Flying Home

 Though there is always some excitement when coming out of the mountains, it is often short lived.  A check of the phone, a calls to family and friends, a check of the news... but then it's often back to logistics, tasks that have been put off or need doing after a month away.  Thankfully, though, this time I had another adventure that awaited me after I left the mountains.  Leaving the mountains was easier knowing it was only a few days until I entered the sky!

Fires north of Grand Junction, CO.

Instead of 100 miles in almost a month, I flew 100 miles in an hour.  I traded the intimate knowledge of the ground below my boots for the intimate knowledge of the air - its temperatures, its winds, its density, its clouds and its wild fire smoke.  

Hazy Grand Junction.

Early morning smoke.

Something happens when I crawl into Freddy's cockpit.  I feel more myself than I often do.  It's like the feeling I felt after my student NOLS course.  Something about knowledge of self.  I learned to fly from a few flight instructors but I fly in an expedition style that's my own.  Not many people fly long distances in small slow airplanes.  I've never heard of anyone else actually sleeping in their plane.  Nor eating breakfast sitting on one of the main gear tires, nor ride a skateboard across the airport tarmac to the pilot offices.  I bet some people shake their heads!  

Colorado mountains.

I love the weather routing, the knowledge of the sky - especially when on the ground, to look up and think, "I was just up there, I know what it's like up there..."  It's maybe a tiny part of a feeling I imagine the Apollo astronauts have when they look up at the moon.  

I love sitting in Freddy's cockpit, after a long day of flying, making my notes, making improvements to my systems, eating a simple dinner, looking at the cockpit instruments.  Man and machine, maybe it just feels like Freddy has a soul.  I look after him, he looks after me.  

It took two full days of flying plus one short flight on the third day to arrive home.  No weather delays, mostly smooth air and a small tailwind got me home.  Met some nice airport folks along the way, as I always do.  

Falls City, Nebraska.

When I arrived back at my home airport, I got out my running shoes and ran the 5 miles home to pick up my car.  It was a fitting way to end.  The legs wanted some exercise after all the sitting.  I arrived home from 5 miles run, four thousand nautical miles flown, and 100 miles walked in the mountains.  I was tired, ready for a rest.  

But how soon things feel strange.  This is the first day in a while that I haven't been on the move or preparing for a move.  There is now time to catch up on emails, pay bills, do things that I haven't wanted to do.  I go back into my home routines so quickly it's surreal.  The patterns and habits make it seem like I never left.  I have to settle into front country life now.  Work, teaching, front country things like To Do lists.  There's certainly some wonderful parts: friends and family, musical instruments, regular exercise... But I know I'll miss the depth of relationships formed in the wilderness and when on the move.  There is something a little more vulnerable while traveling.  It's much easier to build up walls in one place.  

Crossing the Mississippi.  

Small town in Pennsylvania.  

Rolling hills of Pennsylvania.

Beautiful evening in Towanda, PA.  

So thank you to the friendly strangers I hope to see again.  Thank you to my NOLS students and co-instructors for sharing a depth of soul every day.  Thank you to the friends I saw along the way and had such a special time with.  Thank you to Freddy for our partnership and adventures.  Now to see if I can apply the backcountry lessons to frontcountry living!

P.S. No news from NASA yet...But I haven't given up hope!  The first interviews are/were scheduled from September to December.  So I guess if January comes and I've heard nothing, it won't look good.  I believe I heard around 120 will get the first interview.  That's 120 from a reported 12,000 applicants.  We shall see../

For some reason when I turn around and look at the tail while in flight, it makes me think: Holy smokes, I'm flying an AIRPLANE!  Crazy to think that with some relatively simple engineering, things like this are possible!

Back to Berkshire School!

Freddy's like a sled dog.  He just needs a tiny bit of rest and then he's chomping at the bit to go again!  Here's to future adventures!  Thank you, Freddy!

Naval Academy in the Wind River Range

Just back from 24 days in the mountains with Naval Academy midshipmen.  What an awesome time we had.  We climbed peaks, saw the stars and milky way, and the space station fly overhead a few times.  We fished, briefed and debriefed, learned a ton along the way and the midshipmen all have so many leadership lessons to take back with them to their lives in the Navy.  I had wonderful co-instructors and it was a wonderful group of "mids."  I didn't want the course to end.  

We camped and traveled with new COVID protocols, but after two weeks as a family unit with no symptoms, we were temporarily free of the COVID world.  It was wonderful to escape the medical, and political news for a few weeks.  Especially good to be in the mountains after the last two summers of graduate school.  We lived simply out there.  Generally, each day's task was to move from point A to point B in the best style possible, learning as much as we could along the way.  No phones, no computers, no social media.  Just good old fashion back country living.  Lots of lake and river swimming, lots of time looking at the mountains.  I remember at one point looking around in awe of the mountains and thinking, "I don't have this feeling on a daily basis in the front country..."  I've got to work on that.  Many good laughs, new friends and new experiences.   

Day 3: Arrival to LANDER, WYOMING

I made it to Lander, Wyoming this morning!  Had a short 1.5 hour easy flight that I didn't want to end.  I find there's something so satisfying about thinking up an idea, whether grad school or flying out here instead of wasting a day on commercial aviation, and then carrying it out with all the unknowns.  Wasn't 100% sure the weather was going to cooperate - didn't want to get stranded - which makes it all the more sweet to arrive on time!  

For the music lovers: Freddy's engine makes a lot of noise.  I have a noise canceling headset, but I can still hear a lot of the noise.  Over the last few days on certain flights, I've started to hum along to Freddy's noise.  I was hey-ing and ho-ing one repeated sequence for some reason until I realized it all fit within Freddy's background.  So after a little experimenting, I determined Freddy sings in the Lydian particularly in the key of F, with a strong dominant 7th.  Generally the major third works best, but the minor sounds very good when thrown in there once in a while.  The normal 7th is too close to what Freddy's singing so it makes the flatted 7th of the Lydian mode sound so good.  It's perfect for Freddy.  A major chord of fun and adventure - but with just a touch of a minor third occasionally and the dominant 7th for some real character and color.  I sang almost the whole way.    

At one point along the way today I looked up into the blue sky.   I had a sudden flash of once being in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean looking south, dreaming of one day making it to Antarctica and the South Pole.  Now I look upwards, hoping to one day make it to space.  As I looked up again, I spotted a beautiful crescent moon.  Someday I suppose.  

My astronaut application, the first one I'm really qualified to have submitted, was submitted in March.  Now I wait and see.  The first interviews are between September and December.  Not sure what COVID will do to the timeline but we'll see.  I feel confident about getting the first interview.  After that is anyone's guess (there are three interview stages) and a lot of luck.  

That's it for now.  Heading into the mountains in a few day with the Naval Academy midshipmen and really looking forward to it.  And of course, it is wonderful that when that finishes, I still have another adventure flying east with tailwinds!    

Day 2: to DOUGLAS, WYOMING

I'll get right down to it, because I'm exhausted but in a good way:

1. Good sleep in Freddy last night.  Though a few mosquitoes got in before I could rig a bug net over the cargo hatch.  I think I'm developing an uncanny ability to hear the mosquito's pitch.  It can wake me from a sleep.  

2. My dad asked me today (as dad's do) if I'm doing any socializing.  I responded yes in that I met an airport guy who told me he flew for 25 years without a license.  Flew helicopters in Vietnam, then wanted to fly fixed wing aircraft when he returned home, so he bought a plane, and figured it out!  The airport folks are amazing!  Such a brotherhood!

3. I'm managing the mini Triscuits.

4.  Watching the landscape changing as I flew west made me think of what it must have been like for explorers to go west without knowing what was there!  Such adventure!  Then I imagined being on a new planet and seeing it from the air for the first time.  I would want to land everywhere to explore!  

5. I could have made it to Lander today, but I stopped to try to get to sleep early.  No one but me at the airport.  Now typing in the pilot's lounge where I'll sleep on a sofa.  I prefer to sleep in Freddy, but I'll probably sleep a bit better in here.  

6. Three flights today.  On the ground there is chaos - fueling, paying, record keeping, but in the air, things feel simple - I like it.  Made it under a cold front today and otherwise good progress.  Some turbulence the last flight that wasn't so fun, but all others were pretty smooth.  

7.  Less than two hundred miles to go!  Then into the mountains!

8.  I flew over some windy farmlands today (sustained at around 20 knots) and watching the wind blow through the fields was mesmerizing.  From the air, they looked like spirits or ghosts all heading in the same direction.  It was fascinating and otherworldly.  Perhaps there is a spirit convention somewhere.  

9.  That's all, thanks for reading! 

Day 1: to CANTON, ILLINOIS

DAY 1: (WESTBOUND) GREAT BARRINGTON, MA to CANTON, IL

I'm heading west as I unexpectedly got offered a NOLS backpacking contract with Naval Academy students.  My earlier Alaska mountaineering contract with the Navy had been canceled so I was very happy to get the offer for this one.  Starved for a bit of summer adventure since the last two summers were dedicated to grad school, I agreed.  

After much debate and wondering, instead of heading into the world of COVID commercial airline travel, I got Freddy ready for another adventure.  The potential reward is 3 days of flying (the same time it takes to get to the moon) and an adventure in thy sky before the adventure in the mountains.  The potential logistical nightmare is if I get stuck somewhere along the way due to weather or some other thing and need to somehow get myself and my gear to a commercial airport.  I guess it's all part of the adventure of the unknown.  

So now, I've gotten almost half way but some potential weather tomorrow.  Two days to go.  

If there are any aviation buffs out there, you can track my flights by going to flightaware.com and putting in Freddy's callsign: N7202G.  There's even a "Get Notifications" button so you can get emails with each flight if you're one of my parents.  

I had plans of writing with style and grace, but a bad sleep last night and almost 10 hours of flying have me a bit beat.  It's nearly time for bed so here are some memorable moments:

- Making it east past the rising clouds!  It was like getting out past the breaking waves when surfing.

- Feeling so in tune with the motions of the sun.  I was chasing it so time actually went slower today - by a tiny bit.  

- realizing with disappointment that instead of regular Triscuits (my favorite flying snack), I bought Mini Triscuits which are not very conducive to dipping in hummus.  

- Turning on the runway lights (always a favorite task) and landing just after sunset.

- Skateboarding on the dark runway with just the runway lights.  

If you want to see any pics, check instagram or facebook.  Will try to add later but now need to go to sleep.  

Also if you are a subscriber and reply to the email, I won't get it.  To leave a comment (I love comments, as it shows people actually are intersted in what I write), you must click on the link in the email and then add your comment in the comment window.  

That's all for today.  Hope you are all healthy and as well as can be in this crazy time!