Sunny for a change

I was off to Marathon today.  I did this trip in June and had to circumnavigate some weather on the way back.  Today the forecast was for some rain but in the end it was nicer than forecast. 

The flight down was picture perfect.  We had some low puffy clouds but for the most part we sailed over top in smooth air.  Something about the keys just feels tropical.  That just looks like a tropical island, or key in this case.

While the folks are friendly down in Marathon and they have tootsie rolls, there gas is pretty pricy, $2.80 a gallon more than my planned stop.  Also if I fueled in Marathon I would arrive home needing gas for my next trip.  They do charge a modest ramp fee which they wave with 30 gallons of gas but the math says to pay the fee.

Departing, Miami had my clearance ready and I was routed RSW KLAL.  I initially asked for deviations east for my only showers of the day but was asked to deviate West.  My eyes and onboard radar were telling me to avoid the weather but the satellite said it was fine.

I followed my eyes and avoided what was a pretty severe core.  A reminder when weather is changing fast, delayed weather can be dangerous.

Here it is overlaid and while I was swapping pages a new shower was forming just off to my left.  It wasn't much and not a hazard but 20 minutes later may have been a different story.

The ride to Lakeland was mostly smooth and I was soon at self serve.  I needed 95 gallons so making the stop saved $266 in gas minus about $25 for the stop.  Unlike a car a stop is not really free due to the extra gas burned.  I was at 9000 feet and while I got a bit of free mileage descending, I then had to claw my way back up to 8000 for the trip home plus the take off and taxi waste gas as well.  In the end this was a net positive stop and set me up for my next travel plans.

Lakeland is home to the massive Sun n Fun airshow but today it was a quiet spot for gas.  I did taxi past Prime Airlines.  I am waiting for a package but I doubt they will let me taxi up for it.

The flight home was short and mostly smooth except for one unassuming cloud that gave me one really good bump.  It was enough to bank the plane about 20 degrees and I had my hands on the controls lest the autopilot decide it had had enough.  Auto was dependable though and gently righted the aircraft.

Was nice to finally have a trip where I just needed to dodge a few puffy clouds and not deal with severe weather.