Day 1 of the Epic Saga . . .

Well, perhaps not so epic as first days go.  Basically everything from Waynesboro PA to about 100 nm east of Kansas City was socked in with clouds.  Even the drive to the airport had pretty sad visibility.

There were at least two lines of storms which obligingly decided to part like the Red Sea and let us through.  Fortunately, the ride was smooth throughout.  The new Control Vision Duo worked like a charm, clearly showing the way through the mess.  This thing is as close to a no brainer as you can get.  Get the prop spinning, turn on the Duo, and touch the Anywhere Map app.  Wait 5 minutes for the XM downloads and you have weather.  I should say you have your first weather.  I never saw it get older than 5 minutes.   

Our initial fuel and leg stretch stop was in Sullivan IN (KSIV) where the main attraction was cheap fuel.  Sullivan turned out to be a nice stop.  Lisa at the FBO was kind enough help us with their newly installed self serve pump, and to loan us their top of the line crew car so we could hit the local McDonald's.

The car was actually pretty nice as crew cars go -- clean an ran well.  The worst crew car ever was in Iowa a few year ago on a business trip with badly misaligned tires, leaking exhaust, and you had to roll down the window to get the driver's door open (but the heater worked and it was Iowa winter). 

Best was in Roanoke where we were headed for another wedding.  When we asked about a crew car just for the afternoon, they said "Sure, we'll give you the Jag."  So, OK, hoho, we flew down and on arrival asked after the car.  Sure enough, it was a Brittish racing green Jaguar with a very nice tan leather interior, and it ran like a . . . well it ran well.

We did finally break out into what we hope (and is forecast) to be a few nice days all the way to Colorado Springs.  

Our second stop was also for fuel, Excelsior Springs (3EX) northeast of Kansas City and due north of our final destination for the day, Lee's Summit MO (KLXT).  We got a little fuel at Sullivan, but saved the big gulp of the day for Excelsior where $4.39 is nearly as good as it gets.  Excelsior is a tiny little 2000 ft strip located on or beside what appears to be the 9th or 18th hole of a golf course.  No one anywhere close except for a few foursomes. Quick VFR flight to Lee's Summit MO (KLXT) for an overnight and we tied her down for the night.

Today's flights were among the longest of the trip.  Much of the rest of the trip will be shorter flights until we start home again.  Tomorrow we visit some Harry Truman historical sights in Independence MO.