Woke up at 8:54 A.M.  Headed over to the FBO at 9:30.

 

Van and I set up a flight to Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  We flew down there with a beautiful tailwind (winds were 330 at 16 knots or so), havin’ a 107-knot groundspeed.  Flew right over the lake I had seen last week outside of Independence, and then flew right over the rolling hills of Oklahoma into the runway nestled in between.  Landed on Runway 35.

 

Van and I took the courtesy car from the airport.  And just as soon as we left the grounds, I was quite appalled at the town.  It has been quite awhile since I have seen such run-down houses.  Every house we drove past either had a broken window or a hole in the roof or a piece of siding or wall ripped out.  And they were being lived in.  'Twas a healthy reminder that not all of the United States is as rich as we like to think.  I was in the middle of some rather podunk parts right here (completely verified by people playin’ horseshoes in their backyard!).

 

We drove about 15 miles out to a casino and spent a couple of hours there.  I don’t know how they did it, but this casino was simply plopped right down in the middle of some hills.  At one point, we thought we were goin’ to end up at a trailer with a couple of slot machines...there was just nothin’ but brown rolling hills.  And then after a long stretch of road, there she was...a gorgeous building complete with an outdoor waterfall.  Seriously, go out to your favorite pasture and picture a casino.  That’s where this was!

 

Flew back to Chanute after that, then packed up a few things real quick for the weekend!  I grabbed a quick sandwich, and then Jarryd and I were off for St. Louis...236 nautical miles away!

 

We had originally planned on leavin’ around noon, but I didn’t even get back from Oklahoma until 2:30.  I think we ended up leavin’ about 3:30.  He flew over to Spirit of St. Louis Airport just outside of St. Louis.  We made it in just over a couple hours.  We flew at 7000 feet, and our groundspeed was a beautiful 115 knots.  We’ll take that any day!

 

I saw some of the flooding in Missouri...I saw various roads covered with water, and at one point, I saw a highway that appeared to have been flooded rather recently.  Several cars were backed up right outside the water, and the road was obviously covered.  I guess the road crew hadn’t even been out to put up signs yet.

 

Jarryd did a practice ILS Approach into Runway 35.  And as we flew the approach, I saw some familiar territory from days gone by.  I saw a small little ski resort (I use that word loosely) where I had skied in high school, and I saw Six Flags where I had been so many times.  Both caught me by surprise, but I quickly realized I was back in familiar territory!  I was only 90 miles from home!

 

Flew in, went inside to say hi to Jarryd’s girlfriend and go to the bathroom, then I was off.  I prepared for the night flight up ahead, and then I departed about 15-20 minutes after we landed.  I was goin' to leave Jarryd in St. Louis for a couple of days while I visited my family in the Lake of the Ozarks.

 

The flight over to Camdenton, Missouri, was beautiful.  The sun was setting ahead of me, and the moon came out behind me.  It was rather hazy at 4500 feet MSL, but to go any higher would've put me in the clouds.  I couldn’t see too far out on the horizon...lights were sometimes non-existent except for below me, but the flight was smooth and event-free.  The alternator kept goin’ out, but I just put that as part of my instrument scan.  It always kicked back on when I reset it.

 

Flew into Camdenton, landed into a rather bumpy and erratic cross-wind.  The Runway was 33, and the winds were 340 but variable from 290-360.  Right around 9 knots or so indicated at an airport several miles north, but they appeared a bit stronger than that here.  Just about 300 feet over the ground, the wind jostled me around quite a bit.  But I just added a little power and brought her down...

 

And I landed into total darkness...well outside of the runway lights!  My parents weren’t there yet to pick me up, so I just kinda chilled in the airplane.  They came about 10-15 minutes later.  Drove back to grandma’s cabin on Lake of the Ozarks, had a beautiful meal from grandma, then hit the sack!  Went to bed at 11:30 P.M.

 

Time for a fun weekend!