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Showing posts from December 4, 2011

Upper Peninsula Michigan and Auction Win Outcomes

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I was up in Wisconsin and the UP (upper peninsula) in Michigan. It was a lot of driving after launching/landing in Appleton WI. I got an item off the bucket list by driving across the "Mighty Mac". Altough it was built in the late '50s. It is still the longest suspension span in the Northern hemisphere. It is a crazy long bridge with a crazy long suspension span. It was good to see the bridge in context of the seemingly endless forests of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The culture in the two haves of Michigan are noticibly different as you might expect. Great time meeting with folks both in WI and MI. The tractor I won in auction, seems to have paid off. This time I beat the odds. It was a really good deal. I have the "no-key, non-running, may have hydraulic problems, unknown hours" -auction win, running well with minimal cost and time. I have some more tweaks, maintenance and minor fixes but the major risks are gone.
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Success! I did my "long cross country" today. 3.1 hours (includes all the taxi and run-up time) and 215 nautical miles. I had a cold when I started. Now I have a bit of cough from the stress and dry thin air. I wasn't in the best shape to do the flight, but it was manageable. Now that I am looking back, it was worth pushing through. It was a very memorable view and experience descending over Lake Hartwell South Carolina. I forgot to take a picture.(This pic is from the web but represents my memory well only at a bit lower altitude.) Flight Planning at SkyVector.com