Norm, Mark, Terry, and I decided late in the morning to head north along Interstate 75. The weather looked perfect for some good open distance flying. Winds were forecasted to be SE around 15mph. Although the weather looked great, we had a lot of constraints to work with. I needed to be back at a reasonable time to pick up Amy at the airport, Terry didn't have a working radio, we wanted to keep things simple for our driver Pam, and several pilots were not sure they could fly for more than a few hours. We decided to keep within reach of Interstate 75 so we could keep everyone happy. I pushed out with Davis but had to wait about 30 minutes for the rest of the crew to join me at launch. (It was tough waiting!) I launched first and kept working upwind waiting for the rest of the crew. Mark and Norm got low. Terry joined me upwind. Mark found a climb downwind and I waited for Norm upwind. After Norm resigned himself to the ranch, I headed downwind to catch Mark and Terry. Terry headed east with Mike and his class while I headed downwind. Mark said he was a "couple of miles west of Quest". Mark was already 20 miles in front of me. Yikes! Time to shift into high gear. I was blowing my anything less than 400 fpm trying to make up miles. I skipped at 200 fpm climb at 2500 feet, that I should have taken. At 800 feet I heard Mark announce he was again at cloudbase 15 miles south of Quest. What? I was 7 miles in front of Mark. Crap. I struggled awhile down low and eventually landed a little short of Quest.
Mark landed a few miles northwest of Quest. Mike and his class of Steve and Dave landed 60 miles out. It was Dave's longest flight yet. Terry and Tyson landed 90 miles out south of Gainesville. Davis took the Falcon 42 miles. We all know what "the man" Kevin did! Way to go Kev!
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