Day 3 - Stuck in Plainview with our Lincoln Continental

We left Albuquerque early to avoid any more weather issues. As we arrived at Glen Eagle II airfield, the sky was clear:

Next stop...we landed in Santa Rosa for fuel:

If you’re looking for great displays of neon signs, mom-and-pop motels in the middle of nowhere, or kitschy Americana, do as the song says and “get your kicks on Route 66“. This is the airport that brought them to town:

The wind did a number on Santa Rosa as it blew the covers off the gas pumps...but they somehow still worked. Kaylee insisted we do multiple sumps of fuel to be sure it was good - haha. Sumping is the process of siphoning off fuel to visually inspect it for sediment and water:

After leaving Santa Rosa, we crossed into the Lone Star state to a town called Plainview. Apparently, Plainview gets it’s name because of the unobstructed views of the countryside. In other words, it is in the middle of nowhere. The FBO there gave us a Lincoln Continental so we could get lunch in town. It turned out, however, to be circuit 1980:

While eating lunch at the Cotton Patch, we learned that a squall of storms had formed around the town. The weather service advised of hail and 50 knot winds. So we spent the afternoon at the Cotton Patch to wait it out:

Storm advisory - hail and 50 knot winds:

Bored at the Cotton Patch, Kaylee sported her new Icon A5 t-shirt to the staff while I worked on the blog:

About 5pm, we saw an opportunity to go south between two storms so we could overnight in Abilene. We are the blue icon if you can’t figure it out (no pun intended):

Storms on all sides. Time to thread the needle:

Storms behind us - wind power everywhere:

Safe and sound in Abilene, we overnighted there:

Established by cattlemen as a stock shipping point on the Texas and Pacific Railway in1881, the city was named after Abilene, Kansas, the original endpoint for the Chisholm Trail. Now we know why we kept seeing this sign:

Check back for Day 4 where we fly above the clouds and test the Icon out for night flying!