14 Aug., 2009 -- Walnut Ridge, AR for lunch in the 737

Last photo at Memphis, then head home after three days of pictures. Finally found something that didn't look like corn fields!
A company on the Walnut Ridge, AR airport salvages out these monsters.
767... it's huge!

The Parachute Cafe, on the Walnut Ridge airport, has attached
this special dining hall to the cafe. It's a great fly-in or drive-in destination!

Kids can sit up in the cockpit and run all the controls.

13 Aug., 2009 -- At least it's not Friday, the 13th

Grounded by mid-day clouds, I'm in Olney, IL. Got the Indiana part done, now heading back west, about 200 miles from Cairo and the bootheel.

This Taylorcraft is undergoing an annual by the local mechanic, assisted by its owner, a former Air Force lady from somewhere near here in IL. She spends the WINTER in Anchorage, summer here. She was a navigator on C130s.
Ever done any geocaching???? Oooooh, yeaaah. So we researched a few, and this was the first one we found.

We went geocaching! This was a Halloween themed
hidey hole across the street from the local funeral
home in Olney. We found one more, then it got dark.

Hey, SammieJ... I found a street in Olney, Illinois named Sam Street. Do you live here???

12 Aug., 2009 -- On the road, in Illinois

Yeah, I know,... where's that???

Jacksonville, Illinois, end of a long day. But it was a milestone for this guy who built a Pober Pixie. This was his maiden flight! And he made a beautiful landing, and his wife was waving him on. He got his tailwheel endorsement in a nice Luscombe. This one was easy!
Tomorrow, I'm on across Illinois to Indiana, then the bootheel, then down to Memphis, then maybe home. Maybe not. Add to the 600 or so photos of the ground that I shot today. All the corn I've seen so far is looking good.
I fueled up in Marshall, saw to it that Lloyd was still working. Some. They are caught up again with the spraying, for today anyway.

11 Aug., 2009 -- Simple, just air up the tires

Airing up the 180 mains, yes those are my hands! Had to loosen up the wheel pants to get to the valve.


Larry toted the air, rolled the airplane, Ben shot pictures and made sure everybody knows that I neglected to remove the cap from the valve before trying to air the tires up. Duh

Then Ben did portraits of Smudge, while I raised the new Alaska wind indicator that Juanita brought back from vacation in July.


Got stung twice by hornets coming out of the ground right next to the flagpole! Ben got me doing the extermination. Larry and Ben thought my dance was funny. I showed them my stung finger. Even.

10 Aug., 2009 -- Afternoon thunderstorm

Eatin' grapes... a yummy gift from a friend.

Bet you haven't seen the airport from this vantage point.

I didn't think the sunset would break through after the rain, but it did.

9 Aug., 2009 -- Sunday flyers

Snazzy gyrocopter crossed the state twice today!


He beat the thunderstorm that was approaching from the west.
Douglas County got the lightning, we got a sprinkle.

Didn't rain enough to wash away this hustler... she showed up
for her cat food snack, then lumbered off into the grass to hide.

I checked the four blue eggs in the bluebird box, and found two robin babies.