Back From Florida

Spent the weekend in Gainesville visiting the younger heir.

Arrived after a nice Delta flight (one day I do need to fly myself there for the fun of it) and drove to meet her.

Picked her up and we headed to lunch at Liquid Ginger.

 

Excellent sushi.  Really good, and it hit the spot after the drive in from Jacksonville. 

On Saturday, we went to the Gators/Gamecocks football game.

 A sold-out crowd, on Homecoming weekend no less, assembled to watch the Gators win as they were projected to do and the crowd was fired up accordingly.

Sadly this expected hometown win didn't happen. 

It was quite a game day environment: Overcast with some sun peeking through on occasion, enough to get a sunburn, and the joy of 100% humidity and on top of a delay of game due to lightning within 8 miles of the field, 

 

 

Two shorts bursts of torrential rain and a 30-minute rain delay didn't help things either, nor did the delay give the Gators a chance to recombobulate and come back from their terrible on-field performance.

The Gators lost, and lost badly 38-19. The Homecoming crowd was not pleased.

Still a fun time out with the kid, and great to catch up on what she is up to, and see how she is doing.

After some rest we had dinner out and then on Sunday met up for breakfast.

I then took her food shopping for necessary supplies, as one does, dropped her back at her apartment, helped her unload the shopping, and then headed back on the road to Jacksonville to head back home.

Even with the Gator defeat, ending my record of 100% wins when I'm at a Gator Football game, it was still a great weekend. 

Graduation 2026 The Saturday Ceremony

The main graduaiton ceremony took place on Saturday.

Held in the Big House, With 14,000 graduating, there was really nowhere else to hold them all along with their families and guests.

 Rather packed it was, and quite chilly, with temperatures starting in the high 30s and moving into the low 40s during the ceremony.

This was a landmark ceremony as the University was going to confer its one millionth degree since its founding.   Graduating students received a commemorative tassel with 1M on it in addition to their department tassel.

The ceremony, of course, began with a land acknowledgement, which was, of course, both politically correct and purely performative.

The acknowledgment, from the first speaker, stated the land had been ceded by the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa under the Treaty of Fort Meigs, which it was, to forma  college for educational purposes

The University of Michigan has, for some unknown reason, made no move to hand itself back to the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa, nor has the University offered the descendants of the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa a free education at the University's expense.

Funny, that. 

Then honorary degrees were given out.

Shirin Ebadi was honored with a well-deserved Doctorate of Laws.  Funny, as the majority of UofM students and much of the faculty are busy supporting the same theocracy that has stripped her of her titles and career and imprisoned her.

Michael Phelps alsp received an honorary doctorate, as did Jalen Rose. Engineer Ingeborg Hochmair received an honorary doctorate of engineering, which given her engineering accomplishments is only fitting. Regent Emeritus Ron Weiser and Kent Syverud, who was set to become the new president of the university before being diagnosed with brain cancer also received honorary doctorates.

Then a speech by Professor Peterson had to throw in a one-sided anti-Israel comment, supporting the pro-Hamas protesters on  campus and equating them with actual civil rights heroes -- and not more appropriately with civil rights villains with their attacks on Jewish students and blocking them from classes, disruptions of classes and ceremonies, and, of course, support for terrorism.

Unfortunately many students cheered this bit of crap, but many people in the audience shouted "Bull Sh#t" in response. 

In short, it went as one might expect from the progressives of the University of Michigan.

Aside from that bit of leftist performative foolery, the ceremony went quite well and each department rose in turn as graduates and were allowed to move their tassel to signify their new status as graduates. 

That's one down, one to go! 

Graduation 2026

Abby was awarded her degree this weekend in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Michigan.

The main graduation was on Saturday where 14,000 students earned their degrees and the University of Michigan conferred its one millionth degree since it was founded, which is quite a milestone. More on the Saturday ceremony later.

For the record, that she graduated with that degree means she is a heckuva lot smarter than I am.

In addition to that, at the smaller and much more personal graduation ceremony for the MCDB Department, on Friday evening, she walked and received her degree certificate and her thesis was announced.

She also received the award that is given to the honors undergraduate with the highest ranked thesis not just in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology but in the entire Biology Department. That make her the #1 graduate out of 600 graduates. The Review team for the award had comments that included that the thesis was not an undergraduate level but was instead a thesis at the doctoral level, which is amazing.

For the record, that means she is a heckuva, heckuva, lot smarter than I am.

The members of the lab she worked at, including the head professor of the lab, and two of her co-(and more senior) researchers and friends who had just earned their Ph.D.s were there to cheer her on. 

She's going to work in the lab this summer as an actual employed (and paid!) Research Aisstant and then she will be heading out of town to a PH.D. program in  Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology to make her mark in the world doing some cutting-edge research in the field.

To say I'm beyond proud is an understatement. 

Back After Quite The Voyage

Took the kids on a cruise last week.

It began well enough with a nice flight to New Orleans that was on time, easy transfer to the ship from the New Orleans airport, with the only downside that the fellow in front of me was coughing quite a bit -- more on this later. 

We then had a pretty quick embarkation onto the ship and settled in.

The first day at sea was great, a nice time wandering the ship, relaxing and having some nice meals, including a specialty meal at the steakhouse that was magnificent.

The second day we got to Cozumel and had decided to go to the Kuza beach and adventure park. 

We got there from the port and had a nice time on the beach and had a nice lunch, and more time on the beach, but then it started raining heavily. The rain would not stop and it was really coming down

So we got out of there a bit early and got back to the ship rather thoroughly soaked. 

Apparently, late December in the Western Caribbean is the rainy season. 

The next day we landed at Roatan.  It was raining a bit which meant the visibility for the planned dive would be less than great.

And it was rather choppy and wavy too. 

This meant the Leah got to experience being seasick for her first certified ocean dive.

She along with another diver were rather green.  She did the first dive anyways.

Luckily the surface interval was done back at the dock rather than on the boat.

Both she and the other diver decided that since the dock was still moving (it wasn't)  they were going to skip the second dive.

We then headed back to the ship.

The next day it was raining again as we docked in Belize.  The rain also came this time with a healthy dose of thunder and lightning.

Not good when you're signed up to do zip-lining.  High above the trees on a steel cable in a lightning storm- what could possibly go wrong?

Yep, that got cancelled.

We went ashore anyways in rain ponchos and wandered around a bit and went back to the ship. 

At this point I was coming down with a heavy cough and feeling rather lousy. 

I was feeling really out of it the rest of the day and the next morning, having coughed through the night and not gotten much sleep, and basically stayed in the room sleeping for most of it, coming out for dinner. 

The next day it was rough and rainy again so Costa Maya was skipped as a port and we had a day at sea. 

Still feeling lousy, I discovered that eating a honey packet actually stops a cough.  The ship had pretty much no cold or flu meds to buy and we had neglected to pack any.  But, the honey really helped.  Good to know.

We then had our scheduled day at sea.   Honey was consumed by me in mass quantities.

I was feeling a bit better.

The next day, Sunday,  we disembarked early and got to the airport early.  Had I known that early arrival and debarkation would happen, I would have booked the earlier flight out and the next bit of fun would not have happened.

The flight home was delayed, and then delayed some more, being stuck in Detroit for maintenance. So we were stuck in the airport for hours.

After a three-hour delay, the plane it arrived and the gate attendant said she had good news and bad news.

The good news - the plane was here.

The bad news - the flight attendants had timed out due to the delay and there was no replacement crew so the flight wasn't going anywhere. 

 That the airline hadn't anticipated this was a bit of a problem and was rather dumb. 

There were no scheduled flights to Detroit for the next day so they booked us on another airline through Chicago leaving at 6 am. At least they put us up in a hotel.

We finally got to the hotel after 9pm and went to sleep and then got up at 4 am and headed back to the airport.

At least we had some beignets and coffee for breakfast there.

The flight to Chicago was no problem.   Easy boarding and a smooth fliught with just a little turbulence

We then had to dash to the gate for the flight to Detroit, only to be told we were on standby as we were the last to check in and the flight was oversold.

We were the last to check in as we had just been delivered there.

 We did manage to get seats and were soon on the aircraft waiting to depart.

And waiting.

And waiting.

We got deiced and waited some more,

And more. Apparently waiting for the deicing paperwork.

We finally departed over an hour and a half later.

Quite a bit of turbulence. Funnily enough it didn't bother me at all but it really bothered the kids.

Finally got to the airport and then home and that was that. 

I promptly took some NyQuil and went to sleep. 

Not quite the vacation I wanted, but it was the one we got so we made the best of it.

Weekend At Gainesville

Went to visit the younger heir at University of Florida last weekend. 

Little did I know when I booked the flight and trip that it was Homecoming Weekend.

Traffic was rather interesting as a result.

Made it through the traffic jams, and had a great weekend.  Took the kid shopping and errand running as I had a car and she did not.  We hit her favorite restaurants as well.

We also went to watch the Gators play the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

I got us some decent seats in the end zone.

A field goal narrowly passed over our heads.

A crowd of over 90,000, mainly Gator fans, with a sprinkling of diehard Mississippi State fans watched it with us. Lots of good-natured banter went back and forth.

It got rather loud whenever a penalty was called on the Bulldogs: 

 

The Gators seemed on the cusp of defeat when they were leading 23-21 in the 4th Quarter, with the Bulldogs inexorably advancing down the field into easy field goal range with little time remaining on the clock.

All seemed lost, and then the Bulldogs threw a pass and it was intercepted, and the Gators won!

 A very exciting game, and I''m now 2 wins watching for Gators football live.

It was a great visit and a great time with the younger heir.

Carousel Acres And A Kid's Birthday

Leah's birthday celebration began, as it should, with a cherry cheesecake.  Then presents, then we piled in the car.

For Leah's birthday we took her to a petting zoo, Carousel Acres, to get some animal time in. While now a full-on young adult, she still loves hanging out with animals.

Quite an array of animals are at Carousel Acres, most are rescues and there's quite a variety.

What happens when a Donkey and a Zebra love each other very much? 

You get a Z-Donk.  I did not realize you could get a donkey/Zebra hybrid but indeed you can, and here it is.

The Z-Donk:

Certainly not a typical looking animal. Rather calm and enjoyed the kids brushing her out.

We then went to the parakeets.  The parakeets, after we entered their facility decided to swarm us like a scene from The Birds (the bird seed in our hands didn't hurt).

 

 

Much fun.  Having birds flocking to your hand and calming standing on it to eat is rather fun.

 There were reindeer (No grandmas were run over in the taking of this picture).

 There were also lots of goats to pet. Goats do indeed enjoy a good petting, and compete with each other for attention and a turn.

 

Bunnies also got pets. And there were many other animals to see, including kangaroos, wallabys, kookaburras, horses, and even pigs sloshing in the mud.

Lots of fun was had.

Then we went to a celebratory lunch at Guernsey Dairy in Northville - they have the best fried chicken anywhere and about 50 flavors of ice cream to choose from  - all made right there at the dairy. 

It was an excellent birthday celebration. 

Birthday Flight And Activities

So, having turned 53, I decided to go for a flight to somewhere I had not been before.

So I went with a friend and picked up Leah and the three of us headed to the airport. Abby was unavailable as she was heading back from an academic conference out of town as she was presenting there after she had just published a scientific paper as a co-author- as a junior no less - not too shabby at all.

So the three of us went to the airport, and I did the preflight, got a weather brief which looked good and METARS and TAFs all were in favorable territory, and then we headed out.

Overall everything looked favorable for a flight to Traverse City, a decent crosswind ws expected but well within my personal limits.

Departed VFR with flight following to the northwest on a sunny day with a bit of wind.

 Very smooth in the air though.  Detroit Approach had me hold my climb at 4,000 and then divert 20 degrees left to avoid traffic that apparently was coming right for us, which is one of the reasons I like flight following - its a great extra safety measure. Soon got cleared to head back on course and to my desired altitude of 6,500 feet.

Got switched to Great Lakes Approach and mosied through their airspace at 154 knots ground speed, which was nice. Both passengers were nice and relaxed and both fell asleep on the way.

Getting closer to Traverse City, I got switched to Minneapolis Center and got the weather at  Traverse City.

ATIS was now reporting a direct crosswind gusting between 18-28 knots; a low level wind shear warning; and of pilot reports from landing aircraft of moderate turbulence on final on top of that.

Those conditions are outside my comfort zone, especially when carrying passengers who depend on me to make good decisions. 

I let the passengers know that going to Traverse City would have to wait, and suggested we go to Mt. Pleasant instead as it was close by and we could hit the Casino for lunch and activities.

I let Minneapolis Center know that we were going to divert to KMOP due to the current conditions at TVC and they updated my fight following and I was soon talking to Great Lakes Approach and heading to KMOP.

Arrived there in almost no time and the wind conditions there were also gusty with a crosswind of up to 17 knots.

On the first approach, I did a go around due to a late gust, and then on the second attempt I did a darn nice landing that both passengers liked.  They didn't quite get how much I was working to do it with the gusts on final on that one. 

But, I got it down landing long having added a bit more power to deal with the gusts, but on center-line, and apparently made it look easy to the non-pilot set.

We got the shuttle to the Casino and had lunch. We had chicken from the Chicken Guy for lunch and it was quite good.

We then hit the casino floor and tried our luck.  I hadn't brought my gambling fund with me as I hadn't planned on the casino, but had an emergency hundred tucked in my wallet and played with that.

Played craps for awhile and I had a good roll, but was then up and down with other players, and after an hour plus of playing I walked away having broken even, which was not bad for the entertainment value.

Leah, having not been at the casino before decided to try slots for the first time.

I gave her $10 to play with for her first try with the machine.

She then made $13.50 on the penny slot machine.

 

Not bad.  My friend also made $43 playing slots as well on the neighboring machine so it was a great time.

We then headed back to the airport.  I got a weather brief and all looked good, as did the preflight.

Took off and contacted Great Lakes Approach in the air and got flight following.

It was a fair bit bumpier on the return trip but not a big deal, and both passengers soon fell asleep again.

Soon we passed by Flint airport on the way back.

 Pontiac was soon seen in the distance and I got in touch with Pontiac Tower and was cleared into the downwind for Runway 27R.  I did have an oncoming aircraft as I was heading for the downwind, but Pontiac Tower maintained a good separation keeping me higher and he passed off my wing and below me.

I then descended to pattern altitude and flew a good pattern.  Winds had calmed down to a pretty steady 9 knots from 200, and I made a nice crosswind landing that I was very happy with and my passengers complimented me on yet again. That one was so much easier than the landing at KMOP.

After that, we refueled, cleaned, and put the plane away, dropped Leah off, and my friend took me out for sushi for dinner which was excellent.

Then we went for a swim and had a good time and headed home after that.

Thar was a great birthday day. 

That's 2.3 and 2 great landings.

The Flight Back From KMCD

Once at the Airport, I called for a weather brief.

The briefer was very enthusiastic and helpful and suggest flying at 5,000 on the way back to  avoid a lot of the clouds and such on the way.  He also noted there might be some light precip but no issues affecting the flight.  He then filed the IFR flight plan for me, which was rather nice, and it was quickly approved.

We then headed out to the plane and I did the pre-flight, started it up, went to the run up area for Runway 8 and did the run up and then called Minneapolis Center on my cell phone for a clearance. 

I got the clearance and then did a good take-off and started flying back to Pontiac.

Once in the air and at sufficient altitude I gave Minneapolis Center a call and  got cleared to climb to 5,000 feet.

We headed over Bois Blanc Island in the haze.

 We were pretty much under the clouds in the haze most of the way home and we did fly in a fair bit of clouds and picked up some light rain that washed the plane as we flew in them.

 Other than the clouds there was haze.  Lots and lots of haze. I probably could have counted a fair bit of the time ion the haze as IFR as visibility was impressively limited, but just counted the time in the clouds themselves. Leah napped as usual.

We did have ground contact through the haze most of the way, and were only in clouds for about a half hour of the trip  so it was pretty uneventful. We got passed off to Great Lakes Approach and continued on our way.

We then flew over Saginaw Bay.

 

If you embiggen and then look hard, by the second bridge in the river you can just make out the USS Edson in the picture.

The haze continued all the way back to Pontiac, where I did a visual approach to Runway 9R and did what Leah described as a fantastic landing. Completely greased it in nice and smoothly.

That was 1.9, .5 instrument time, a fantastic landing and a great day trip to the island.

Saturday Flyday - To KMCD

Saturday morning I got a weather brief, and then picked Leah up and headed to the airport.

Things were,  however, delayed due to some git hitting and destroying the gate mechanism and motor to enter into the hangar area.  So we could not enter through the normal gate.  There was a sign that says to use the Astropark entrance but not saying where the Astropark was located.  Very helpful, that.

So, I had to call Airport Maintenance and find out the alternative entry point and also the access code for same.

Made it to the plane, did the preflight, and filed for an IFR departure and a flight at 8,000.

Got the plane started, got my clearance, which was approved as filed, and after a run-up we got to take off. 

We were soon up on runway heading climbing to 3,000 feet in the haze and on our way.

Detroit Approach had me then go direct and immediately start the climb to 8,000.

We then got handed off to Great Lakes Approach, and were flying over Saginaw Bay in heavy haze.

Right after Saginaw Bay, we entered into IFR conditions.

 Not much to see outside, so I was right on the instruments.

Leah had fallen asleep before we hit the Bay and she woke up inside the clouds which was a tad disorienting for her.  Her first time in instrument conditions in a small plane.  

Thankfully the clouds were happy ones - not much turbulence at all and very stable air for a nice, smooth ride. 

At times we were in between layers which was rather serene and pretty. 

 

We stayed IFR practically all the way to Mackinaw Island.  Minneapolis Center had me descend to 3,000 and we broke out over Beaver Island.

 

Still all sorts of hazy, but I saw enough so I could do a visual approach to the airport and Center had advised that two prior planes had done the visual with no issues.

I then did a nice visual landing on Runway 8 at Mackinaw Island and closed my IFR flight plan.

I parked the plane and we went in and paid the landing fee.  Another plane landed as we did so. 

 

Then we walked into town.

 1.8 on the way up, and 1.2 of that in IFR conditions, and a very nice landing.

University Of Florida Visit - Go Gators!

So, this weekend I went to Gainesville to visit the younger child at University of Florida.

With the weather being sunny and in the low 80s it sure beat the wet and cold of Michigan this early April.

Flew into Jacksonville and drove the couple hours to Gainesville.

Met up with the kid and we watched the Gators advance into the finals.

Victory for the Gators was assured as Leah took us out that night to feed the campus feral cats. 

Quite a few ferals around and apparently it's lucky to feed them prior to exams for good results, and during various sportsball games to ensure the Gators do well.

The offerings to the cats must have worked, as the Gators ended up beating Auburn to earn a place against Huston for a shot at the national championship in b-ball. 

Much cheering throughout the dorm was heard when they game resulted in the Gator's victory.

The next day we did more sportsball, in this case Gator Baseball.

 Got some grass seats on the left berm, inside the foul ball danger area and had a great view of the game. Gators vs the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Initially during the warm-up, it appeared it was unclear to the Commodores as to what sport they were there to play.

 Yes, he's throwing a football around.

The game got off to a good start with hits by both teams in the first but no runs.

By the third inning it was tied 1-1.

 

That would change.

Sadly, an offering to the cats had not been made, as the Commodores swept the series and harvested the Gators 11-3 in the game we watched.

Still, even ending in a loss, it was a lot of fun to watch and the atmosphere at the ballpark was very family friendly and had great sportsmanship.  The crowd applauded for great plays regardless of which team made them, and it was a highly enjoyable time.

After that we head back to her dorm where she studied preparing for an exam that was set to occur tonight - right at the same time as the championship game - and I did some work.

She then found out via email that the prof, recognizing the historic nature of the championship game was offering all students the opportunity to defer the exam so they could watch the game as part of the college experience. This was happy-making and she'll be viewing the game with friends tonight and taking the exam another day.  Pretty cool on the part of the professor.

So she had three classes today so I did some work as she did and then took her to lunch. 

On the way to lunch we passed by the pond near her dorm.

 

They're serious about that sign.

Did you see the gator to the lower right in the picture?

 Gilbert, the dorm gator, was back from brumating for the winter.  He's been known to sunbathe on the grass and even hang out by the dorm entrance at times.

That he's back has been declared to be a good sign that the Gators will do well tonight. 

It was a great visit.  Good luck to the Gators tonight.

Kid Turns 21

Where does the time go?

Abby turned 21 this weekend. She came up from university with her boyfriend to celebrate her birthday with us.

Leah flew in for the celebration and to spend the Thanksgiving Break together.

As is tradition, breakfast on her birthday was a cherry cheesecake.

After cheesecake, she received her presents.

The kid is now legal to drink and celebrated with her first order of alcohol at a restaurant, and then buying a bottle of Ciroc at a store that she brought home and mixed her very first cocktail, with fresh-squeezed lime juice and including making her own simple syrup.  It was a rather tasty cocktail.

We along with her boyfriend, finished her day with a further celebration and birthday cake and she had a great day.

Scuba Diving The Devil's Den

Devil's Den is a spring about 40 minutes from Gainesville that offers some fun diving practice in fresh water.

The UF Scuba Club had booked some of the gear setup areas with tables and it was very nicely organized. We arrived and the group all geared up and headed into the spring after checking in, doing waivers, paying the entrance fee and rental needed equipment.

Entry is through a tunnel heading downward and you need to mind your head as its rather tight.

Even though you enter through a cave entrance, there is direct sunlight through the ceiling of the collapsed cave.

That hole is rather pretty when viewed form under the water:

There's a nice platform set up that you then enter into the water.

There's a mound of rocks and rubble piled in the middle of the spring with deeper areas to the sides.

There's a few fish wandering about the spring;

There are some swim-throughs, meaning an overhead environment, but it was always a pretty quick transition through them,. and you can still see daylight,  and some swim-throughs turned out to end in blockages that require you to turn around which got a little tight but was fine.

 

There is a cave entrance, but entry into the cave is strictly prohibited.

Most springs with caves have the standard Grim Reaper with the "No Non-Cave Trained Divers Should Enter" sign.  This one is an outright prohibition.

Lights were needed as it was dark in the spring, and a lot of particulate in the water made for some difficult photos.

Leah loved her first certified dive experience, and she did great for a first dive as a certified diver without an instructor present, and did a very good job as a dive buddy.

We had a nice 54 minute run time with a max depth of 52 feet. The temperature ranged from 72-75 degrees depending on where you were in the water which made for a comfy dive.

A great dive and a great time with the kid.

Flying: To CYTZ And Back

On Saturday I flew over to Toronto Island Airport to go visit the folks and celebrate my Dad's 80th birthday.

I did the electronic paperwork, called Canpass, filed my typical route and got my clearance to depart. Approved clearance was ADRIE T781 OLAMO CYTZ

I climbed to 3,000 as instructed and contacted Detroit Approach.

A beautiful day and still some fall color to see.

Detroit Approach climbed me to my filed altitude of 5,000 and then amended my clearance to just fly direct to CYTZ, which was nice.

Had a light tailwind and was cruising along at a nice 146 knot ground speed.

Crossed the border and it started getting a little overcast around Sarnia:

I got permission to climb above the layer to 6,000 and enjoyed the view.

Toronto Center then amended my clearance and had me go direct to OLAMO before heading to the airport.  I then did a practice localizer approach to Runway 26 and had a very good landing.

I had a nice time in Toronto with the folks, and the open house party on Sunday to celebrate my dad's birthday went very well.

Then yesterday, it was time to head back.  The weather would, unfortunately, not be quite as nice. Overcast, rainy, and windy it would be.

I had filed what I had done for the return on the last trip, which was accepted. Easy enough.

I got to the airport, paid my parking and fuel bill, did the preflight.

 I contacted Ground, and then was told my clearance had changed and was I ready to copy?

Yep, yet again I got the PERL.4 Departure, DERLO Transition, PICUP, OKLND ONE Arrival.  So next time I go, I'm  just going to file that from the outset to save time as they seem to like it a lot on Mondays.  Knowing it well from the last time made reprogramming the system a lot faster.

I then, just before takeoff, got a further amendment to the departure procedure and was told to climb to 3,000, on heading 210 degrees, so I did that and out over the Lake I went.

It was rather overcast and I had a pretty major headwind of around 30 knots so my ground speed was around 90-100 knots, most of the time so it was kinda slow going.

Toronto Center then got me on course to the next waypoint and I was told to climb to 6,000, and then once I reached that next waypoint ANCOL, I got an amended clearance to fly straight to DERLO which saved a little bit of time.

At DERLO the Overcast became more acute and I started getting some instrument time.

It was rather solid with some light chop and light precipitation.  Air Temperature up there was 15 degrees C due to the warm front that was moving in and causing all the winds and clouds, so no icing risk which was good.

The clouds opened up just a bit as I was crossing the border.

And soon closed up again, with even more rain and bouncing around and I was again in solid IMC conditions.

Then for a brief while I was right in between two layers of clouds which was kinda neat.  The air was smooth and it was all rather beautiful.

But soon it closed up again.

I got the weather at Pontiac with winds of 14 knots at 180 degrees for a very direct crosswind for landing on 27L.  I was passed on to Detroit Approach and clearance amended to fly straight to GUZVY for the 27L RNAV and was then cleared onto the approach.

Up to the Final Approach Fix it was IFR, as I followed the glideslope down and got lower I broke out of the clouds.

Not the best visibility, and I was kinda flying sideways in the wind following the RNAV guidance.  This was a tad disorienting, so I just kept on the needles, and it took a bit to find the airport as the nose was pointed into the wind left of the Airport, even as the plane was moving on a nice straight line right to the runway.

Then I had the runway in sight before the missed approach point, and still had to fly crabbed into the wind on the way towards final.

I then made a most excellent crosswind landing, even as it felt like a lot more than 14 knots.  The excellent landing was likely due to a lack of observers of same.

I then cleared customs, then headed to the hangar and got the plane refueled and put away, and that was the end of the weekend.

November 2 I had 2.0 out, and 1 great landing.

November 4 I had 2.4 back, .9 actual instrument time, an instrument approach and another great crosswind landing.

An excellent trip flying that sure as heck beats driving, and it was good to get some actual IFR time and a real approach in and plan for and deal with more challenging conditions.