Gunnison

 So far, all has gone according to plan. The 340 trip, we left at noon, stopped in St. Joe, and we were out of there in like 20 minutes, which is a record. Stopped in Goodland, where I tried to figure out how on earth my parents got there for me to be born. There is nothing there within eyesight, for miles and miles and miles!  I took photos of post cards they had for sale inside the FBO of Goodland and Kansas both. They made me feel pretty nostalgic. :). The last leg was the trickiest. Goodland’s terrain was flat but it is high, like 3600’ field elevation, with a density altitude of 5200’, which is amazing. We shortly were over the mountains, and Gunnison is on the other side of some pretty stiff ones. Clouds built up over the area, right where we were going, and some cells popped up too.  The weather there said it was calm. But coming down final, it was not calm. A guy on the radio said “Winds (60 degree crosswind) gusting to 24”, and coming next to a little mountain and over the others, it was a bit of a rodeo. On top of that, they dropped me in there at almost cruise altitude on a not very long final. I had to power back, flaps down, gear down, spoilers out, and fall out of the sky to get down, even with that nasty headwind.  After I got down and landed, Ethan said he got a kick out of watching me work for it for once instead of me watching him.  lol. But the field elevation there is 7600’, so you get that extra ground speed coming down too. I floated a bit and had to work the crosswind, but it touched down softly at least.  ;). My work is now done for a few days, after 5.5 hours total trip time. Now I get to eat, sleep, tour around Colorado, and hang out with a family until Tuesday.  I’ll kinda miss my own, but hey.  :)

Anyway, I made it. All is well. Goodnight…