I got to stay in the Microtel for 2 of the 5 days I was there and here is my lovely bed……….

As far as flying goes, we went up for a “Scenic Review” as it states in my log.

We did notice that the plane’s log book had an unusual entry from the day before… Check it out in a large size to see what I’m talking about.

We finished flying an hour earlier than expected, so I used that time to sneak over to the Tech Bookstore and grab something to help my transition to being a South Carolinian. I got some Hokie “Croakies”.

Sooo, that is that. I’m back in Arlington for now with a move-in date of April 30th!

I’m mailing off my ballot today and my Pilots “License” is pretty sweeet.

NOTE: This is not MY license. It is a picture from someone else’s website of theirs.

It’s nice to be “home”, but I am so very thankful that I was able to do this trip and so many people that were nice to this kid living out of his car :-p

Woo hoo!

It’s now 830pm as I am writing this, and I just took the past hour or so using up by battery life to write this post. I scrambled over and started the car when the battery was about to die so that I could finish going through the photos and write blog posts.

If you think THESE few out of 60 some pictures are cool… The rest are cooler. Check them out and let me know what you think!

“Proud to be an American”…

Cutting the ribbon…

Only helicopter certified by the FAA to perform acrobatics. The Red Bull helicopter.

P.S. – EAA Campground Wifi isn’t that great… I’m having to steal some from the Hawthorne Suites a few miles away. I wrote this last night before my laptop battery died . Here is the error they gave me, jerks!

Sorry, but we’re currently experiencing technical difficulties. The present error condition is:

Timed out waiting for captive portal reply.

For assistance, please contact:

unknown

Additional information:

SSID:
AP MAC Address: (I’m not putting that online! Ha!)

Sleeping in is always a refreshing way to start the day. Woke up around 11am and went over to an Italian place right up the street for lunch. After this we went over to the open house at the airport to check just check it out. It was within 2 minutes of Will’s house and was a nice, small airport. The coolest things we saw were:

• The two helicopters for the children’s hosiptal
• Pimped out 70′s style “jets” with cigarette lighters, and wood paneling.
• Ultralight fan powered looking aircraft

Following the airport tour, we stopped back by the house to grab the camera and set off to check out UFS and get some cool handstand pictures.

UFS was basically a big lots, but for everything. It was a walmart on crack mixed with stuff that fell off a pickup truck and add in a cheap liqour store. Our main purchase was a bottle of wine to bring to the theatre (see below), but I also ended up picking up some soda so I’d quit paying convience store prices for it on the road.

The Giant Chicken

Caterpillar Headquarters (Elizabeth on Left, Will on Right) You guys rock! They were amazing hosts! Thanks

Riverfront, Downtown Peoria

We came back and showered off our handstand filth (it’s a dirty job), and then dressed up to go to “the barn”. It was a good show/dinner/wine extravaganza. There were about 8 of us there and it was the celebration of 3 years at CATerpillar for some of the people there. There was even a ceremony where they all got pushpins because they won’t get a real pin from Caterpillar until they get 5 or 10 years. Crazy crazy kids.

So the dinner was delicious. Highlights were the shrimp pasta and the peanut butter pie dessert. We had picked up some wine from UFS earlier and had that with dinner. The show was called “It runs in the family” and was basically about a doctor who had had an affair with a nurse 18 years and nine months earlier, and it just was one GIGANTIC, RICULOUS lie after another covering it up and was quite hilarious.

We headed “out” after this to downtown and went to an Irish bar. It was good because they had a favorite, Smithwicks. Then the night gets a little blurry and went to some other club/bar. Bars in Peoria stay open til 4am. Ridiculous, and mildy painful the next morning. The ride home was from an unofficial taxi. Emily (who will be my chicago host) knew a guy who did basically worked as a taxi and we used that. I still don’t get it. All i remember was a newer minivan, and the guy had a laptop between his seat and the passenger seat, and had a facebook page open. That about wraps up day three, wee!

An extra note. If you are looking for an Overnight Adventure in Peoria, I’ve got you hooked up… here ya go!

Under the hood refers to simulating flying an aircraft under “instrument” conditions. This would mean that there is low visibility and you must rely on your instruments, rather than what you see (or don’t see) out the window. The hood blocks your vision of the outside while allowing you to focus on the instruments. My “hood” was actually a pair of safety glasses with scotch tape, but hey, it has the same effect!

Studying, here I come!

2 New Handstands!

Mountain Empire

Mount Airy

More Photos Here

Outside the terminal

Danville, VA Handstand

Akward Pano of Danville Terminal

Danville FBO Office (Next 2)

Took this one for Justin

Leaving Danville (Next 3 pics)

Out the front on the way back from Danville

Can you find where I did “S turns across a road” and “Turns about a point?”.

View Larger Map

So, Danville XC is now supposed to be tomorrow AM.

Here are some pictures from today:

The New River near Claytor Lake

More New River

I-81 going over the New River

Zoomed out, the same bridge

Part of Claytor Lake

“The Quarry” where people usually get community service hours for trying to run down the railroad tracks and cliff jump into it.

Lane Stadium

Lane Stadium Again

Recognize Main St?

Excited/stressed to plan/hope weather is good.

Blacksburg->Danville->”Blue Ridge Airport”->New River->Blacksburg (154.6nm)
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