DAY 8-9: 11-12 July
I got up early and went for a run through Goose Bay. It was so nice running
outside where I didn’t have to worry about the dust and toxins that I was
breathing into my lungs. I ran along a nice gravel path through the woods and
it was glorious. We then headed back to the airport to get headed to Portsmouth.
We flew “push it up” speed because we had loads of extra fuel so we made it to
Portsmouth pretty quickly. I flew a visual approach over beautiful New England
landscape and we landed and arrived at our hotel with no issues. The hotel was
great and they had a table reserved in their eating area, pitchers of beer, and
food for us. We sat for a few hours there and planned to head out to the
recommended restaurant in town but by the time everyone went upstairs to change
and get ready to go, we were all so exhausted that everyone passed out without
fail!
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| We're flying over AMERICA!! |
The next morning was an off day and because of all the
traveling and time zone changes, I woke up around 4 am. I spent most of the
day lounging around the hotel, got in a workout, got my phone working again so
I was able to talk to a couple people, talked to Dan and Eric back in
Afghanistan, and just generally chilled out. In the evening I met Jay, Brent,
and Gobbo at the Thirsty Moose, a recommended restaurant that had about 100
beers on tap. I had a really good Belgian beer that was stored in bourbon
barrels so it had that whiskey taste to it (and a resultant super high alcohol
content) which was really good, as well as a pizza, also good, but we called it
a night pretty early to get back and get some good sleep before a long day the
following day.
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| Portsmouth, NH |
DAY 10: 12 July
Our last two-hop day started out questionably as there was a
line of thunderstorms stretching from Colorado to about Ohio, and our route of
flight took us directly along that line of storms. Based on the weather
forecast we hoped to get to Scott, quick turn, and get out before the worst of
the weather reach there, and by doing that, we would arrive in Colorado after
the worst of the weather had passed through.
It was a tight plan but as we started flying the weather
turned out to be better than anticipated. We had to dodge storms along the
route but getting into Scott was pretty easy and the weather allowed for a
visual approach.
We were on the ground for only about 1.5 hours in Scott and
we quickly took off again to Colorado. We were fighting headwinds the entire
way, as well as dodging more storms, and we were greeted to a typical Colorado
summer afternoon with large thunderstorms in the area but we were able to avoid
all of them and get down on the ground. We ate dinner at the restaurant
attached to out hotel and went to sleep, everyone ready to get home the
following day.
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| Thunderstorms across the midwest |
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| Welcome to Colorado |
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| Peterson AFB |
DAY 11: 13 July
Getting out of Colorado proved to be a slight problem.
Because of the terrain in the area, we are only able to take off to the South,
but due to winds, the airport was using the north facing runways. We had to
argue with the controllers to allow us to depart opposite direction and they
were remarkably unhelpful! But once we got off the ground it was a pretty easy
flight to Beale. We were greated on the ramp by members of our squadron,
family, friends, and beer. Bri and I then went to workout, she drove me home,
and we met up with Jose to have some beer and pizza at Chicago Fire in Sac. All
in all, an incredible journey, a great trip, and I’m so thankful to be home.
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| LAST DAY!!! |
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| Flying over the Sierra Nevadas |
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| And there's Beale |
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Reunited with the roommate, but with beer in hand this time!
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| The trip! |
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