Greetings from Mason City, Iowa, home of Meredith Willson and The Music Man! Today was a perfect day for my 360 nautical mile three-and-a-half hour trip from North Platte, Nebraska, to Mason City. The skies were clear, the ride was smooth and I even had a tailwind for much of the time.

The day dawned cold and clear in North Platte, with no wind at all. I loaded and untied the airplane, did my walk-around preflight, and took off.

This is a floating dredge in a gravel pit next to the airport.

Flying over southern Nebraska, you cover miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.

Go Z's! Erm... "N's". The playing field in Norfolk, Nebraska.

Two Rorschach Test Ponds today:

Approaching a left downwind for Runway 30, KMCW Mason City Airport, you fly along Clear Lake.

I spent the afternoon at Music Man Square and touring Meredith Willson's boyhood home. The weather forecast for tomorrow's flight to Oshkosh looks good, so I expect that by tomorrow afternoon I'll be at the EAA Chapter Leaders Academy.