Cross Country

It all started Monday after I finished my practical exam for my fixed wing pilot's license. The practical exam is two parts, an oral exam and a check-ride. I was able to complete the nearly 3 hour oral exam Sunday because the weather was not suitable to fly. That luckily changed Monday morning where I flew to Ithaca and began my 2 hour check-ride. Once I completed that I flew back to painted post and drove home where I threw the stuff I had packed the night before into the back of my truck and headed for Akron, OH. The trip to Akron was uneventful and I arrived at my friend Chris' house around 10pm where I stayed the night.

Bright and early at 7am I left Chris' house for what I knew was going to be a long day. It's been a number of years since I actually saw the sun come up but that was all about to change! The drive was pretty uneventful until just after St. Louis. I had been fighting a really strong headwind the entire time. It was so strong I actually watched a bird fly directly into it and not move an inch! Albeit a small bird, it was still strange to watch this little guy frantically flap his wings and not move. Anyway, I underestimated the impact the headwind would have on my fuel consumption and ended up running out on the west side of St. Louis. Luckily I had just passed a gas station so I didn't have to walk too far. The reason I didn't stop was because I wanted to get outside of the city a little bit to miss some traffic. Well, I guess that wasn't one of my better ideas! So I walked back to a Quick Trip and bought a little 1 gallon gas can and began to walk back to my truck. A nice gentleman, Scott, pulled over and told me to hop in so I didn't have to walk in the bitter cold. I then put the gas in my truck and drove to a gas station where I filled up and grabbed a drink.

A full tank of gas and a clean windshield I began my long journey again. I made it all the way to El Reno, TX where I bought a Super 8 hotel room for the night. I arrived around 11:30pm CST and if you do the math it was a total of about 17.5 hours of driving including the gas incident for about 1,100 miles. I was using a combination of google directions and the VZ navigator on my phone so I only got thrown off once but it wasn't too bad.

Another early morning but not really by choice. I would've preferred to sleep in until 7 but the nice construction men who parked outside my room decided they needed to fire up their trucks at 6:30 and warm them up. At this point I couldn't sleep anymore and it was close enough to 7 that I just decided to get up and head out. Another uneventful day which is probably a good thing but given my unique life and luck I guess I would have expected something to happen. I did take a shortcut from I-40 between Albuquerque and Flagstaff. I was glad I did because I found a couple nice little towns, Heber and Overgaard. The elevation is quite high there so there's a lot of pine trees, forests, and snow. They had about 2 feet of snow on the ground and it reminded me a lot of Allegany State Park. I guess Arizona has it all but I'll stick to the desert for now! I arrived in Mesa at about 7:30 where I unpacked some of my things and then grabbed a bite to eat at In-N-Out Burger. Hands down the best burger joint I've ever been to. My roommate Jeff is up near the aforementioned towns working ski patrol until Friday night.

This morning I don't know why but I couldn't sleep in so I was up at 7:30. I'm not sure if it's because I'm screwed up on the time change or if it's because I live next to a daycare and could hear little kids screaming at the top of their lungs as they played on the playground. Either way it gave me more time to unpack the rest of my stuff and get all settled in. So, here I sit with my room all situated and everything put away. Here are some pictures of my new living quarters.

Bedroom


Living Room


Pool



It's a nice place and so far I love it here. 75 degrees today and all week! It reminds me a lot of San Diego and if it weren't for the silhouette's of the mountains I may not know the difference, other than no ocean of course.

Training starts tomorrow at 9 and I'm extremely excited. I can't wait to get started and start flying again. I'm sure I'll have another post tomorrow evening but I promise to make it shorter! Forgive me if I give too much detail or things don't flow as smoothly as other blogs. This is my first and I'm learning as I go. I'm not sure how often I'll post but I'll try to keep them as regular as I can.


G'Day