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From April 15 - 22, 2007, Mary and I were able to attend Sun N Fun -- the second largest aviation gathering in the world, held annually in Lakeland, Florida.  Throughout the week we were able to promote the hotel in many ways, including through appearances at the Flying Colors Glass booth, at private parties both on and off the airport, and by handing out literally thousands of promotional flyers and brochures.  It's not an exaggeration to say that we were able to reach more pilots in those seven days than in any seven month period.

What made the week possible was a special appearance by our good friend Paul Montgomery, who volunteered to watch our teenage kids for the week.   Despite numerous hardships (including three round trip drives back to Minneapolis), he and the kids survived the week unscathed, and even managed to have a good time!

Our departure -- scheduled for "o-dark-thirty" Sunday -- was delayed by the passage of a huge storm system that stretched from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.  By noon it had pushed far enough East for us to depart, and we literally rode the "rocket sled" down the back-side of the front all the way to Florida!

Here are a few pix from our departure...

Paul & Mary before our departure...	Mary on wing -- let's go!	Taxiing past Paul...

With ground speeds of 180+ knots, we made fantastic time to Jackson, MS, where we stopped for a late lunch and fuel.

Jackson has a very nice airport, and they were kind enough to let us borrow their courtesy car to get something to eat -- but I must admit that once off-airport we literally could not understand a single thing anyone said to us!  It was absolutely like being in a foreign country, and all we could say was "Excuse me?"  over and over again...

Here are some photos from Jackson, MS.

Rice paddies (?) on the way to lunch in Jackson, MS	Another shot of these flooded fields...	Mary with Atlas in Jackson...	Mary with the Jackson terminal...

Because of our late departure, we knew we'd really be pushing it to make it into Lakeland before sunset.   After checking the weather in Jackson, we realized that following the backside of the front would put us in Tallahassee, FL, right at sunset.  So, the capital of Florida became our destination for the night!

Here are some pix from Tallahassee...

Mary & Atlas at sunset...	Jay after landing in a 30 knot gusty crosswind!	Mary took two of them!	A Navy jet trainer...
Now *that* looks like fun!

The next day dawned clear and bright, but still windy.  We were able to follow the gulf coast around to Lakeland (unexpectedly under the watchful eye of ATC's flight following -- very helpful in the high-traffic area) without difficulty, and landed with a bit more crosswind than I would prefer -- but NOTHING compared to Tallahassee!

Here are some pix from our arrival...

Mary snapped a sequence of pictures as we started the Lake Parker approach at the power plant...	The freeway...	Approaching the blue buildings, where we hang a left...	Turning right base to final...
	On final...	Rolling out...	We're here!
Atlas at our campsite!

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