Editor's note: This is one in an occasional series of stories tracking Napa pilot Dean Stahr on his solo flight around the world.

If the soaring cost of gasoline has you flustered, consider the plight of Napa pilot Dean Stahr in his flight around the world aboard a four-seat Cessna aircraft. He had to shell out nearly $10 a gallon in Fiji this week.

Earlier, at Christmas Island, he paid $12 a gallon. Fuel is sold by the 55-gallon drum there, and because he had an extra drum opened but used only part of it, the cost averaged $20 a gallon.

"Gasoline is killing me," he said Monday in an airborne, satellite telephone interview while midway between Fiji and New Caledonia. "You just have to pay the money and forget it."

Stahr is using the same tank configuration he did for a 2004 flight to Hilo, Hawaii, allowing him to fly with up to 253 gallons. Standard wing tanks for a Cessna 182-R hold 92 gallons.

Before leaving Fiji, Stahr had to go to an international money changer and get cash from his credit card to pay for the gas. Upon returning to his single-engine plane, he was told he also had to pay cash for airport fees. That meant another trip to the money changer before he could take off.

Other than the price of fuel and a few minor paperwork glitches, "everything is going just fine," he said.

The 79-year-old Napan, who has been an aviator since serving as a gunner on a twin-engine PBY during World War II, said at the time he was climbing through 8,000-foot altitude on his way to cruise in favorable winds at 10,000.

He had already crossed the international dateline. It was late Tuesday morning in that part of the world.

"When you are 500 miles from land, you get a different feeling," he said. "It's awfully lonesome."

Stahr said he is in frequent telephone contact with flight coordinator Dwight Small, a retired commercial airline pilot who is monitoring Stahr's progress from his home in Arizona. Weather changes are tracked so Stahr can navigate around storms. Other people help with flight plans, customs, accommodations and local arrangements. "Really, all I have to do is drive the airplane," he said.

And it has autopilot.

But still he can't let his guard down.

On Sunday (California time) he was forced to penetrate a storm. "I went through the front and that was exciting. I've never done that before," he said. "I was all alone and all I could see was the wing tips, and that was it. But it all worked out."

Asked why he decided to make the flight, Stahr said, "I just wanted to. Isn't that reason enough? I had an airplane and the time."

As for any plans for future flights he was quick to reply, "I've got my hands full right now." After a few moments he chuckled, "But I thought I'd take a ride to Yountville when I get home."

The aircraft, he said, is functioning perfectly.

Besides lots of gas tanks and standard navigational instruments and radios, the Cessna is equipped with three global positioning system instruments.

In Arizona, Small said his role "has been kind of fun," but would he take such a flight? "Hell no," he responded.

Small has logged 60 Pacific Ocean crossings and 100 Atlantic crossings, all in big three and four-engine jets, but wouldn't even consider circumnavigating the globe in a four-seater.

He said Stahr is ahead of schedule, and predicted he'll return to Napa Valley Airport in early- to mid-July.

In an e-mail to friends and flight-followers around the country, Small said Stahr "is really excited. The trip is going very well and he seems to be getting more exuberant at each arrival. His plane is performing very well and he's had no significant problems with weather, communications, customs, or immigration."

The Napa flier has, however, run into a few minor obstacles. Earlier this week, according to Small, "the hotel in Nadi (Fiji) apparently lost the fax I sent him with his flight plan and weather information. He was able to fly using a flight plan that we'd generated prior to the trip."

He said winds aloft were not factored in, but barely affected the flight. Stahr touched down at the next stop, at Noumea Island in New Caladonia, "exactly on schedule."

Small said there is "an incredible coincidence brewing." Another Northern Californian is circling the globe in the opposite direction -- east to west -- and expects to land in Darwin Saturday, the same day as Stahr's anticipated touchdown there.

Bill Randolph took off from Watsonville Airport at daybreak on March 9, piloting a home-built RV-8.

"Dean will be spending at least four nights in Darwin, so they may have a chance to share their experiences and a beer or three and maybe even some Scotch," he said.