Preparing for Duluth

Only 2 more days until my big flying trip of the year. I attend the annual migration of Cirrus Aircraft in Duluth each summer. I love the comradary as well as the opportunity to fly a long ways. I am sure this year they will show us their new jet flying. Here is the first flight from a few days ago.




This year, I will be stopping in Saint George to pick up my Uncle Tony and drop him off at his son's place outside Detroit. A quick stop in Chicago to visit (time and weather permitting) and then to Duluth. Below is a map of my routing. Over 13 hours of flying (yeah) and 2394 nautical miles (2700 for you ground based people).





Have done a lot of planning (even though I have done it before), to be sure I know the route and planned stops. Plan A (there is always a Plan B and Plan C as backups) will have me overnighting in Saint George, breakfast in Pueblo,CO the next day, lunch in St. Joseph MO and then drop off Tony in New Hudson, MI. If its not too late, I'll jump over to Chicago to spend Wednesday with family and then hop up to Duluth on Thursday for the weekend. My main requirements for stops are fuel, food and clean restrooms.

Checking weather is one of my main pre-flight activities as well as ensuring all my maps are up-to-date. Weather is showing a forecasted front moving through Chicago and Detroit on Tuesday afternoon, with some isolated T-Storms along with it. Depending on how the forecast looks in a few days, I will either delay my departure from Saint George by a day or be prepared to spend an overnight in Southern Illinois. Time wil tell.



Most of my maps are updated, I'll get the rest done Monday morning before I leave. Working out the details of the route, preparing Plan B and Plan C and just the anticipation of a big flight always gets me excited.