so I realized the winds aloft forecast for cold windy weather was accurate.   Following our confirmation the controller asked for a PIREP.  Upon mentioning the winds aloft an airline pilot keyed his mic and suggested we turn around and head to the beach, which raised a LOT comments from the other pilots AND the controller on the frequency.

Those winds, oh, let's not forget those winds!  At 8,500 feet the winds were right on the nose at over 62 MPH!  Lucky for us, at that altitude it was smooth as smooth could be.  The clouds were broken and topped out at 7,000 feet and never once were we in danger of getting trapped on top, or so I thought.

About 80 miles from our fuel stop the clouds looked like the clouds were closing up and the terrain below was dropping.  So down we went through a long hole that lined up with our route of flight.  Below the clouds at 3500 feet with the winds down to 40 MPH our ground speed actually picked up to a whopping 108 MPH!

Down low we flew over a couple of strip mines while bouncing along which didn't bother me but just trying doing that for over an hour with a pregnant wife who is struggling with nausea.  Not a real good combination!  Nora was a real trooper and never had to use the barf bag, even though she was close.  As it turns out, we could have stayed at 8,500 because the clouds were actually breaking up.  So much for my ability to read the weather.

Eventually we crossed the Ohio River and were lined up for final on runway 25 at KUNI AKI Ohio University in Athens, OH.  Notice how scattered the clouds are.

The winds were strong but mostly down the runway with maybe an 8 MPH X-wind component, the landing was a nonevent.

What should have taken an hour and fifty minutes actually took close to three hours.  (Upon realizing we had significant headwinds and the flight would take longer than expected, I throttled back and enjoyed the ride.)

After landing we taxied in and secured the plane so it wouldn't get blown away for fueling.  Fuel prices weren't all that bad at $4.45/gallon.  A quick trip to Dairy Queen (the only place within 10 miles) for lunch in the courtesy car had us lifting off for Midland at 1 PM.  The clouds were disappearing so we climbed straight to 8,500 feet and set course of 333 degrees.  Picking up Flight following again we continued to buck strong headwinds for the 2nd leg of our trip.

With 330 miles left to go Nora settled right in.  Her nausea was gone and she was smiling once again.  In other words, she was asleep before we leveled off.  As we droned North we could see Lake Erie off to our right. The water was frozen close to shore so I knew we were "up North".

Toledo handed us off to Detroit approach, which promptly told us to remain clear of Class Bravo.  That wouldn't be a problem since we were 500 feet above their ceiling.  Oh, how I like the RV's ability to climb!  As it turned out, DET was busy and I was very happy to go over the top.  They did caution a few times to remain clear of their airspace.  On the third call I told them we will remain at 8,500.  After that, they actually called out some traffic to us.

Flying over Ann Arbor we looked down at Michigan's stadium. As we cleared the Detroit airspace we started watching the ground speed fluctuate between 96 and 118 MPH.  OK the winds were getting just a LITTLE annoying.

Around Flint we could see the ice covering the Saginaw bay. I'm back in my old stomping grounds now and we will soon start letting down to land. Canceling flight following it was time contact 3BS for an airport advisory.  The advisory was a bit interesting because they said the winds were out of the North at 10.  Let's see, 60 MPH at altitude and 10 on the ground.  Hummmm, I guess that is possible, not likely but possible.  If the winds are that light, then taking the longer, wider runway 24 would be good.  On final I realized there just wasn't enough control authority to land with what must have been a 40 MPH crosswind.  Around we went for a landing on 36, which had its own challenges.

 With the airspeed fluctuating between 65 and 120 MPH on final I was wondering how much the flaps could take before ripping off.  The plane was bucking all the way to the ground but once close to the ground everything smoothed out and the actual landing was uneventful.

The lady working at the "terminal" was VERY helpful.  With temps around 25 degrees and the strong winds, she came out to help me fuel the plane, unload it, and she even helped me push it into a hangar for the weekend.  While all this was going on, Nora was inside keeping her thin Texas blood warm.

Nora's only comment had to do with the five-foot tall snow blower mounted on the front of a truck next to the hangar.  Something about wondering why anyone would live in a place that requires snow removal equipment of that size.

While there I stopped in to meet the local EAA members.  As expected, they were very helpful and as crazy about airplanes as any other chapter.

We had a good visit with my Mother, two sisters, one brother, one sister-in-law, two nieces, and one nephew.  All the kids, one sister, and one brother all went for a ride.  We flew to the edge of Saginaw Bay, which was frozen, and then did some other sight seeing.  Each flight lasted about 15 minutes, which was enough for a first flight.

There a lot of talk about the need for big engines in the RV-9.  This picture was taken right after lift off and before we slowed it to Vx (Velocity of best climb angle).  The airport elevation is 635 feet MSL, the flaps were set to 10 degrees, full fuel, and around 350 lbs of people (about 200 lbs below gross) on a 25 degree day.  We accelerated to 65 MPH and then rotated.  I estimate the ground roll was around 300 feet and the winds were calm.  This thing can just climb and that is with only 135 HP and a fixed pitch prop!  (Picture taken by Sue Repucci)

Left to right, Kristin, Erin, and the proud Pop, Richard.  (Poor guy, two beautiful, smart, and talented daughters and he has managed to keep his sanity.)  Notice the RV Grin apparent on all of their faces.  (Pictures taken by Sue Repucci)

The Monday morning of our departure was a beautiful clear winter day.  The only problem was the OTA was right at 15 degrees.  Kind of made me wonder what the temps would be at altitude.

Of course, at those temps the little Odyssey battery couldn't start the plane so I had to borrow a charger.  20 minutes later the engine was running and warming up.  One other minor item we discovered regarding operating at these temps, Plexus doesn't work so good.  It tends to freeze on the canopy.  (Plexus is kind of like Scrubbing Bubbles for cleaning Plexiglas canopies and windshields.)

Preflight complete, we quickly climbed to 9,500 feet and started heading South.  It had snowed the night before and everything looked, well, it looked like winter.  After liftoff and clearing the Barstow airport I contacted Saginaw ATC for Flight Following.  From there I was handed off to Flint and then Detroit.  This time the winds were in our favor by giving us a 5 MPH push and we quickly settled into a 170 MPH groundspeed.  Much better than the trip up.  Immediately upon contacting Detroit the controller asked what type of experimental we were flying.  It turns out he is building a Cozy IV and the guy next to him is building a LongEazy.  We had a lengthily discussion, for a controller, regarding engine choices and he was surprised to hear we only had a 135 HP engine in the RV.

South of Detroit we found we needed to go higher to get over the snow clouds.  So up to 11,500 we went were the OAT was down to 5.  Not having oxygen on board, we dodged a bunch of clouds, dropped down to go under some, and back up again to go over others.  Below the clouds we ran into to snow showers.  Some very dense and other just flurries.  Those we could see through, we flew through.  Those we couldn't see through, we flew around.  It was cold enough that I wasn't worried about ice accumulation.  It was an interesting trip as it had been 20 years since I had flown through snow.  (Although those pictures look bad, never once did we bust any VFR minimums or cloud separation limits.  We never flew through any snow showers we couldn't see through and never flew lower than 1,500 feet AGL.  Prior to entering the snow showers I applied carb heat as a precaution against ice accumulation.  To stay legal it required a good bit of maneuvering which added time and distance to our trip but kept us safe.)

Back to The University of Ohio for fuel and then another 300 miles to get home.  The flight over WV and VA was intriguing in that we flew over some coal mines and lots of forest land.

Down below the clouds in the Piedmont we ran into snow once again around Salisbury, NC.  The snow wasn't reaching the ground and I'm certain the locals had no idea it was snowing over their heads.