We had hauled a set of wings for one of our new builders, Tony Worsnop, to Florida on top of the exhibit trailer. We had them at the exhibit during the week of the air show and then after the air show, Harold Whorton and I drove them over to New Smyrna Beach, Florida and delivered them to Aircraft Services Inc. where they were joining the rest of the project in progress. A few days later, Toni and I flew over to New Smyrna Beach and spent the night and I tried to contribute what I could to the project while I was there. I also took Steven and Raf, a couple of the guys that are helping Tony with his project for rides in the Goose. I’m not sure, but it looked like I could see about a foot of space between the bottoms of their shoes and the ground after those rides? We had some fun. Worn out from almost 3 full weeks away from home, Toni and I decided to take it easy going home. We left New Smyrna Beach and flew to Crestview, Florida the next afternoon. It was an easy flight. We cut across the Gulf somewhere up above Cross City and plowed on through the MOA’s there in northern Florida. There is a kind of a blank spot up there where it is a little hard to get flight following, but we had it for 90% of the trip. I enjoy talking to the controllers along the way and they often express interest in

There in Crestview it started raining during the night and a front that I knew we were headed into began to pass through. It was a very heavy storm. We checked out of the motel that morning with it still raining and headed to the airport where we sat until about 3 that afternoon watching it rain. There were several other pilots there that were grounded for the same reason and also waiting it out so we all had a good time keeping each other entertained. It finally cleared enough that we decided to go ahead and try it and we left for Mississippi. The ceilings were a little low, but it was cool and the visibility was good and we only had a little rain so it was a good flight. We got into Vicksberg, Miss. ( where the famous battlefield is) later on that afternoon and got a ride into town with a generous fellow and put up at the Hampton Inn for the night. By the way, avoid Vicksberg if you can when flying cross country. The fuel there was like $2.69 a gallon (the highest we paid on the trip by a bunch) and we got it stuck to us on the cab ride back to the airport the next morning.

We got into Vicksberg, Miss. ( where the famous battlefield is) later on that afternoon and got a ride into town with a generous fellow and put up at the Hampton Inn for the night. By the way, avoid Vicksberg if you can when flying cross country.