A Long Flight...For Nothin'!--March 3, 2010

Woke up at 7:20 A.M.  Typical morning routine.

The weather was pretty good today.  I managed to keep my airpane for another day, although it looks like this is goin' to be my last day with her.  The pilot that was offered my airplane pretty much wants it as soon as possible...and why wouldn't he?!  It's a beautiful 2003 SP model...he is now flying a mediocre 1970's bird!  Ah, 151, how I will miss you.

I loaded up my flight plan and headed out east.  I had over 100 miles to go.  The skies were perfectly blue with no clouds in sight.  Well...for the most part.  About 30 miles away from my lines, I started seeing some pretty thick haze.  Lots of moisture in the air, it appeared.  And then I saw it...several miles to the south.  The first cloud.  That's usually not a good sign.  Sure enough, as I flew closer and closer to my line, I had more clouds.  LOTS more clouds.  I couldn't even fly a single line.  I had flown an hour JUST to fly back.  Oh well!  I was flying!

And frankly, I enjoy the "point A to point B" flights more than I do flying in circles all day.  So it really wasn't that bad.  I mean, my "point B" ended up being someplace in the sky, but it sufficed.  On the way back, though, I opted to do a touch-and-go at an airport so I could log some more cross-country time.

I dropped down t0 about 1000 feet over the ground and picked out what I thought was the runway (based on my GPS).  Well, as I went for the base, I realized that it was NOT a runway at all!  But a field!  Crap!  I then flew over the tiny town around 800 feet looking for this stinkin' airport!  I finally found out and dropped some flaps to land.  And as I touched down, that's when I saw it!  White tails.  EVERYWHERE.  They had flapped up right as I was landing, and they were now paralleling me in FAST freight mode.  I was focusing on flying the airplane, but it was a very big possibility that one could dart out in front at any time...I was watching that airspeed to see if I had enough to lift up quickly if necessary.  There was probably between 10-15 deer just running as fast as could be as I'm darting down the runway as fast as I could.

Gotta love southern Missouri!!!  You just never know what you're goin' to get.

I climbed up to 2500 MSL, but that only lasted five minutes.  The turbulence was already pretty bad (I noticed it at 3800 and below on the way down), and I didn't feel like getting rocked the next 90 miles.  So I climbed up to 4500.

I landed behind a Hawker jet and taxied over behind him.  Wow.  What a plane.  I found out later it was a 2008 Hawker 4000.  Simply GORGEOUS.  One of these days.  One of these days.

I flew 2.1 hours today.

Our mechanic was still there when I landed, so we hung out with him for a bit.  We decided to go for a drive, and I ended up finding a little chipping green right next to the runway.  Kind of hidden!  So we spent the next 45 minutes playing golf with (I kid you not) the sand rake and the golf balls we found.  It was seriously some of the best fun I've had in awhile!  I had an amazing hole in one, and Matt managed to "swish" a bunker shot.  It was pretty challenging with a rake, but we managed.  After all, we're pilots.

We ate at Famous Dave's for lunch...right there at the airport.  They have a weird (insert terrible) set-up for security reasons.  You actually have to call your order in from a telephone and then wait for it outside the waiting area.  The waiter brings it out and then has to go back through security.  DUMB.

The crazy part of my day, though, happened early this evening.  I was sitting in my chair while on my computer when I had a crazy feeling in my back.  I leaned down to scratch it with the chair, and it just didn't feel right.  Hmm.  I felt it, and it was NOT right!  I had a HUGE bump in my back.  I took off my shirt and found out that I had been bitten by something.  From the size of it, it appears that it must have been a spider.  Of course, I was paranoid by that point and threw off all my clothes and jumped in the shower.  Every feeling on my body felt like a bug, too!  I looked for bed bugs on my bed, checked all around for spiders, and pretty much wondered just how bad my body was going to react.  From the side, the bump was fairly hefty.  I looked up online how bad it could possibly get, and it didn't appear to be too bad...so I guess it's the waiting game now.  It is VERY hard and VERY stiff...quite painful, too.  My muscles back there have pretty much tightened up.  It's not too fun.

I just wonder what it was.  And where it was (hotel, airport?).  And where that stinkin' creature is now.  How can such a little guy do so much damage?!

We went out for Mexican for supper.

Then Kenton and I headed back downtown for the Irish pub.  I finally played my first game of pool this season...and I was terrible.  I lost a couple of games to Kenton.  We stayed there for a couple of hours which was enjoyable.  I ended up dropping him off, then going back.

Yes, a girl was involved.  I'm supposed to take her flying tomorrow, but we'll see how that goes.

I ended up going to bed at 1:30.  Frankly, I won't be flying revenue as my airplane doesn't have one of the cameras.  So unless that comes in early, I won't be flying at all.  We'll see.

A Day Off!!!--March 2, 2010

Woke up at 7:20 A.M.  Clouds.  I shut off the alarm and didn't move again until 8:55.  Perfect.  Headed for breakfast, and I was greeted with snow!!!  Yup, it was VERY minor, but there was a bit of snow this morning.  Crazy.

It was a pretty laid-back day.  I learned that my water saga continues in my new house.  The leak was more difficult to repair than originally thought...so the cost went from $200 to $450.  Agh, this house is killing me!  I just keep dumping money into it!  I think I'm goin' to list it for sell!  Hopefully make a quick profit.

We went out to eat at McDonald's for lunch, then headed for the airport.  Since it was a scout day, I only flew 0.4 hours.  I did two touch-and-go's.

I studied a bit more in the Aztec POH...I'm gettin' excited about it!!!  I'm gettin' more and more comfortable with the knowledge part of it, too.  It just takes time.

We went out to a bar for supper tonight and ended up stayin' for a few hours for trivia night.  I had nothing better to do, so I didn't mind.  Got home at 10:50.

Ended up going to bed just after midnight.

Tomorrow looks iffy for flying.  The forecast has skies clear here at Branson, but over by St. Louis, the clouds are supposed to be around 4500 feet.  It's goin' to be close.  Time will tell!  I should at least get two hours of scouting!!!

Oh, and I learned that I will probably be losing the 2003 plane, too.  Because of logistics for me transitioning to the Aztec, I might have to fly around a 1970's 172 for awhile!  Agh!!!

Oh well...they all fly the same.