On September 10, 1999, EAA Chapter 1067 member Lou Amato almost made a hole in one on a New Jersey golf course after a piston rod broke in the Stearman he was ferrying with fellow chapter member Jen Jansen from Nashua New Hampshire to Naples Florida for owner Dean Edmonds. Five years to the day he and fellow EAA chapter 1067 member Ted Brousseau (Sun n Fun volunteer co-chairman of the Smoke Oil/Fuel team) headed south again with the Stearman. This time its destination was Lakeland as a donation from Dean Edmonds to Sun n Fun. This flight went flawlessly and ended better than planned. The two pilots had feared that Hurricane Frances might not clear out of New England quickly enough to leave them time to get to Florida before the effects of Hurricane Ivan met them head on. As it turned out, for once in its life, Frances sped up and cleared out early and they awoke on Friday, September 10, 2004, to sunshine. With a review of the aircraft operations and a preflight, they quickly headed west to over-fly the Old Rhinebeck Airdrome and then turned south to follow the Hudson river down through New York City. Visibility was such that they could see the city skyline 40 miles out. After a memorable tour of the city from 400' over the Hudson and circling the Statute of Liberty they headed west to the north end of the Shenandoah Valley. A lazy late afternoon flight down the valley ended at dusk in Roanoke VA. An early departure the next day resulted in sunshine and wisps of mist lying in the valleys and calm winds. The flying was spectacular until encountering the typical summer weather in Georgia that resembles flying through milk. They knew they were in Florida when visibility picked up and from then on it was simply dodging scattered thunderstorms. The flight had been planned for 16 flying hours but only took 14:45. Both pilots agreed that this was the best cross country flying they had ever encountered and were sad that after slightly over 1100 miles and 7 gas stops they were going to make one last landing and turn the aircraft over to its new owner. They landed at KLAL at 5:30 PM on Saturday and helped Vice-President Greg Harbaugh push it into the hangar. It was then back to Naples courtesy of chapter friend Jim Quigley (Sun n Fun volunteer, chairman Smoke Oil/Fuel) in his 172. They set down just at sunset to end a totally picture perfect adventure.