After all of our awful weather, the clouds parted, the sun emerged, and the
winds calmed, as they always do after a major winter storm in the Midwest...

What was left in its wake was just stunning. Thousands of square miles
buried under a soft, velvety layer of deep snow, with crisp, cold
temperatures and thousand-mile visibility. The atmosphere had been scrubbed
clean of any dust or pollution, and anything ugly on the ground was simply
buried under a sparkling carpet of gleaming ice crystals.

For as far as the eye could see...

We flew to Wisconsin in air so thick and syrupy that you would swear you
were lounging in your barca-lounger. Engine performance at 14 degrees was
nothing short of spectacular, with full-fuel climb rate (and four aboard)
pegged at 1500 feet per minute.

With little sense of motion at 5500 feet (despite our wind-assisted 156 knot
ground speed), we sat in awe as the suddenly, magically changed snowscape
unrolled beneath us. Completely unable to adequately voice the feelings and
emotions that such a fairyland sight embodied, we simply stared in silence
at the cobalt blue sky above, and blinding white landscape below. It was
magical.

After the weeks of flying over a muddy, lifeless landscape, it was if we had
passed through some portal, into a wondrous and different world.

Sadly, few of our fellow pilots were there to witness the show. Traffic was
sparse, as so many fair-weather pilots have apparently stowed their gear for
the winter.

Their loss.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"