Someone asked in the GRT probe thread if I got someone to exercise my plane but I didn't want to hijack the thread so I'll just post an update here.
Yes. Two.
Joe Coraggio, a pilot for Compass, lives just a couple blocks from the airport and contacted me. He met me at the hangar yesterday even though the weather was too poor to fly and I gave him the cook's tour. A gentleman who might be interested in buying the plane stopped by and while I was showing him around, Joe went out and noticed the sun had come out. End of showroom tour.
We pulled her out and hopped in. Joe said he flies from the right seat a lot for work so I went through the start procedure, spun the plane around and gave it to Joe.
He had a great touch on the plane and it was actually thrilling to sit there and watch someone else fly the plane down to Red Wing and get excited about how good she is. We had a direct 10 knot crosswind in Red Wing but, of course, Joe nailed it perfectly as he did on the return to KSGS.
I told him he's free to take the plane somewhere if he returns it full, otherwise if he just takes it out once a week the ride's on me. "My goal is just to keep you flying," he said.
One other gentleman -- with lots of RV experience -- has also volunteered. I've got to get him added to my insurance here pretty quick.
As for my physical situation, I returned to work today after a month away. I've got some decisions to make within the month. One is
an operation that will wipe out all (little) remaining hearing and cut all balance information from my left ear. The FAA tends to look favorably on this sort of thing, but the recovery time is 3 months and it's a very uncomfortable one as your other ear, eyes and bones have to learn to compensate. Is it worth it? I don't know. There are risks. I've got to sort them out.
Thanks for asking.