Other than work....Monday, there was finally some breeze so I raced home, hooked up the sailboat and headed for the Lindon marina. I struggled a little to get the boat out from the ramp and some wind in the sail but finally was tacking back and forth. The sun was dropping and just as I got out far enough to clear the dike and get into the channel, the sun disappeared, the wind dropped and the MOSQUITOES savagely attacked! I had a thin line between my shirt tail and my swimming suite and there were 9 big bites there. I had blood on both hands and arms. But...the sailing was REALLY fun. Near full moon, beautiful sky, the boat and sail are really pretty good and I was maneuvering quite well. (See pics) looking forward to getting more of a full day to play with it.
Monday, I also had lunch with my good friend Willy and it was great to catch up as I haven't seen him for a while. He may be storing his Porsche Boxter in the shop in Idaho...all because of that song from Rush called Red Barchetta...about someone who stores his nice car in a shop on his uncle's farm in the country. "Making the movie in your mind...." that's Willy!
Wednesday, went to dinner with a friend of Erin Clegg (Spencer's wife). Nice girl with four kids ranging from 17 to 3. She's running in the St. George Marathon next Saturday.
Thursday I went to the orientation for power cycling camp that I did with Willy a few years ago. It's near my new office so think I'll do it again as it was such a good work out and really helped. I'll need to be in Draper at 5:30 two days a week so hopefully I can get to bed! Sleep is what makes it all enjoyable! Friday, Chantelle and I tried out several new cars as she is in the market. She has a 2004 Jeep Liberty that has 100000 miles on it she's trading in. It may need a new transmission but I think she'll only get $5500 for it so if anyone wants it, let me know. The exterior and interior are like brand new. She's probably going with the Nissan Rogue or the Hyndai Santa Fe.
I popped out of bed at 5:30 on Saturday and drove down to the airport, fired up the Mooney and took off just before the tower opened. I was just passing Timpanogos as the air traffic controller came on the air. Beautiful and smooth flight home. About half way between Park City and Morgan, the sun came up. It's a pretty cool feeling to be in the sky as the earth rotates towards the sun. First the sky, then the mountain tops and finally the valleys light up. This time, I flew just out from the mountains in Cache Valley and about Logan, started the descent. Speed really picks up as you point it down and in no time, I was just above the Narrows, then zeroing in on the farm. I flew over the house (which was still in shadow), then circled around and dropped the gear and flaps to set up and see what it would be like to land on the farm. If I aimed to touch down just a little east and north of my barn, I think it would work great! Wouldn't that be cool to just land, and then walk to the house!
Gear up, then flaps up and flew low out across the valley where there were a bunch of potato harvesters in motion. Trucks, cellars, conveyors, windrowers...all pretty cool from the air in the morning sun. Set up on the Grace airport which looks pretty tiny! Then on in and landed at Soda. Those practice landings in Nephi really helped and Soda's landing was perfect.
I walked over to Don & Greshen's and picked up my airport car (the Nova!) and drove to Bench for a day of working around the yard, talking to Mom & Dad and listening to Joe, Kai and Maniah. So beautiful and nice up there! The moon was full and it was spectacular. Good nights sleep...up at 5 a.m., drove to Soda and then took off on the dark. Now that was a little unnerving! It was completely dark except for the moon so I could see the mountain lines. On the ground, the landing lights were good so could see the runway, but barreling down the runway at full throttle, I realized that I couldn't see the airspeed indicator...the nav lights for it didn't work. No idea of how fast I was going or when to pull back on the stick so I just went with the feel. Lifted off all right but then wasn't sure of climbing attitude or speed because again couldn't see the instruments (one of the hazards of an old plane!). But...I just went with the feel and could barely make out the speed indicator to know it was in the general range of where it needed to be so the plane would fly and not fall out of the sky. Up over the TV towers...was at 10,000 feet by the time I went over the farm and settled in at 11,500 for the flight home.
Was a very cool flight because as the horizon started to light up in a deep blackish orange, I could make out the glass reflection of Bear Lake. Smooth as glass all the way to Park City. Landed, drove home, showered, and was at Bishopric meeting by 8:30. Then in meetings till 3...home to eat and an hour nap, then back for a stake leadership training meeting at 6 pm with Elder Bullock who is of the Seventy and over singles. Great meeting and we're getting some good clerks to help so may free me up to spend a full weekend at home once in a while.
Which brings me up to this point.... Just finished packing as headed to Chicago for HR Tech, the main trade show in this industry early in the morning. There until Wednesday. Will be interesting and have the opportunity to meet all of the HireVue sales people (and get their requests for new product features).
Looking forward to Conference!
Love,
Peter
No comments:
Post a Comment