Thoughts while flying to Minocqua, WI

 Wednesday, July 12

I was up and out early this morning. It was sunny and the air was smooth and I was smiling as I flew past lake after lake after lake...and forests too. 

This was a short flight - only 90 minutes. I'm staying with friends tonight and tomorrow night: people with whom I've been in contact, but never met in person. 

About thirty minutes into the flight, the sky clouded over - high clouds, but a blanket of grey. It cast a pall on everything, including my spirits. I realized that I don't enjoy flying great distances alone. At home I fly by myself almost all the time, yet seldom fly more than a few hundred miles away from my home hangar. When I go on longer trips, it's always with a friend or friends. Even on days when Dennis and I fly separately and don't see each other except at our last stop, I feel connected. I had confidently said that I'd make this perimeter flight by myself if no one else wanted to fly with me, yet today I knew that I would have turned back by Arizona if I'd been by myself. I'm REALLY fortunate that Dennis wanted to make this flight.

I also realized that today marks four weeks since we left Oregon. And I'm tired of flying every day. (So far, there have been only three days that we haven't flown.) I'm really looking forward to landing in Oshkosh on Saturday, setting up my tent, and not flying again until Airventure is over on July 30. Two whole weeks to be on the ground! I know that being at Oshkosh will refresh my flying spirit and I'll be rarin' to go when the time comes to take to the air again and head west toward home.

Here's my track for today.