There is only one thing worse than being forced to pay for 19 minutes worth of car-wash...

And that is having to use all 19 minutes just to get the car clean.

Woke up at 6:30 A.M.  No good.  Slept 10 more minutes.  Woke up at 6:40, and Venkat and I were off to Kansas City International by 7:15 A.M.  He is flyin' back to Canada, then over to Paris to work on the jet for another month.

We barely made it in time...only about 30 minutes before his flight.  And the weather was pretty dismal.  The ceilings ranged from 150 feet to a few hundred feet over the course of the drive.  And the visibility went from a couple miles to ten miles.

But once at the airport, the top of the control tower was not visible.  The clouds were just that low.  Pretty crazy if ya ask me.  (But the entire time I am thinking...I want to fly in this stuff!!!).

Dropped him off, then drove back.  On the way back, I figured I would give a guy a call whom I had talked to a week and a half ago.  He has a motorcycle listed on craigslist, and it was up that way, so I figured I would swing by and see it.

Sure enough, he was only a couple of miles off the interstate.  So I punched his address into my GPS and followed the directions.  I came to an "L" in the road and was forced to go left on his road.  But a sign read, "Minimum Maintenance--Travel At Your Own Risk."

Done and done.  The road was quite muddy, but I figured there would at least be some substance underneath.  Was I ever wrong.  I went about 18-20 feet into it, then realized I was in trouble.  Big trouble.  "Just don't stop moving!"  So I kept the tires spinnin'...forwards, backwards, forwards, backwards...backwards, backwards, backwards.  I was movin' an inch at a time, but I was movin'.  I was slidin' a bit sideways, but that was fine...I just needed to get back to gravel!

Mud was flyin' everywhere.  With the front-wheel drive, the mud was flyin' way out in front of the car.  And somehow it managed to get all over the sides and even all over the windshield.  Large chunks.  But I had made it.  I was gettin' ready to get out and take a picture of the funny sign when I saw a chow/doberman mix eyein' me.  I opened the door, he ran closer.  I started to get out, and he was makin' his move.  All I could think about was Cujo.  Needless to say, I stayed in the car and took the picture from inside.  I did pour out some coffee on the ground for him, though, to try to keep him at bay.

The Chevrolet Lumina had proved faithful.  haha!  (I think a petition is in order for all Kansas residents to be required to own 4-wheel drive trucks.  These roads are ridiculous!).

I finally made it around to the guy's house (had to go a different way), checked out the bike, then headed home.  Before gettin' back, I obviously went to wash the mud off.  A minimum of 12 quarters was required.  19 minutes' worth.

But I ended up usin' all 19 minutes.  Those wheel-wells were somethin' fierce!

An enjoyable time, though.

No flying today.  I'm eagerly awaiting the twin-engine to come back into service.  Alan went and picked up all the necessary parts today, and now the assembly begins.  We'll have a completely-fresh engine on the right side.

Crazy windy today.  Gusts over 40 mph.

Another full-time student came in tonight.  His name is Travis, and he drove down from Buffalo, New York.  He says he is in quite a bit of a culture shock.  ha!  I can only imagine.  He thought Buffalo was a small city.  Welcome to Chanute, my friend.  And like Jyri, the questions of what to do in case of a tornado were at the forefront.  haha...I love it.  People outside of the Midwest have ZERO comprehension of that stuff.  It's quite funny.

Went for a run late this afternoon.  Started out at 67 degrees with the wind, came back in the 50's against the wind.  I very much dislike cold weather.

Hung out with the guys tonight, and hit the sack at 12:45 A.M.