I got my airplane back!!

Well it has been a long wait for Serenity to return (yes she has a name), but she is finally back and looking quite stunning.  You cannot tell that this is a 40 year old airplane.  After a long wait and many delays, that cost me a lot of money, I flew her home on Monday.  

The weather was not very cooperative for my trip.  The paint shop is located in Grants pass, OR which is in a valley.  The entire area was covered by a thick overcast layer which was about 2000ft above the ground in the center of the valley and dropped down to touch the mountain tops all the way around preventing my exit.  I waited from 9am until about 1:30pm for the clouds to clear.  Then a little patch of blue started to show through.  I hopped in the plane and took off.  I flew around the valley for a bit looking for a way out and climbed as high as I could while still remaining clear of the clouds.  At 5000ft I gave up and returned to the airport.  I went inside the paint shop and talked with Merl for a bit and then noticed another opening.  I jumped back into the plane and took off again.  Climbing at about 1000ft/min I got back up to 5000ft and there was a clearing above the lowest cloud layer.  I kept climbing in a circle in this area until I got to the top of the cloud cover.   I ooked at the altimeter and it was 12,500ft!!  Wow that is a thick layer of clouds.  I pointed the aircraft to the north and I was on my way home.  

It was like that for about 150miles until I reached Eugene.  She was flying faster than she use to.  I was making about 137 knots at the top of the green arc and had a ground speed of 159 knots.  When I was above Eugene I saw an opening in the clouds and noticed that they were well above the ground in that area.  So I descended through the opening and flew the rest of the trip under the clouds, which any pilot will tell you is a bumpy ride.  It was much slower going at this lower altitude but the view was nice.  I finally got back to Vancouver and the wind was so strong that I was pointed north and flying almost exactly NE!!  I lined up for the pattern and flew down to the runway.  The landing was a non-event and I taxied back to the FBO.  I saw my instrument instructor inside so I parked in clear view and ran inside.  I showed off my new beauty to anyone that would look.  All in all it was a great day.

I did however have my phone die and had to use email to ask for a ride home.  Luckily, my friend Mike was there to save the day again.  I showed the plane to him and we chatted for a while before he drove me home.  I went out to the plane two more times that day just to look.  I cannot wait to make more trips in my fabulous new looking airplane.  I feel excitement, calm, joy, pride, and serenity when I am up in the air.  That is where she gets her name.  It is a feeling that I cannot adequately describe.  It is sheer joy.