The leg home started routinely enough. We took off and pointed towards KELSI, which is the "magic" intersection for getting around Chicago Approach and it's where you'll normally be cleared to if you're /G and going around. I was sure this flight plan had expired too, so I air-filed with a Toledo approach controller who sounded very happy to actually have something to do.
I had initially planned on 4,000 feet but we ended up at 6,000. Luckily, the winds seemed to have shifted a bit so that we actually had quite reasonable groundspeeds up there. The air was smooth, the moon was rising, and the frequencies were quiet as we were handed from Toledo to Fort Wayne to Chicago Center.
Now, the trick with filing to KELSI is to wait until there's no chance they'll send you over the lake and ask for direct Madison (or wherever you're going) when able so that they'll give it to you as soon as you've passed Chicago Approach airspace. So, after I'd been with Chicago Center for a while and was handed off once, I asked for direct Madison when able. Thus began a conversation I never expected to have:
"Chicago Center, 271G, request direct Madison when able."
"Uhh, 271G, you're leaving my airspace anyway. Contact Chicago Approach, 125.0."
"Chicago approach, 25.0, 271G, g'night."
"Chicago Approach, Skylane 271G, level 6,000."
"271G, Chicago altimeter 29.92."
Here we pause for a few minutes. Just after we'd spotted the Gary-Chicago airport (GYY), the big surprise came:
"271G, are you direct Madison?"
"Negative, 271G is filed direct KELSI, direct Madison."
"Uhh, I can't find KELSI in my computer would you like direct Madison?"
me:
So, we were cleared direct Madison. I punched it in to the 430 and watched in awe as the airplane pointed itself straight at Chicago.
"Holy ****. I can't believe we got that!"
The turn pointed us pretty much straight up the Chicago Skyway, which is the bright line of lights toward the right side of this picture:
Photo by Kynan
Still in awe, I couldn't help but look at what was going to happen next. I punched the GPS into cursor mode and scrolled up and grinned. We were gonna go right over O'Hare.
That was the last I looked at the GPS for a while, as the sights outside were too cool to miss:
Photo by Kynan
We got some pictures of Midway, which were somewhat blurry. It was surprisingly dark. I couldn't see the runways at all, just the outline around the terminal and the fact that... Well, where else in Chicago will you find a perfect square that's dark? Heh.
The other interesting thing is that downtown is one of the darkest parts of the city from the air:
Photo by Kynan
Listening to Approach, I could hear that they were landing to the east, and I spotted several planes landing as we neared O'Hare. Then, we were in the midst of "The other FRZ", looking straight down at the big one:
Photo by Kynan
I watched as the roads I'm familiar with disappeared off into the distance, and looked for airports. We flew almost right between 10C and C81. As the city lights began to fade, one more parting shot of Chicago:
Photo by Kynan
Oddly enough, we were actually handed off to Rockford Approach before we were even out of the Chicago class B.
We were tired eager to get home, but the awe of our trip over the forbidden city fueled us the rest of the way, and shortly we descended into Madison:
Photo by Kynan
Cleared for the visual, I flew the pattern to runway 14 and called Chicago Center back on the ground to cancel IFR; I also called Wisconsin Aviation on Unicom to come put the plane back in the hangar. I taxied up to the door at the South ramp and shut down at 12:40 AM.
For the trip, around 1400nm, 14.0 total time (including the 0.5 for the contests), 1.3 actual IMC, many new friends, and a lot of memories that won't soon be forgotten. Thanks to everyone involved for making it happen!