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Tailwheel endorsement with quite possibly the most badass flight instructor around: Heidi Ruess. Eighty years old and a fantastic pilot and instructor.

Longest flight* yet! Anchorage to Nome, loaded to the gills with groceries. Beautiful. Also in the same event I moved to Nome to hang out with my favorite person in the entire universe!

Lots of funny faces

Lots of hanging out with my favorite person in the entire person in the universe, including but not limited to: beach combing, walks, flying together, playing music, making bread while imbibing favored libations, dancing, picnics, and helicopter rides.

Tasty & healthy food

Flying around Nome, exploring, Council and Salmon Lake*

A flight* back from Nome to Anchorage, during which I saw the most beautiful scenery & light I have ever seen. It was & is still hard to believe to be real.

Musk Ox!

Wildflowers!

More flowers!

My soon-to-be in-laws traveled (quite adventurously, I should add!) to Nome to hang out. We went flying*, saw a parade, walked on the beach, explored. It was wonderful :).

I got to take my parents and little sister flying*! Of course, I had to be all scowly and grumpy! Grrr!

Photographic evidence:

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*Any time I went flying this summer (with the exception of my tailwheel instruction with Heidi), it was entirely thanks to the incredible kindness, generosity, and trust of Darla and Robert G. In exchange for a promise to take good care of her, they let me fly around their homesick angel, 65Q, for a month or so. Huge thanks to them!

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…and graham crackers, too.

Quaker oatmeal squares, long time king of my breakfast realm, have finally been dethroned, and I do believe peaches and graham crackers and yogurt is (are?) here to stay. Mmm.

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rob & 65 quebec. he flew me out to nondalton, along with 300 pounds of groceries. rob and darla continue to be some of my favorite people in the world.
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Today, today was a good day.

A great fellow from here, Adam, took me out looking for spruce hens this morning. Which mean riding up the lake shore, to the channel between six mile lake and lake clark, than riding up the shore of lake clark, seeing the sun peer out over the snow crested mountains, then riding back. All the way, Adam showed me interesting things about here, this place, and the life. Tracks, trails, mountains, names, old stories. On the way back, 5 minutes from town, we finally come across a spruce hen and Adam shot it perfectly (no damage to the meat). He was gracious enough to give it to me to try, and so my lunch was much more delicious then it normally is.

After that, I lounged around, took a nap, lounged around some more, and then had some wonderful long chats :).

Here are some pictures of the morning’s trip, and lunch.

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The first week of school is a very, very very busy time and a crazy adventure. In a new district & school, the craziness lasts for whole first semester. So for the next little while (5 months) while I won’t be posting things but for once in a while.

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This time, in Bettles!

I passed my checkride, got checked out in the Ercoupe, then buzzed around a few times to get comfortable. Then it was time to sally out on my first real xc trip as a private pilot. The trip–going and returning–was both beautiful and challenging. Some weather gave me a pretty good run for my money on the return trip. Lots of zigging around cloud obscured hills, refiguring my route when I couldn’t make it the way I’d planned. It was tiring but a great experience, and it helped me to realize just how much I appreciate the things that Forest taught me :). To top it off, there was a stunner of a big blue sky in Bettles saturday evening–combined with the photogenic Ercoupe, it made for a lovely panorama. I highly recommend the Bettles Lodge–the staff is super friendly and the lodge is beautiful.

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Well, yeah, what now? What does one do after coming to a grand crossroads?

In this particular case the answer is trivial: jump in an Ercoupe and go joyriding :)

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