Thursday night Kenny Downard sent me an email that he was flying to Bardstown early Friday morning to give a family member a flight and have breakfast at a neat little restaurant there. I really wanted to go, but yard work demanded my attention, so I advised him I would have to pass on the morning flight, but maybe later in the day we could get together. That didn’t work for him so it looked like a solo day for me. However, I received an email from Brian Owen that he was going to fly to Goshen, IN from Shawnee after he did some maintenance and a checkout flight on his trike. So, I told him if he could wait until I finished my chores here at the house I would fly up and meet him at Stumler’s. I finished with everything that demanded immediate attention about 11:30 and gave him a call. Everything looked like a go, the weather was sunny, the wind was calm, and the trike was waiting in the hangar and fueled. I told Brian it would take me about an hour and I would leave and meet him there. At 12:30 I was ready, oh great, look at the sock! It is straight out and blowing from the NNW, just the direction I have to fly to get to Goshen. I do my preflight and fire up the Rotax, all sounds good and everything checks out. After a nice long warm-up off we go. I turn into the wind and wow, climb out is 1250 fpm, airspeed is 60 and groundspeed is a whopping 30 mph! I begin a slow, steady climb and the groundspeed increases to 45 mph. That’s more like it, I head for my friend, Jon Schatzinger’s house, as it is my reference for a course change to a straight-line flight to Stumler’s that avoids Louisville airspace. I climb to 4200 ft AGL in an attempt to avoid the headwind and turbulence. The wind is still there, but the bumps have smoothed out. As I fly over the Ohio River, wham bam, big bumps. It’s OK though after the initial shock has passed. I raise Brian on the radio and he is about 30 miles out with an eta of 30 minutes. I think tailwind, I am showing 32 miles out and an eta of 48 minutes, headwind. Brian tells me that Gene Dean, Joe Crowe, and Ed Cooper might be there as they are returning from Sun N’ Fun towing Ed’s trailer and Ed’s and Gene’s trikes. Suddenly, I receive a communication from Stumler Tower, it’s Gene Dean, ATC, and they have us in sight. Brian and I don’t see each other, but after a few conversations with heading and altitude information we spot each other. 36 is the active with a north wind. I come around and start bleeding altitude, and all of a sudden I am dropping like a stone. It seems that the wind has shifted and is now from the west. Oh great, I am going to be short and flat on the approach, I power up and realize I am drifting toward a row of trees on the east side of the field. I put my trike down hard and fast, bounce! My peers are on the reviewing stand and I don’t see any 9s )-;! Isn’t that always the way? Anyway, I land and amid handshakes, backslaps, and general glad to see you salutations we take some pictures, secure the trikes, and head for the chow line. After the meal we say our farewells, Brian and I do a couple of goodbye low passes and we head for our separate destinations. It is now about 3:30 and the thermals have had plenty of time to grow up. Fortunately, there were not many of them, but the ones that I found sure were thrilling, like doing an unintentional wingover if you caught the edge. But, when you get in a big one what a ride! I am making really good time going home, generally, my groundspeed is in the upper 60s and lower 70s. Holy cow, a big jetliner, where did he come from? He sure is low to be outside of Standiford airspace. I am at 3100 feet and I can see the windows in the side of the plane. Still I am safe as there are several miles between us. I checked my position and I am well outside the 10 nm ring, hard to say why a big airliner was so low. I continue bouncing along my merry way just riding the bumps and keeping a general heading towards home. When I look at my GPS I see my groundspeed is 89.6, hmm should be there in a few minutes and this could make for an interesting landing on a short, narrow strip. I better start making my plans now. As I near my strip I see the windsocks are straight out and from the west, not good as my runway is north-south. I come in carrying a lot of speed, but no, I am too low, a go around is in order. After 3 misses following the first one it looks good, I’m in and rolling under control, bar in hard and I’m home free, but not quite a gust from the west lifts the wing and I really have to fight to keep the east-side tip off the ground. Finally, I am in front of the hangar and have some protection from the wind. I roll the trike onto the transport cart and winch it into the hangar. It’s time for a post flight and trike cleaning.

The trip statistics are 134.9 statute miles, moving average speed 55.8 mph, moving time 2:25:07, and maximum speed of 89.6. What a great day!