Walt, DeeDee, Russel, Gabby, had been on the island only 2 hours, but that is a long time to be left on an island without a phone, with the weather not getting any better according to Walt and Ann's weather radio. When they saw me Gabby caught this shot as I was selecting a runway to land on while overflying the island...
I swear the wind was having fun with me!
As soon as I would select a runway, the wind would change direction. I did get down, to where Russel and Dee (along with Walt and Gabby) were waiting for me...
Russel helped DeeDee into the lake. DeeDee was strangely subdued (I suspect that Walt, being a doctor, gave her something to calm her down, but I didn't ask). DeeDee fell asleep soon after.
After getting everybody situated, I taxied to the runway that was closest to being in the wind. I had decided we would stop at 33N in Deleware.
As I took off, those trees looked too tall and too close
As this shot by Gabby shows, the Lake's STOL ability shines once again...though I was sweating bullets!
At this point, the weather really got nasty! The wind was buffetting us all over the place. I concentrated all my energies on climbing....
...and didn't stop until we got to 11,000. At that point I set the AutoPilot and let that fly the plane. Say what you will...it had been an exhausting day, this was an hour-and-a-half flight (not counting the time it took me to get to Tuckernuck in the first place), and landing that Voplar on one engine made for a difficult workout in the first place!
Another shot of the clouds...now both DeeDee and Russel were snoozing in the back! In fact, DeeDee had slept through the bouncing around earlier! I was chugging Dr. Pepper to fight the feeling myself...:-/
As we got closer, I took the plane off AP to bring it down on approach. The clouds got thicker, but at least no storms. In fact, I was able to line right up to Runway 27...right into the wind!!! I guess the Gods were smiling on me that day!
The landing was one of the smoothest I had done in some time! Neither Russel or DeeDee woke up...even after I had parked the plane after re-fueling it. I left them there and took a walk to the phone to call for a cab and a motel...
I then woke them both, and got us to our rooms (DeeDee was a little hard to wake, and I don't think she really came up all the way...I doubt she noticed the transition)...
After all was done, I slept like a rock....
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