"Well Bear, at least we can still see the ground!"
The Texas Gulf Coast in early May – the first hint of the coming summer. Soup Season. Temperatures and humidity are warming up like the chorus behind the scenes on opening night, a preview of miserable times to come. The nice thing about owning an RV? The ability to escape!
Sunday dawned with hazy skies, hints of blue peaking out between fuzzy, scuddy cumulous, the nearby AWOS reporting visibilities of about 5 miles. Cloud heights varied between 1200 and 2200 feet, with a 30% chance of thundershowers through early afternoon, courtesy of the tail end of a cold front creeping across the state from the Hill Country. To the north, big thunder boomed! The radar showed a solid blob of red maybe 100 miles across, from just north of Houston all the way to the east side of Dallas. Moving east with the front, this didn’t appear to be a factor for today’s mission – a quick trip to our property at Kestrel Airpark, north of San Antonio, then lunch at the Aviator Café in nearby New Braunfels. We were in no hurry to get started, and puttered around the hangar until it was nearly 1100 – time to let the haze get organized and merge with the clouds to provide a little more definite ceiling. Still soupy though – air thick with moisture, and the heat getting worse.
It was the Valkyrie’s turn today – Mikey gets to go north next weekend to visit friends at Pecan Plantation and hopefully pick up his freshly painted wheel pants and fairings. I was feeling the need for some travel because work beckons for the next month of weekends (if all goes on schedule), and chances to slip out of town will be slim. I’ll take any excuse to get out of Houston, as will Louise, so she slid into the back seat and we fired up for the one hour trip to the west. The wind was directly across our narrow runway, but at ten knots, it was manageable – the density altitude had us climbing a little slower than usual, but enough to get up and away and out of the breezy swirls that come off the hangars set close to the pavement. We turned west leveling off below the Class B and the scattered layer. To say that the soup had the (now) reported 7 miles of visibility was generous. Our destination was reporting scattered and broken clouds, so as soon as we escaped the confines of the Houston airspace, we looked for a long break to climb on top, following a shaft of sunlight and topping the white stuff at 6500 feet. The single METAR between us and the Hill Country showed overcast skies, and sure enough, we had a solid under cast, but the horizon showed that dark line that signals a clearing ahead.
The clearing was real, but not very clear – the gunk flowing inland from the sea had penetrated many miles, and the poor visibility swallowed us on the descent and stayed with us until the terrain began to rise up ahead, the edge of the central Texas hills. On the ground after landing, walking our property, it felt good to get out of Houston. Louise pointed out that it was still awfully humid – just less so by comparison. She was right of course – the soup might be thinner here, but it was still soup. Flying back, after a light lunch, we climbed for the cool air, but couldn’t stay there as the clouds once again thickened below us. Louise asked why I didn’t just stay on top and file IFR, but I’ve flown with Houston Approach too long – as soon as I was IFR, they’d send me down below 3,000’ anyway, pounding along inside the sticky, bumpy clouds, and it wouldn’t be much fun. You can’t win unless you’re burning Jet A I’m afraid – those of us with pistons and cranks are relegated to the lower levels, below the sanctuary of the Class B…..
But even though the soup was thick, the air hot, the humidity enough to mist the outside of the windshield – it was still better than being stuck on the ground, stuck in the “soup”. The RV, with its great climb, good speed, and long range can take us away, if even only for a few hours. The summer prelude is almost over, and the heat will rise, bringing days when it is to hot to even make clouds – the visibility will improve, and the soup will go away on occasion. But the escape capsules are always there, sitting the hangar – all they need is a destination!
Paul
The Texas Gulf Coast in early May – the first hint of the coming summer. Soup Season. Temperatures and humidity are warming up like the chorus behind the scenes on opening night, a preview of miserable times to come. The nice thing about owning an RV? The ability to escape!
Sunday dawned with hazy skies, hints of blue peaking out between fuzzy, scuddy cumulous, the nearby AWOS reporting visibilities of about 5 miles. Cloud heights varied between 1200 and 2200 feet, with a 30% chance of thundershowers through early afternoon, courtesy of the tail end of a cold front creeping across the state from the Hill Country. To the north, big thunder boomed! The radar showed a solid blob of red maybe 100 miles across, from just north of Houston all the way to the east side of Dallas. Moving east with the front, this didn’t appear to be a factor for today’s mission – a quick trip to our property at Kestrel Airpark, north of San Antonio, then lunch at the Aviator Café in nearby New Braunfels. We were in no hurry to get started, and puttered around the hangar until it was nearly 1100 – time to let the haze get organized and merge with the clouds to provide a little more definite ceiling. Still soupy though – air thick with moisture, and the heat getting worse.
It was the Valkyrie’s turn today – Mikey gets to go north next weekend to visit friends at Pecan Plantation and hopefully pick up his freshly painted wheel pants and fairings. I was feeling the need for some travel because work beckons for the next month of weekends (if all goes on schedule), and chances to slip out of town will be slim. I’ll take any excuse to get out of Houston, as will Louise, so she slid into the back seat and we fired up for the one hour trip to the west. The wind was directly across our narrow runway, but at ten knots, it was manageable – the density altitude had us climbing a little slower than usual, but enough to get up and away and out of the breezy swirls that come off the hangars set close to the pavement. We turned west leveling off below the Class B and the scattered layer. To say that the soup had the (now) reported 7 miles of visibility was generous. Our destination was reporting scattered and broken clouds, so as soon as we escaped the confines of the Houston airspace, we looked for a long break to climb on top, following a shaft of sunlight and topping the white stuff at 6500 feet. The single METAR between us and the Hill Country showed overcast skies, and sure enough, we had a solid under cast, but the horizon showed that dark line that signals a clearing ahead.
The clearing was real, but not very clear – the gunk flowing inland from the sea had penetrated many miles, and the poor visibility swallowed us on the descent and stayed with us until the terrain began to rise up ahead, the edge of the central Texas hills. On the ground after landing, walking our property, it felt good to get out of Houston. Louise pointed out that it was still awfully humid – just less so by comparison. She was right of course – the soup might be thinner here, but it was still soup. Flying back, after a light lunch, we climbed for the cool air, but couldn’t stay there as the clouds once again thickened below us. Louise asked why I didn’t just stay on top and file IFR, but I’ve flown with Houston Approach too long – as soon as I was IFR, they’d send me down below 3,000’ anyway, pounding along inside the sticky, bumpy clouds, and it wouldn’t be much fun. You can’t win unless you’re burning Jet A I’m afraid – those of us with pistons and cranks are relegated to the lower levels, below the sanctuary of the Class B…..
But even though the soup was thick, the air hot, the humidity enough to mist the outside of the windshield – it was still better than being stuck on the ground, stuck in the “soup”. The RV, with its great climb, good speed, and long range can take us away, if even only for a few hours. The summer prelude is almost over, and the heat will rise, bringing days when it is to hot to even make clouds – the visibility will improve, and the soup will go away on occasion. But the escape capsules are always there, sitting the hangar – all they need is a destination!
Paul
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