My uncle and aunt live on the Cougar Mountain Airstrip which is one hour's flight north of Twin Oaks. I had hoped having a plane would allow me to visit them on a regular basis but I just don't seem to find the time - as with a lot of things in life. The airstrip hosts a fly-in the last Sunday in June which gave me a good excuse to plan a visit.

I flew up early in the morning in order to spend some time with my uncle before the fly-in. The air was smooth but a bit warm due to the 90+ degree temperatures we have been having.

I enjoyed visiting and saw some really cool planes.

The forecast for the return trip included the possibility of scattered thunder storms. As soon as I gained a little altitude I could see thunder clouds and rain off to the east of my rout. I could also hear a lot of chatter on the radio as jets flying into Portland tried to avoid the cells. I decided to fly a little west of my planned rout in order to avoid the bad weather. The following picture was taken as I skirted under the western edge of the bad weather.

After taking this photo I pointed the camera to the east to get a picture of the rotten weather out the left side of the plane. As I was aiming the camera I hit some turbulence that shook things up enough that I tossed the camera into a pocket and forgot about taking pictures. I then veered a little more to the west, flew through some rain and continued on home to Twin Oaks. I made it home just in time as about ten minutes after landing it started to rain and an hour or so later we had thunder and lightning.

I made a near perfect cross-wind wheel landing which of course no one else saw because I was the only crazy person at the airport.