Just a quick note to run down my weekend of flying.  It actually started on
Friday morning when I took off from Sandy Creek and flew up to Grand Ridge
where I met Jim Cunningham for breakfast at Blondie's.  We flew over to
Donalsonville, Ga next and though no one was there, we got to kick the tires
on Steve Baxley's new FireFly.  DL's place was next on the itinerary.  We
got to park our airplanes in his new hanger while we rode into town for
lunch in Doyle's truck.  Then it was off to Marianna for some popcorn (did I
mention that "we fly for food"?).  We talked to Lavon for a little bit
before heading off to Freedom Field for a short visit.  They seem to be
doing quite well there with new hangers and several ultralights parked hear
and there.  Nice folks.  We should think about having another fly-in there.  
It was starting to get late by this time so we set off for Waldan Field to
get ready for the SFUA Banquet.  Shortly after landing Mike Highsmith flew
in and Chuck got us settled into his guest quarters where we would be
spending the night.  Richard and Pat drove by on their way to the banquet to
check on us as well.

Saturday morning we drove into Cottonwood where a bunch of us met for
breakfast. In attendance was Chuck, Mike, Jim, Steve, Doyle and myself.  
Back at Waldan, Mike, Jim and I got ready to fly over to Donalsonville where
we were going to meet Steve and take a closer look at his new airplane.  On
the way over we heard Joel Strait and Hal Hadaler on the radio as they flew
towards Moltrie for the car show.  Richard also came on the air and was
flying north to meet up with us.  So we decided that we would fly over to
the car show after stopping at Donalsonville.  We gave the FireFly a good
once over and properly populated Steve's to-do list.  Richard showed up a
little later as well as John Luckie in his Challenger.  Leaving Steve to his
list, we headed East towards Moltrie.  Jim decided to head home once we got
to Bainbridge (sp?) so it ended up being Mike, Richard, John and myself
going to Moultrie.  After landing at Spence Field, we headed directly for,
you guessed it....FOOD!  We had the pleasure of paying a $7 entrance fee so
that we could buy a $6 hamburger.  Nobody said that we are the brightest
bulbs in the barn.  We met a nice fellow there who went and bought some gas
for us.  Of course, Luckie took all of it (he only brought us 5 gal.).  We
then flew back to Donalsonville so the rest of us could gas up.  There was
Steve still going down his list.  So Mike and I took another look and
managed to fill it up again.  That's going to be one squared away FireFly
when he gets done!  We split up at that point and headed for our home bases.
 I checked my times when I got to Sandy Creek and realized that I had flown
seven hours since Friday morning.

Sunday morning I drove to the airport and found Richard doing some
maintenance on his plane.  Dick Smith was at his hanger working hard on his
Mark III.  Mike was busy being domesticated at Crystal Village.  So I had to
fly up to Grand ridge all by myself and get some lunch.  It was tough but
somebody had to do it.  It was just too pretty out not to be in the air.  I
actually landed at Glenn Rinck's to see if I could drag him to lunch but he
had just finished a late breakfast.  So I borrowed his truck and went to
eat.  On the way back south I heard Mike and Robin taking off for an
afternoon flight.  I called them on the radio and turned in their direction.
 Richard popped up on the radio and was in the air also.  We all came
together just about right over my house when Dick chimed in saying he was in
the air as well.  We gathered up in a formation of five and landed at Sandy
Creek.  We all went up to Dick's hanger and checked the progress on the Mark
III.  It is really coming along nicely!  It won't be long before it is in
the air if he keeps up this pace.  Mike and Robin decided it was time for
them to be heading back so Dick and I escorted them as far as the sod farm
by Deerpoint Lake were we did some low level "training".  Of course, Dick
and I had to buzz the folks at the marina on Cook's Bayou on the way home.  
After putting my SlingShot to bed, I drove up to Dick's where I found him
gassing up the 172 (you can't say we don't like to fly).  He asked if I
wanted to fly him around a bit and I said sure! (Duh!)  So we did a
pre-flight and I took him over to Panama City for a touch-and-go.  We then
headed to the beach to see all of the new construction going on.  We got
clearance from Tyndall to enter their airspace and flew the coast all the
way to Mexico Beach at 250-300 ft before turning north to land at Sandy
Creek just as it was getting dark.

Now that's what I call a good weekend!

Jim