I Went BUMP in the Night!

I've been up flying several times in the past few weeks, but the one time to talk about was my night cross country. KCOS-LHX was the route. I think I finally feel comfortable with being able to plan a cross country. Having never used a slide-rule in my life, it took a few times to figure out the "flight computer". I have the most patient CFI who walked me through it, then I took over and finished.
My night CX took place on a Saturday night. For anyone who knows me that completely affected my "beers on dad's deck" time. I refuse to consume any alcohol at least 24 hours prior to wheels up, which is much easier than I thought it would be. I guess when you have such a passion for something, things you enjoy take a huge back seat!
After some final ground prep and pre-flight checklists it was 8:15 PM. Again, if you know me, I am normally in bed by 9! I was a bit concerned at not yawning during the flight but Mother Nature quickly showed me she was the boss.
The minute we got up, the turbulence started. It did not abate until we descended below 8k. It is a whole new world flying at night and being tossed around like a ping pong ball. My CFI says it was only "moderate" turbulence, but to me it was more:-)
We hit LHX, had crosswinds so I did the second touch and go, better than my CFI's first she said! Then it was back up to the bumps to head home to KCOS.
On both the outbound and return we hit rain, snow, and grapple. I was really proud because I did all the flying and just let the plane do what she does best, FLY! Overall it was a great learning experience, a story I will never forget. Oh, and we didn't land until 10:30...way past this girls bedtime but I never got tired once!

Still Here....

Lesson learned...don't let life slow you down! I've still been flying but for January and February I had to focus on work. Life, work, and reality of me slowed me down for flying. Working on learning to fly and practicing flying have to become more of a priority in my life. Unfortunately being a wife, mom, and full time teacher seem to limit my flight time. But I am back on track, have been for a few weeks, and I've realized I need to fly more and more. My style of learning is such that I need to do and do and do in order to feel comfortable. So, until Powerball comes my way or a rich relative I never knew about leaves me a million dollars, I have to get better at equally sharing time between life and flying. Someday I hope that flying becomes my life!

So today I will add a few posts to get you caught up on my flying adventures. I would like to figure out how to make this blog like others I have read with links and categories...My hope is to figure out how to make categories and add flight information and links, recipes, and anything else a female flyer might be interested in! After all, just because I have to wear pants and tennis shoes to fly it doesn't mean I don't love a pair of high wedge sandals and a summer dress:-)

Rachel