Almost caught up, a week later! Last Monday we flew home from Eureka Springs, AR (4M1) with a stop in Jefferson City, MO (JEF). From Instagram:

On Monday we left 4M1 after noon and stopped at JEF for a short break. We saw the Missouri state capitol (from a distance), flight planned, and made a new friend John who let us sit in the cockpit of his Citation (have you ever seen Steven smile that big?!).

It was clear skies all the way to JEF then some clouds showed up. I’m so glad we were able to make it back in time!

It was so much colder than the rest of our trips. I had to figure out how to turn on the heat! We were underdressed when we got out of the plane at UGN!

Monday stats:
4M1 ➡️ JEF ➡️ UGN
4.6 hour total trip (includes run-up, taxi, and flying)
2 takeoffs & 2 landings
1 new-to-us airport (JEF)
1 new friend made (John)

We had a chill start to Monday – figuratively and literally – we relaxed all morning at Courtney and David’s (except for flight planning), and it was much cooler than it had been the three previous days. We wore pants instead of shorts for the flight back! It was 60°F when we left Arkansas and 46°F when we landed in Waukegan at the end of the day! Brrrr! It felt cold when we got out of the plane!

Courtney and David took us to the airport and hung out until we left at 12:35. It was much clearer out than it had been the previous two days (there had been a lot of local haze because of a fire, and then general haze from hot air, but I think the cold front pushed it out?).

We planned to stop in Jefferson City, Missouri to fuel and take a break. It’s a Class D towered airport and stopping at a towered airport was very appealing (to me) after three days of non-towered. I thought it would be really nice to have someone tell us what to do and watch for nearby planes.

We’d never been there before and played “where’s the airport?!” (successfully)

I forgot Jefferson City is the capital of Missouri! We could see the capitol building from the ramp (between our heads below) and from the sky when we took off.

Someone from the fixed-base operator (FBO) met us on the ramp to greet us, ask how long we were staying, and what services we needed, which as nice (we requested fuel). When we walked into the FBO several folks told us to help ourselves to the food in the fridge, which was also nice (I had a roll. Again, we need to get better at planning meals for long flights.).

We reviewed our plans for the second leg of the flight and realized we needed to leave ASAPy to get the plane back by 6:00 pm, when our rental ended.

But on the way out we talked to the same folks and their pilot offered to show us the jet they were flying (Cessna Citation).

I thought he meant show it, like, look at the outside, but we went in and sat in the cockpit and talked to our new friend John for a while (Steven said he knew what John meant!). It was fun. He was really encouraging, telling Steven that flying a jet is just like flying a prop plane. Is it though? Ha.

Then on the ramp we talked to an instructor and his student for a bit. Everyone was so friendly! We wondered if they usually see the same people all the time and it was unique to have someone different (us!) there. I love talking to people but I felt bad we were on a timeline.

I put my sweatshirt on for the flight back and am glad I did! It got cold enough in the plane that I had to figure out how to turn on the heat.

We did flight following on the way home since we were flying through an MOA (Military Operations Area) and figured they would tell us if we weren’t supposed to enter it at all. We didn’t have any issues, but I was scanning for military traffic the entire time and was exhausted by it and happy when we got out of there!

We were cruising at 5,500 MSL but descended a few times to avoid clouds. There was an icing warning at our altitude! Ice can form on the leading edge of wings (and other parts of the airplane) if you fly through clouds with water droplets and your plane is cold, etc. etc. and we definitely wanted to AVOID that.

It was a mostly uneventful flight! Just a bit of traffic, and changing altitudes to avoid clouds, and avoiding the ORD bravo airspace when we got back. We were pretty tired and happy to land at UGN and get the keys back right at 6:00 pm. Woo hoo!

We got home and fed the cats, fed us, and called it a night super early and I was asleep just after 9:00 and slept until after 6:00. We were so pooped! Next time we have to stay for a few more days when we fly that far, because the flying is tiring but mostly to spend more time with our friends!

Title inspired by a scene from 22 Jump Street. We couldn’t stop saying “My name is Jeff” on the way back.

What would these posts be like if I just pasted my Instagram caption? I feel like that’s what I did for my Europe recaps, then I expanded on it? Too lazy to look it up. But let’s try that (again?):

Sunday morning was fun! We took Courtney and David to Hangar Kafe in Miller, MO to eat lunch and watch the skydivers! What a cool place. We loved sharing flying with them (it was our first time having two passengers in the back)!

On the way back to 4M1, we flew over Eureka Springs, AR and over Courtney and David’s house

After we landed we decided to get fuel because it was so low. We thought it would take an hour max, but the engine was being a bit touchy to start because it was hot. So we gave it a rest and spent quite a bit of time talking to a local, Kevin, and seeing his planes. We had a really good conversation (mostly in the hot sun, eek!), then went and got fuel and came back more than a couple hours later (because of course the stop at the airport included talking to the guy running the FBO about the other business there and the Cessna 206 in the hangar…)

Sunday stats:
4M1 MO9 4M1 HRO 4M1
2.3 hour total trip (includes run-up, taxi, and flying)
4 takeoffs & 4 landings
2 new-to-us airports (MO9 & HRO)
1 new friend made (Kevin)

ANYWAY! We were freaking exhausted when we got back (and guilty we took so long) and were happy to spend the rest of the day chilling with Courtney and David!

And now, for the extended version…

We knew we wanted to take Courtney and David on a flight (that’s why we didn’t fully fuel on Saturday) but we didn’t know if we’d do it right after we landed Saturday (nope, too hungry and sweaty and the place we wanted to fly to was closed for the day), on Sunday (too windy?), or on Monday before we took off.

I’m grateful our friends understand how flexible (with your schedule) you have to be for flying. Mostly because of weather, but also because of our poor meal planning. Courtney and David were so great about this trip and understanding we wouldn’t know at all if we were coming until we were basically on the way there. Safety (avoiding bad weather) takes top priority!

I’m really glad it all worked out!

So back to what I was saying, we discussed a few flight options, and when we got up Sunday Steven checked weather and saw it was going to be getting a bit windy around noon and discussed flying Monday instead, then was like “F*ck it! Let’s go!”

And we went!

We have a spreadsheet of ideas for places to fly to, and I’d added MO9/Kingsley Airfield in Miller, MO because it had this restaurant that looked so darn cute!

And it was!

I mean, come on! Adorable.

We knew it was a skydiving place too and could hear on the radio that it was active, so I was excited to watch the skydivers.

Our flight there was pretty straight forward. We found the airport, talked on the radio to confirm there was no skydiver traffic, landed, figured out where to park, and ordered breakfast/lunch.

The food wasn’t anything to write home about (for a vegan, ha) but I was there for the experience! Steven said his eggs and pancakes were good, and he liked the fried okra, and Courtney and David liked their sandwiches.

After breakfast we watched the skydivers for a bit (gah, we saw one land so hard in the parking lot! ouch!). Before we left, we did some flight planning to fly by Courtney and David’s house and near downtown Eureka Springs, then Steven talked to the skydive place owner to confirm it was okay for him to take off. He said yeah, then before we did Steven checked on the radio with the other pilot (who dropped off the skydivers) and he assured Steven he had at least 5 minutes before the skydivers came down, so Steven took off, then shortly after we got off the ground I pointed out this skydiver who was doing 360s to spiral down fast and Steven had to turn at a much lower altitude than he would have liked to to give the skydiver as much space as possible.

Lesson learned – don’t trust anyone. Just kidding, the lesson is to wait until the skydivers are on the ground (and not trust anyone).

We flew back and went over Courtney and David’s house, and the downtown area:

Then because we took a few diversions and didn’t do a straight course to the airport we came in kind of high and Steven did a fun slip to lose altitude fast. It wasn’t enough so halfway down the runway he put more power in and we climbed and did the pattern again then landed.

Sounds strange but he’s been practicing maneuvers like that for well over a year for situations just like that. It’s amazing to watch him in action and see how he knows just what to do!

So we landed and that’s when things got a bit wonky. We decided to go get fuel so we didn’t have to worry about it in the morning. Courtney and David drove home (they live so close, I told them I’d text on the way back), and we went to start the plane and the engine was being touchy because it (the engine) was hot.

We took that as a sign to take a break and we were going to sit in front of the airport for a bit when a local, Kevin, came by, and we started chatting. Long story short, we chatted for a long time. He showed us his plane he’d just had the engine rebuilt on:

And the STOL (short takeoff and landing) plane he’d just built:

I was very excited to see a STOL plane in person! We watch videos of them all the time but I’d never seen one. This one was about to be inspected to get its airworthiness certificate. I wish it already had been so we could see it in action! Although I think Kevin said he didn’t even know how to fly a tail dragger yet. Getting sidetracked. Long story long. Oops.

Then we had a long conversation about the sustainability of farming and how it’s changed over the years. Kevin is a first generation farmer and had so many interesting things to share! (And he had an amazing accent that I loved listening to.)

He also gave us advice on a less windy airport (than the one we had planned) to go to for fuel, which was helpful, cause the winds had picked up and the airport we were planning to go to was on top of a windy plateau and would have had a crosswind. We went to one that lined right up with the direction of the wind – much better!

So we took off to HRO and had a similar problem to the day before with not enough flight planning (during flight) time, and we were tired and had just stood in the sun for a long time. So after we figured out how to get fuel (Steven’s first time doing it by himself, my first time EVER – not exactly intuitive), we went inside to cool down and do a briefing for our 9 minute flight back.

We also tried (unsuccessfully) to get a receipt for the gas. The machine was out of paper and the school takes what you paid for gas out of the overall rental fee. We never got a receipt but Steven was able to use his credit card record. ANYWAY. Wow, focus, Kim.

So while we were talking to the guy who runs the FBO about our receipt we started asking him other questions, like what the business was they are running there (Plane Spares), and about the Cessna 206 in the hangar. It turns out the owner bought it from a government auction from USMS and I was immediately like “CRY! We can’t do that since I work for the government!” But it was cool to see one in person – we’ve looked at them online but not up close! They hold a lot more weight than a 172.

Ha, completely random, while we were there we could hear the radios and this one local was saying the name of the airport (Boone County) in a super funny voice. The FBO guy was like “that’s just Dan Childs.” And I was like “cause he’s acting like a child?” Ha, me so funny. I told Steven he should do that funny Boone County voice when we left but he didn’t. Ha.

Moving on! We flew back and had no issues and Courtney and David picked us up and we apologized for being gone for much longer than expected. I’m blaming the plane and fuel but also that I keep chatting with so many people. That’s on me.

We had fun telling them all about our afternoon and talking more about the flight we did together. It’s nice they are both so interested because we love to talk about it! And I like sharing what I’ve learned and hearing all the things Steven knows, including some never before heard stories from his checkride. And Courtney was very complimentary of me and Steven’s communication skills while flying which made me feel really good, like, maybe I am actually a useful copilot? Maybe?!

We had a nice evening – just chilling and talk talk talking and having nachos for dinner. We called it a night at a reasonable hour (11:00?) since we had a big day ahead of us (and were exhausted), but I was bummed since I knew we were leaving the next day. This trip was much too short!

Could you tell ChatGPT wrote the title of this post? I asked it for recommendations and here’s what it came up with:

1. Sunday Skies and Skydivers
2. Fuel Stops, Fun Flights, and New Friends
3. Flying Adventures: Skydivers, Slip Landings, and Surprises
4. A Sunday in the Air: From Eureka Springs to Hangar Kafe
5. Planes, Friends, and Skydivers: A Sunday Well Spent
6. Flying with Friends: Fun, Fuel, and Unexpected Conversations
7. A Day in the Sky: From Hangar Kafe to Kevin’s Stories

Saturday started off busy – we fit in a lot before we left!

I started the morning with a run. I tried to pack light since we have weight limitations in the plane, but I still ended up with two pairs of shoes – some Skechers BOBS and my running shoes. All that to say, I feel really good when I actually use all the things I bring with me on a trip and I did use those running shoes… once. That still counts! (And I used all the shorts, jeans, tanks, t-shirts, and hooded sweatshirt because I kept sweating through my clothes in the plane, then it got cold.)

Steven had plans to meet his college friends for breakfast, and on the way (actually out of the way but it doesn’t matter) he dropped me and his dad off for breakfast with his longtime friend Eric’s parents.

Steven’s Kansas City friend group goes all the way back to kindergarten, so those friends’ parents were like second sets of parents to Steven growing up, meaning as soon as I met them (in the early aughts!) they were like a second set of parents to me too. All that to say, it’s not odd that I had breakfast with Eric’s parents without Steven (and Eric?)!! We had a wonderful time catching up!

We hung out with them a bit at the house, then when Steven got back we went into flight planning mode, which included figuring out where the heck to get fuel (and calling and confirming they could provide said fuel). Then we headed to 0N0 in Roosterville (ha, I forgot to mention in the Friday post that none of Steven’s friends at the reunion knew where this airport was), did preflight, etc. etc. and took off to GPH, which was only 6.7 miles away!

The flight was basically go up, descend to pattern altitude, and land. Seems easy, right? What we realized after this trip is that these short flights (this one was 9 minutes) don’t give us the time to plan in flight for landing like we usually do – check the field elevation, confirm pattern elevation, elevation to be at on final approach, if it’s left or right pattern, how to enter the pattern for the runway we are using, etc. Oh, and there is the task of FINDING the freaking airport at all, which is harder than you’d think sometimes.

It’s a lot. Too much to do in that amount of time. Next time, we’ll figure it all out before and just be confirm it in the air.

Also, this airport became super busy right before we entered the pattern. Someone was taking off, then after we called out how we were entering the pattern and what we were doing, two other planes confirmed they were right behind us (and the order we’d all land in). This was a non-towered airport, and everyone communicated really well, including helping us out when we misspoke on something.

When we landed we were like, “we need to go in, sit down, and refresh.” Yes, from a 9 minute flight.

We had them fuel the plane, and enjoyed the snacks and drinks (and air conditioning) at their FBO (Fixed-Based Operator). That was another learning lesson on this trip – we need to pack lunches if we’re flying through lunch time! We took off for that flight at 1:07 pm and for our next one at 2:05 pm, landing in 4M1 around 4:00. We were HUNGRY, especially for something more meal like and less snacky.

But I got ahead of myself. While at the FBO, we also did a debrief of our GPH to 4M1 flight, which of course, was going to have another headwind. We checked the fuel (each wing holds around 26.5 gallons and we had them add about 15 each – we didn’t want them too full since we were planning on flying with two more people the next day) did run-up, and took off.

It was neat flying out on the east side of Kansas City. We saw the lake Steven’s maternal grandparents lived by (small C-shaped lake near center of photo below):

Right after we took off, there was traffic that didn’t look like it was going to be an issue, but kept turning to be pointed at us. It obviously wasn’t an issue (we still exist) but it was annoying “WHY DO YOU KEEP CHANGING YOUR HEADING TO POINT AT US?!?!?!”

This flight was HOT. It was in the 90s when we left GPH. The AC is the Cessna is vents letting outside air in – there is no AC. Ha.

We actually went up from 5,500 MSL (mean sea level) to 7,500 to try to cool down and see if there was less of a headwind. That’s the highest altitude we’ve gone up to in the 172! It was kind of cooler? We are technically cooler now for having a new max. HAHAHAHAHA just seeing if you’re still reading.

We didn’t do flight following for this flight since it was short (180 miles) and not in heavily trafficked areas, so we felt free to chat and catch up on each other’s mornings and discuss the trip so far (without radio interruption).

When we got closer to the Missouri border the terrain changed quite a bit and we had some baby turbulence from thermal lift. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

(Edited to add: when we got close to 4M1 another plane was on it’s way to land there, I think from the east, and we were coming in from the north. We communicated with them and did a 360 to give them more space, even though they said they thought we were far enough apart. And we did a teardrop entry to the pattern, which was interesting – Steven hadn’t done many of them before this trip but did one then, in the morning at GPH, and the next day at HRO.)

We had a nice buttery smooth landing when we got to 4M1. Courtney and David were waiting for us at the airport, and as we unpacked and walked to the car I noticed the fuel system at that airport was also out of service. WONDERFUL.

We went back to their place and immediately scarfed down the delicious food they’d made us – smoked tofu burnt ends, potato salad, and cookies.

Then we just chatted for hours and hours (until after 11:00?). We hadn’t seen them in person since last October! Courtney and I text every day, but some stories are just better told in person. We never seem to run out of things to talk about!

We had a super fun (long, and at sometimes crazy) flying adventure this weekend and you get to hear all about it in FOUR SEPARATE POSTS. Yes – it’s your lucky day!

Ha ha ha.

Alright, so last month I asked Steven if he wanted to try to fly to Eureka Springs, Arkansas in October to visit our friends Courtney and David. I suggested this weekend because I had Friday and Monday off work.

Then it clicked for him that this weekend was also the weekend of his high school reunion and annual college get together – both in Kansas City (his college friends pick a different city each year and this year happened to be in KC). So we decided to “kill many birds with one stone” and stop in Kansas City and see his dad and brother, go to the reunion, see his college friends, maybe even see his friend Eric’s parents, travel on to Arkansas for the original purpose of the trip, and find a new-to-us airport to checkout on the way to and from Arkansas.

All weather dependent, of course. And obviously, the weather worked out!

We left at 3:05 pm on Friday from Waukegan (UGN) airport. Because it was such a long flight in distance (353 miles) and time (we landed at 6:46 pm), we used flight following. Flight following is basically air traffic control (ATC) watching you on radar and letting you know about traffic, weather, and temporary flight restrictions. They pass you along from tower to tower until you get to your final destination, or cancel flight following.

Flight following worked well, once we figured out which approach to call to request it. It’s nice to have a third set of eyes on your flight, warning you about things!

There was A LOT of chatter though, especially with St Louis and Kansas City Center and Kansas City approach. So you are constantly listening for your tail number and it disrupts conversation a bit. But, it’s also good to listen to other pilots and learn. We heard some interesting things too, like a Wu-Tang checkpoint and Mahomes approach. LOL, whut?

Anyways, the flight was approximately 5 million hours long (really, 3 hours 41 minutes). It should have been faster but we had a freaking 16 knot headwind GAHHHHH.

I was properly dehydrated and felt fine. Steven… not so much.

But we made it! And saw a beautiful sunset.

We chose to land at 0N0, a small airport in Roosterville, Missouri, because it was the same driving distance from his Dad’s house and less stressful then flying into MKC, the downtown airport we flew into last December.

This airport is interesting, to say the least! The runway is 20 feet wide. TWENTY! That’s it! Some new friends we made there told us it’s the narrowest paved runway in Missouri.

We tried to fuel the plane up after we landed so it would be ready to go in the morning. The fuel was locked, and Steven called the number and they came to help but could never get the fuel to work. While that was going on I talked to Jeff and Isaac, a local father son duo who keep a few planes there. We talked for a long time while they tried to figure out fuel. I felt bad Steven’s dad and brother were waiting for us, but they couldn’t get the fuel to work.

The finally gave up and parked the plane and said they’d try to get it to work that night so we could fuel in the morning (spoiler: Steven got a text later that it was broken and he’d have to fuel elsewhere).

I don’t think we left the airport until well after 7:30 and Steven’s reunion started at 7:00. We got to his dad’s, dropped off our bags and went to the reunion from about 8:30 to 10:15. I had fun chatting with his friends that I know and meeting and chatting with some new ones, including the “Steve” that made Steven “Steven.” (He had a substitute teacher in the fourth grade who said they couldn’t keep two Steves straight so one got to be Steve and one got to be Steven. It’s his Steven origin story!)

I felt like I was doing really good staying awake and engaging and not being raging hungry until about 9:45 and I started to feel dead tired. I’d been up since 5:00, hadn’t eaten since I had a snack in the plane at 4:30, and had spent the morning working, getting the house ready, then all that time somewhat focused in the plane (there was some texting to make plans for the next morning, I won’t lie).

Anyway, we said our goodbyes and went to Burger King and we split the best vegan whopper and fries of my life then we went back to his dad’s and hung out with them until midnight. What a long day!!!!!!

(Ahh! I almost forgot, while I was waiting for Steven to get gas Isaac asked what we thought of the airport code “Oh, no.” I thought of it as Zero November Zero so “Oh No” never occurred to me ha ha ha. Love it.)