Cross-Country to Lakeland (KLAL)

Thursday was a busy day! I got up early and headed over to the airport, because I was scheduled to work. That's right, in the middle of vacation, I was working...well, a social call to an important customer. After topping off in the self-serve fuel ramp at 55J, I waited and waited for traffic to clear. There was a DA40 from a flight school doing endless touch and goes, and a Baron, and a Duchess, and a centurion....it was really busy, and I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to leave on time! A take-off slot finally opened up, and I grabbed it. The above picture was snapped shortly after departure from 55J, looking west over the marshes towards Jacksonville. See those clouds? They were at about 3500-4500ft, but I quickly climbed up above the mounting turbulence and the hazy conditions to fly above the broken cloud layer. It was really smooth going, and I managed to snag a slight cross/tailwind, but things were okay, and I was humming along at 130kts ground speed on the way down to KLAL. I put the DA40 on autopilot and spent some time playing around with the XM weather. It is really cool, just all the information that is available. The winds aloft information was pretty neat, you could select which level you wanted all the way up to FL450....in case you wondered:). I found that the most useful feature was that METARS/TAFs are available for most airports, which I verified by switching to AWOS frequencies, but when you're 60+ miles out, you can just pop the cursor over and see what the winds and ceiling is at any particular airport. I really think that alone is worth the $50/month charge for XM. I know, I know...you can call Flight Watch for that info, but with XM, you can read the conditions on your screen - real time! I also really enjoyed the traffic alerts that are on the G1000 (whenever you're in a reporting area). They didn't catch everything, but it was handy to look out the window in the general direction of any traffic and see it more quickly. I snapped a photo of a Cirrus that flew 1000ft below me. I'm sorry to say that he overtook me, so it must've been an SR22:). I also snapped a photo of the G1000 screen with the NEXRAD option turned on - I think that an instrument rating will make much more use of this feature, since I would be flying closer to that stuff and would need to know where the big cells are. If you look closely, you can see my reflection in the screen!

Upon landing in Lakeland, I pulled up next to the Columbia Air Service FBO. As soon as my prop stopped turning, an attendant had chocked my nosewheel and asked if I needed fuel. Great service! They also directed me to park next to a gleaming Gulfstream-IV, owned by Campbell's Soup, so I felt important, parking next to the big boys!

Parkin' with a G-IV - Jay-Z would be so jealous!

Downtown Lakeland, FL from 2500ft

I chatted a little while with the manager of the FBO, Andy Solomonson, about the DA40 - he was pretty jazzed about it - had only had a flight in a DA20, but wanted to know all about the DA40. I would've offered a ride, but I was hot on the trail to get going. The weather was starting to change back home, and winds were picking up, so I wanted to get home soon. Since the temperatures had climbed (32°C), the ceiling was much higher, and I had to climb above 8000ft to avoid the clouds. To gain favorable winds, I hung out at 9500ft for the trip back, making a groundspeed of 145kts. Very nice. I avoided Orlando Class B, and I tried to look for Walt Disney World, but I really couldn't make it out from 20miles away. That part of Florida is really an endless jungle of shopping developments, golf courses, and resort communities. As I flew over St. Augustine, I snapped a couple of photos of the city, and this was the best one. You can see the historic downtown area and the fort - unfortunately, the weather and timing did not cooperate on this trip, so I didn't make it down to St. Augustine for a visit. No worries....I'll be back! It's only 5hrs from Ohio!
Descended from 9500ft, I enjoyed the clear, albeit hazy, air as I made my way north to Amelia Island. The view of the Nassau Sound was incredible, and 3 miles from 55J, I passed by my lodgings for the week - the Amelia Island Plantation Inn. Total time logged - 3.2hrs. 1.6 down and 1.6 back. Climbing to 9500ft gained me some speed and got me above the clouds, but didn't really save any time overall.

Looking up Nassau Sound - Amelia Island is to the right-hand side of the frame

Amelia Island Plantation Inn from over the Atlantic ( I like saying that:))