This morning I didn't feel great, but better than last night, so even though I had to get up at 6 am in the dark and the cold, I had some coffee and some water and made it out the door by 6:45 am. Met up with Morgan, Logan, Nick and Stephen. I did the first leg, to Decatur, IL. I dropped off Stephen with just shutting down the left engine, and gave the next leg to Morgan, flying into St. Louis Downtown. She got us there, and by the time we landed, I didn't feel so great again, so I sat in a chair with my eyes closed for about 40 minutes and rested up.
Then I took a courtesy car, and drove with Morgan to downtown St. Louis, where we ate at a swanky little place called Union 30. Great food, sort of high prices, but one of my perks is getting nice food at unique places. :)
I got a call this morning that it's almost certainly a done deal that we'll be flying a new Cirrus G7, which is the latest and greatest brand new Cirrus with the touchscreen fancy pants panel, auto land, of course the parachute, auto fuel selector that switches tanks every 5 gallons on its own, auto rudder, all sorts of stuff. They think that deal will be done next week sometimes. Both Morgan and I will be checked out, which in this case means an insurance required formal Cirrus transition course. That's an online training program, followed by 5-10 hours of flight time with a formal Cirrus instructor. I'm actually sort of looking forward to that. I'm not a huge Cirrus pilot fan, but the airplane itself is quite modern, is FIKI (known ice capabilities), does about 200 knots, can go up to FL250 supposedly, and go about 1000 miles. All in all, not bad for a fixed gear single engine turbocharged piston. The pilots who fly them have a bad reputation for not being very good pilots. Like people who have money to buy the latest and greatest but don't have the ability or time to actually fly it. Fortunately neither Morgan nor I have the money to be accused of that. ;) It's not a more powerful airplane, but it's new and different, and I like learning new airplanes, so I'm down for it. Made me un-pout today. ;)
When the guys got back to St Louis, we all went over to Champaign to pick up Stephen whom we'd dropped off in Decatur. He brought some Jimmy John's sandwiches for everybody else, but Morgan and I had had much better brunch than that, thank you. ;) We left there, I flew the last leg home, the guys at the airport tugged the plane away for me, and I drove home, very tired. Was glad to be home, done for the day. Am resting up, and have several days before my next flight.
Tomorrow I'm doing a LifeLine testing for stroke and heart health; a series of 5 tests of your various arteries and heart. I did it like 5 years ago and it was completely clear. I figure I'll check every now and then, so 5 years seems long enough to see if anything bad grew in the meantime.
I don't have anything over the weekend, and then Monday is an appointment day. First up I get my new permanent tooth. Then I get my hair cut, and last but not least, I go in and get my new contacts. Three appointments, one day. Tuesday I fly the Conquest to Gunnison, CO with Ethan and Amber, and we spend the night out there, come back Wednesday. Thursday I have a trip with the other guys out to Nebraska and Iowa. Hopefully I'm all better in the next few days, and at least I don't have to get up super early, work super late in the cold, and can rest. All good.
Just a place I drove past in St. Louis. Their door says "Leave your attitude at home"
Kinda sketchy. But...entertaining. We didn't stop in. Seemed like a bad plan.
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