Back from Osh (great trip, 7 rotaries there) after an eventful return flight. Entire state of Georgia was under a big dome of clouds with MVFR conditions below. I made the decision to go on top which was at around 12,500 ft when I reached edge of cloud cover at north end of Ga. Had grand view of weather and could easily navigate around thunderstorms that had buildups into FL 40. Bad news was that top of cloud cover kept rising as I flew across Georgia and eventually reached 18,000 ft by the time I reached the southern edge of cloud cover near Florida border. Did I mention that I have no Oxygen on board?
Had one exciting moment when I encountered one of those very thin gauzy looking cloud layers at 18,000. Not wanting to break into Class A airspace I descended through it figuring I would fly in the 200 foot gap between it and the cloud layer below for the few minutes it would take to get past it. The canopy (and wing too I suspect) immediately started accumulating ice. Class A here I come, I'll deal with FAA if I have to. By the time I spiraled down through closely spaced thunderstorms in Florida I had spent about 2 hours between 16 and 18 thousand feet. It was a fairly high stress period.
Shady Bend was under a thunderstorm by this time so I diverted to Lake City and landed. It was hot, I was dehydrated from not drinking enough water and the 3 G spiral down through the clouds added to the discomfort level. Nevertheless, I felt OK at touch down but by the time I taxied to the FBO I felt violently ill. I assumed it was the hypoxia and heat exhaustion (had that back in Army days) but Laura was concerned that the symptoms could be heart attack. Went to hospital and blood tests showed slightly elevated enzyme that indicates possible heart attack. Great. Now I am obligated to go through the whole drill (cardiac catheterization) to prove it was not a heart problem if I wanted to keep my pilots license. Test came out good (cardiac guy said arteries clean as a whistle and hopes his heart looks that good at 57).
The plane was magnificent the whole trip and did anything I asked of it. Still had respectable rate of climb at 18,500 (who needs a turbo?), engine never skipped a beat, burned 101 gallons in 17.1 hours of flight (includes taxi time) so fuel burn averaged about 6 gph. Glad to be home.
Tracy (belatedly ordering Oxygen system)