In the Air

Well, we are off! We started with a 5:30am phone call to see what the weather was like. It looked like the ceilings were going to be real low and we were thinking of holding off a few hours. It turned out to be just fine so we both headed for the airport. We were set for a 7am departure but we had to hold on the ground for 15min while we figured out an same routing issue with our clearance. As we were sitting there in the plane with the engine idling all the sudden we hear this loud banging. We were both thinking, "Holy Crap! We just lost a cylinder!" or something to that effect. Then about five seconds later we realized it was Bob Cherry, who taught Jerry IFR, banging on the wing tip. It scared the crap out of us but we got a good laugh after seeing the trip flash before our eyes. :)

Once we were up it was pure magic: smooth air, the rising sun illuminating the cumulus clouds all around us. At one point I looked over out my window and saw the sun casting a shadow of our plane surrounded by a rainbow on a white cloud below us. What to say other than blessings for that auspicious omen at the beginning of our trip.

We got into Atlanta with 4 hours in the air and stooped at PDK to gas up and have lunch with Dad and Anne. It was great! After a couple of hours on the ground and showing them the plane we were off again and headed to New Orleans. I was hoping to overfly Mobile Bay and see the bay house ( my childhood summer home on Mobile Bay called) but we ended up dodging thunderstorms the whole way. Towering cumulonimbus were like popcorn all over the southeast and it kept us busy as we weaved in between them. We arrived at Lakefront airport right on Lake Pontchartrain and my sister Gigi met us just a little while latter. So good to see her! We set up Jerry at this great hotel that Gigi recommended. It is called The Columns on St. Charles. Then we had a drink there on the patio and headed out to a great dinner. Afterwards we headed over to Gigi and Shannon's neighborhood at Algier's Point to a very cool local bar and shot some pool. On the way over Jerry was marveling at the ferry (his first!) and seeing the Mississippi River for the first time.

It has been a long but great day for the kick-off of our trip...