I guess if we have any reason to be proud of flying with
widely differing ground speed and airspeeds, then I should
be proud of a recent flight on the way back from the Lancair
Flyin. Near Death Valley, while climbing to 12,500', I saw the
ground speed drop to 104 kts.

IAS  170 kts
TAS ~210 kts
GS   104 kts
FF     7 gph

apparent headwind: 96 kts ... OUCH!

I dropped back down to 8500 and the groundspeed came back
up to 155 kts. Surprisingly, the turbulence was only moderate
between 10000 and 11500. Not so surprisingly, I had to stop
for fuel before getting home.

I suppose I could have turned around and seen 300+ kts in
a mild descent. But then I might have needed two fuel stops
to get home.