Quick Flight to Little Bear

 Popped up to Little Bear to visit Miranda and the new baby.  Beautiful clear sky and an early morning departure.  Wind at Little Bear was challenging.  About a 40 degree 15 knot crosswind, with gusts over 20 knots at 90 degrees.  Almost didn't even try.  Wind up at circuit altitude was a steady 30 knots out of the west.  Turning cross wind swept me all the way out to the highway.

But it always calms down once you get under the trees so I took a long long final leg and kept the speed up at about 80 knots.  Fought the airplane all the way down.  As expected, once under the trees, the wind dropped right out and I had to tap on the power to keep the airplane from slamming down.

Very turbulent departure too.  Hit my head on the roof a few times.  So I climbed all the way up to 8,500 for the return trip.  I'll put up with the headwind in exchange for not getting beat up.