April 26, 2021 - To and From Van Wert, Ohio
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| I flew Lynnette out to Van Wert, Ohio today to visit her friend Jayne, and then flew back by myself. It was a beautiful day for it, although we did have a headwind heading out. |
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P11
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| Passing overhead Downing Airport (I40). I have been to this airport, back in 2009, on the way to Oshkosh with a gaggle of RVs. It was a very friendly airport; the regulars even made our group breakfast. |
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Out of the Appalachians and the hills of eastern Ohio into the flatlands of western Ohio.
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| Passing overhead Marion Airport (KMNN), Ohio. I've been here a couple of times in the old Citabria but never in the RV. |
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| Now we're really in the flatlands. The winds changed and our airspeed picked up to about 165mph or so the last third of the trip. |
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| And there is Van Wert Airport (KVNW). The asphalt runways runs east west but they have a grass runway running north south. Because the winds were significant from due south, I landed on the grass runway. It was very green sprinkled with thousands of bright yellow dandelions. |
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Safe on deck at Van Wert. The flight took almost exactly three hours, a little less than what I had flight planned.
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| Jayne and Lynnette happy to be together again. |
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The three of us went into town and had a delicious breakfast at the 123 Bistro on Main street. Next to the restaurant was this ornate county courthouse.
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| The girls took me back to the airport and soon I was on my way east. For something different, I stayed low for awhile but it was a little turbulent so as soon as I encountered hills I climbed to altitude. |
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| There were a lot more windmills in Ohio than I remembered. |
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| Zooming down low over farm country at 500 feet. I was only making about 165mph down low. |
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Once I encountered hill country I started climbing.
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| Hill country looks a lot different from 1,000 feet than it does at 7,500 feet. |
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Once I climbed to 7,500 and then later 9,500, my speed picked up dramatically. At first I was doing about 210mph but it increased as I got closer to home.
Here I'm about to pass the Ohio River and into West Virginia. Wheeling Airport is visible at right center. While I've passed it many times I've never landed there.
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| Passing by Greene County airport (KWAY) which has an on-field restaurant. I tried to go there once while transiting to Oshkosh but couldn't make it due to weather. |
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| Looking down at the Monongahela River which flows south from Pittsburgh. |
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| Looking north at the Youghiogheny River. It's a 134-mile-long ributary of the Monongahela River. |
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Now looking south, with the reservoir in the distance. This river might be fun to fly someday.
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Good shot of the Youghiogheny Dam and reservoir. I flew the Lake last year on the way further south to Deep Creek Lake.
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| Passing by little Potomac Airfield on this side of the Potomac River at center. |
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| The closer I got to Baltimore, the faster the wind pushed me. I was loving the speed! |
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| The obligatory shot of the Baltimore Ravens practice facility. |
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| The obligatory shot of Pimlico Race Track, home of the Preakness. |
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The obligatory shot of Baltimore with the big TV antennas to the right.
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| The obligatory shot of Fort McHenry, at the left tip of that peninsula. |
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| Obligatory shot of Sparrows Point. |
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| Turning final for runway 34 at Essex Skypark. I had the airport to myself on this beautiful spring day. |
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