I had a great last flight at Whitewater on Thursday. On my first flight I released around 1200' and stayed up for around 15 mins but was unable to gain altitude. On my second flight I went up to 2000'. After sitting around there for some time I was up to around 2500' but the climbing was very slow. There was no thermal core. I flew to the north over a large sod field and eventually "bumped" into something. I climbed at around 150 feet per minute until I got to 3000'.
At this point the strangest thing happened to me. A black duck flew ~30 feet under me. I did a double-take. I never expected to see a duck that high since they are not soaring birds. He quacked as he flew by.
I eventually made it up to the clouds at ~4000' feet. I flew out to the side of the cloud and kept going up. I was cruising along the side of the cloud diving through wisps that were sticking out. Then, when a cloud wisp formed under me, I was able to spiral down through it. I eventually came down and had a great landing after a 1 hour 40 min flight.
This was a great last flight in Wisconsin! California here I come.