[LoadMasterC141]

Finally knocked out my other Solo XC. Stupid me though; I needed 2.6 and ended up with 2.4! Going to New Braunsfels tomorrow to finish that off.

It was a good XC. Flight up to Stephenville I tracked a radial off the Temple VOR. Out of Stephenville, I had planned to use the Glen Rose VOR to the East to get a radial to Waco. Unfortunately, Fort Worth center asked me to turn south early because they had so many planes holding out there for DFW. I got a bit disoriented at first. There is not much on the ground to look at, and I was having a hard time with the GPS as this was a plane I had not flown before. It suddenly dawned on me that I could grab a different radial off the VOR and then I was fine. Flew down to Waco and did 3 stop'n'gos to get some experience with the tower.

Then the fun began! (Always happens towards the end of my flying doesnt it?). On the short 30 mile hop down to Temple, I got handed off to the Killeen controller. He was busy diverting regionals around a thunderstorm that was right around Temple. As I looked off in the distance, there it was; A big CB cloud casting lightning down onto the 3000 ft Cell/TV towers. I maintained 1900AGL to stay below the cloud layer. As I got closer, the storm looked quite ominous. I called the controller and mentioned I was going to divert to the executive Waco airport below me and wait it out. The controller said that the cell seemed stationary and he could easily vector me around it. I acknowledged and flew an east heading he specified, skirting the edge of the thunderstorm and flying in between the two mile gap between high cell tower farms. Lightning was whacking the towers under the storm and I started to get some good rain, but little turbulence. The sky to the east of me was crystal clear and it looked like I could almost see around the storm now. Eventually, I made it around and the controller gave me a west vector back to Temple. He also noted that the stationary cell had started moving back towards the airfield and I should expedite. I sped into a landing, dropped flaps and pwer and put it down quick. By the time I got back to the hangar, it was dumping huge rain. Very close call! Good experience though.

This week I have been flying after work here and there practicing maneuvers. Last night, the wind was 17G23, which made for a great day to practice ground reference maneuevers. I went up and down a perfect straight road for almost an hour working S-Turns. Some people in a pool below told me I was number one everytime I flew by. I waved.

Tomorrow a flight to New Braunsfels to finish off my Solo XC req's, a quick hour with my instructor to check my maneuvers, and some time on my own. After that I am off to Kentucky for Business until mid-week.

Next weekend I am doing a Mock checkride. Plenty of solo time in between and lots of studying! I borrowed the King checkride DVD's from an instructor as well; King is kind of annoying. Glad I got Sporty's.

TT now is 71.5. 34.1 is from 2007.

I am a bit alarmed as neither my budget nor my plan to fly 40 hours a month has been attained. We had some unexpected costs(A root canal, house fix, car fix). The weather killed my flying time. 34 hours in 7 weeks is way off. I hope I can make it up flying long XC's once I get my PPL. I also have someone who is willing to share time to do the safety pilot/hood thing during IFR training. That should help the budget.