Motorcyce Trip

Friday afternoon on a whim James and I decided to head west on our bikes for the weekend. We didn't even have our first stop in mind until about 10 minutes before we left. We spent the first nigh in Buena Vista, next moring we made Leadville and had breakfast there.
We spent the rest of the morning cruising around Turquiose lake and the surrounding area. I think we got up near 12 thousand feet at one point. Very rough roads and the bikes were getting anemic.

After that we shot across Tennessee pass on the way to Glenwood Springs.

We went rafting this morning and then shot home. 500 total miles in 2.5 days. Aside from James almost losing a muffler (he wanted it to fall off) we had no mechanical snags and only a few wrong turns. Great little weekend road trip.

October 11

I know for sure now that I'm going to be setting foot on Antarctica October 11. That means a couple days of training and orientation before and the flight so my departure from Denver looks like it will happen towards the first week in October. Thats good. I'm going to be finished with the instrument rating here in a week, then down to Kingman, Arizona to get the commercial single and multi engine licenses. Alot of flying to do and alot of money to spend but worth every bit. I've been eyeing job posting in Alaska and it seems if I can just get a minimum amount of experience flying then I will be hireable there. There have been numerous job posting for C206 and C207 pilots with an opportunity to move on to something turbine powered.

Just finnished reading Into the Wild. Its the story of a young guy that finishes college and goes out to live on the road with the very least amount of belongings. In the end he heads for Alaska in a attempt to live of the land for an indefinite period of time. He takes no map, compass, and only a 10 pound bag of rice for food. In the end he lasts over 100 days living in an abandoned bus in the middle of the bush before his own mistakes and lack of preparedness get him killed. True story and a very good book.

Good news

Well, as of right now October is a sure thing so thats great news. I could leave in a week but that is up in the air and to be honest I could go either way. More time gives me the opportunity to get some things accomplished. I can do some flying, enjoy the rest of the summer and just get more of my ducks in a row. But leaving earlier means more money.

The mountain flight went great! Wish I had brought a camera, oh well. We went to Leadville, then Kremling, Grandby and home. We burned up about 3500 feet of runway getting off at Leadville. The airplane normally takes only about 1500 feet at home. The take of was a little hairy, the airplane lifted off, got about 6 inches up, then plopped back down. But in the end we got up and actually got about 3-4 hundred feet per minute of climb. That is stellar for an old Cessna taking off at 10 thousand feet.

Winfly, maybe

After a string a maybes I've been given yet another one. I'm told that I will hear for sure on the 10th, for deployment on the 20th. Not much time. Some good news today, the truck sold. That was one of the major variable I was worried about. So now I have a half wrecked motorcycle and a bike to get around on, for the next two weeks, or month, maybe. The dirt bike has been put on consignment and the shop owner thinks it will sell, I hope. The guns are selling too which puts some nice cash in the pocket and makes for less stuff to move. Buddy has a good home with my co-worker Sean Nelson. So things are starting to shape up. Now I just need a plane ticket.

Winfly

So this is the start of my Anarctif adventures. I have been told to expect winfly. More to come.