Day 15 - Saturday, September 13

As hoped for, Ginger and I were able to take off from Mena, Arkansas at 8:09 am. Last night, the flight briefer was correct in his forecast. He said an early take off might get us out before the rain starts at 9:00 am all the way to Little Rock. Boy, was he correct. The rain had already started just northwest of Mena as we left. We bumped around at about 1400 feet, just below the clouds, at full throttle toward Hot Springs.



As we approached Hot Springs, the mountains appeared about our same level. We diverted slightly to miss the peaks and towers and flew pretty much over downtown Hot Springs toward Little Rock. All this time, Ginger was keeping track of our whereabouts on a map, knowing where the nearest airports were in front and in behind us so that we could always have an escape route in case of rain showers. Luckily, we experienced no rain! Visibility was adequate, but rain would have diminished it greatly causing a quick chase to the nearest airport. Trucking on to Little Rock area, I could see improvement, but still at 1500 feet. Ginger was on the lookout for tall towers. We flew just between the outer Little Rock airspace circle and a group of tall towers. The Arkansas delta flatlands were a welcome sight. The flight briefer had told me that once I made it to the Mississippi River, it would be smooth sailing. And, he was correct. We were able to finally get on top of the lower broken clouds and pickup welcomed smooth air. Incidentally, we had strong headwind until we reached Alabama. So glad to land at Decatur and get in my easy chair. We had a great once in a lifetime experience that we will never forget. Thanks for tuning in. BTW, Ginger, my sweet wife, proved to be a real trooper on this trip. I suppose she is a keeper!!!!