Just Sightseeing

No, not these.

woosh. The noise was familiar but it was too early to lift my head off the pillow. woosh. Deeper this time and more sustained. Kathy was out of bed and checking the windows. "Its a balloon but I don't see it!" woosh. It was getting fainter, moving away. I pulled myself out of bed to see what was going on. The weather looked overcast but not even a slight breeze. The farmer's field, about a half mile from our house, had a visitor. Bright yellow with a band of decorations around its maximum circumference, the balloon was gently cruising at treetop level slowly moving south. woosh. Could just hear it now as they climbed away on their morning adventure. http://www.balloonfestival.com/

The weather has been good enough to let me have a few flights this month. Sally has been doing great. My airmanship has needed work and I've noticed some improvement. It has been HOT and I've imposed an artificial upper temperature of 90° (F). Early morning or early evening have been reserved to take advantage if the opportunity to fly is there. Since I was already up and the air felt cool it was definitely time to head over to Butter Valley.

My new pitot cover doesn't fit snugly. I'm afraid a little breeze from the wrong direction will blow it off. I'll be shopping at Sporty's for a replacement.

Two Cubs, a Citabria, two C172s and an RV were in for breakfast today. Good to see traffic sitting on the ramp. Winds were variable so we took off to the north on a sightseeing trip. We leveled at ~1500' and meandered to the southeast. The steam from the Limerick cooling towers kind of cork screwed up until it faded away. Lot's of traffic on the CTAF but not any planes in sight, I enjoyed flying low and slow over the Pennsylvania country side. I turned left at RT73 and followed it to the 'round-about' with Rt29 then turned south west to follow a small ridge of mountains. A Maule was in the pattern at N47 so I went over there to play for a bit. One full stop then departed behind him on the opposing runway and headed north.  I followed Rt100 to County Line Road and approached Butter Valley, but I wasn't ready to finish yet.

Heading east, I followed Rt 63 to Harleysville past Green Lane Park and Reservoir. It's a beautiful sight from the air.  A few more turns down familiar roads and it was time to head for home. When I called on the 45 a Cirrus 10 miles out called his position and intentions. I back taxied and got out of the way to watch his landing. Not bad.

And not a bad way to spend a cool Sunday morning.