November 8, 2003 Day 24 Crossing Into Kentucky! Photo OM/WCEP It's a milestone day as the crosses another state border to reach Oldham County, Kentucky! The day dawned sunny but c-c-cold at 29 degrees F, with tailwinds out of the north at 5 mph. All 16 cranes launched with Joe Duff, delighting more than 300 people who turned out this chilling morning at the Muscatatuck NWR to watch them leave "Windiana" behind. Soon after coming into the spectators' view, one crane found the air a bit too bumpy and turned back toward the field it had just left. Pilot Brooke Pennypacker flew after and quickly caught up with the errant bird. He managed to coerce it back on course, but in just a moment the bird turned back again. After one final failed attempt to get him on course, crane #302 was crated for transport to the first of the two Kentucky stopovers. With luck, the crew hoped to skip a stop this morning near Louisville, KY, thereby gaining another 90 miles of southward progress. That plan was squashed when, halfway throught the fight, winds increased and shifted direction toward the east and created a bumpy crosswind. Today's flight brought them 47.8 miles closer to Florida, after a flight time of one hour, 29 minutes.   Map the Migration Make your own map using the latest migration data Try This! Journaling Question It took about 45 minutes to defrost the wings before the pilots could take off this morning. Draw a cartoon with your own funny caption about this morning's wing-defrosting. Here's what happened: Turns out the water hose was blocked with water frozen solid. Joe and Brooke were working to get it unblocked by beating it, and swinging it around in the hopes of dislodging the ice blockage. At one point Joe picked up the hose end and began blowing into the hose in hopes of unblocking it. As he huffed and puffed, he couldn't figure out why there didn't seem to be any air making it through. Finally he looked up, only to discover that 50 feet away at the other end, Brooke was also huffing and puffing into the hose, trying the same technique! How far has the migration traveled with the addition of today's miles? Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP). Copyright 2003-2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form