Singapore Day 1 - Part The First

We arrived in Singapore after a helluva long but actually enjoyable flight. United economy was spacious enough that it was no bother and it had a ton of in-flight movies and TV shows available for view. The food was typical airline fare and it was weird to fly along, fall asleep, wake up and then realize there was still 8 hours to go.

In Singapore we then cleared customs and immigration and got our passports stamped, and then went to a money changer and got some Singapore dollars. The Singapore dollar is about 71 cents US so we did well on the exchange.

Interestingly, not only are the bills different colors, but each one is sized differently and are thus really easy to tell apart. They're also the high-tech polymer type complete with transparent areas and holograms.

Then we took an Uber to the place where we would stay the next ten days. Uber as it turns ut is extremely popular in Singapore and the city-state is one of Uber's most popular locations.

We found the condo that we had rented through AirBnB and it was quite perfect it was centrally located on Bencoolen street - right by a mall, an MTA station, bus stops and a Hawker center. With two bedrooms, two baths a kitchen and a washer/dryer which was important as were were already sweating in the heat and humidity. The washer would be used many a time during our stay. We unpacked and then headed out to get a lunch at the local Hawker center.

What's a Hawker Center? Well it used to be that various vendors would sell food on the streets from carts, but the government there considered it rather less than organized or sanitary so they built Hawker Centers - buildings stuffed to the gills with vendors side by side selling tons of tasty and varied dishes.

The Hawker center was also our introduction to the Asian concept of personal space - Americans like 3-6 feet, Asians are happy with 3-6 millimeters. Talk about crowded. We watched what the locals did and queued up at a likely food stall, pointed to what we wanted, paid for it and then grabbed an open table in the center to eat.

This was our first meal in Singapore:

Pretty tasty and only costing S$4.00, and quite filling. We were to try lots of other dishes at the Hawker center throughout the trip and I soon found a favorite. The Hawker centers offer a large variety of prepared food at very cheap prices.

Then we headed off to purchase the Singapore Pass.

The pass is a pretty neat item that you buy that gets you access to numerous attractions and can also skip the standard ticket lines, but it has multiple confusing conditions and takes awhile to figure out all its permutations and limitations - in short if you use it right you can save a lot of money on some fun attractions, but if not you'll lose quite a bit, especially as it expires within 5 days so it can be a whirlwind rotation among the various cool places in Singapore.

The Singapore Pass location was right beside just one such attraction, and we went right to it.

Flying Lesson #145 - Alone Again

Today after the range trip I took Leah home, had a quick lunch and hopped in the car for the airport.

The weather was far too nice to not fly today. Sky clear up to 25,000 feet, winds light and variable around 5-7 knots eventually blowing up to 10 knots variable as I was flying.

How could I not go up?

Apparently a lot of other people thought the same way as the airport was all sorts of busy with tons of planes taking off, landing, and flying the pattern.

Even better, this was to be Solo time again.

After my standard careful pre-flight and run-up I headed off to the to the practice area climbing to 3,300 feet.

Arriving in the practice area I snapped a quick picture of the Ford Proving Grounds at Romeo.

The proving grounds offer an easily identifiable landmark and make for an excellent emergency landing spot should something go awry.

I then did some clearing turns and then did slow flight, a power off stall, and steep turns, and then just had some fun flying around.

I then headed back to Pontiac for some pattern work.

Coming in, I initially got told to prepare for a 2 mile right base entry but the controller then changed it to a straight in but I was told to keep my speed up. Final was a tad faster as a result and I did float a bit in ground effect but made a nice landing anyways as the speed bled off.

Then up to do it again in the pattern and an even better landing.

While taxiing back to take off again, I saw this nice looking Bonanza in the run-up area and grabbed a quick picture for Murphy's Law as he likes Bonanzas:

I did a couple more patterns with some good landings and called it a day.

1.2 solo and 4 landings.

If y'all would send some kind weather thoughts consisting of clear skies and calm winds for this week, that would be appreciated as something quite good may just finally happen.

Morning Range Trip, P30SK Hits 550 And Springfield Makes It Easy To Shoot like A Girl

One thing about jet lag, you tend to get up earlier than usual.

A morning range trip was in order so Leah and I headed out to the range early this morning.

In addition to the M&P compact .22 with Gemtech that Leah loves, she got to shoot a used while new-to-me and to her firearm - a Springfield Armory 1911 9mm.

It just so happened she was wearing her Springfield Armory Shoot Like A Girl t-shirt and it matched the pistol nicely.

She really liked the pistol and handled it with no issues.

As acquired it turned out it is setup with a popsicle type sight picture and I'll likely adjust it to a center hold. While used aside from a couple scratched in the finish you can hardly tell its been fired and it likely wasn't fired much if at all before I acquired it from its previous owner. It has a very smooth action once it was cleaned and oiled, and aside from an initial couple failures to extract the fired case from the chamber on the second-to-last round from one of the 9 round magazines, it eventually stopped malfunctioning after a few magazines were run through it. Recoil is very light when chambered in 9mm from a full-sized 1911 and Leah pronounced the trigger to be excellent and stated it really was quite nice to shoot.

Leah's target:

I shot the P30Sk and it had no malfunctions after 100 rounds through it, making it to 550 rounds with one failure (round 22) not due to the firearm. The trigger takes some getting used to after shooting the Springfield 9mm. Leah also shot the P30sk and with some coaching was hitting the target but initially was dropping the shots very low due to the long trigger pull.

A very nice time at the range.

Flying Lesson #144 - Shaking Off The Rust Of Two Weeks Off

Getting Jet Lag while flying is one thing, flying while jet lagged is another.

This afternoon I went up with Ray. I did a short field takeoff and headed to the north. There I did some turns around a point, slow flight, power off stall and steep turns. All went well.

Then I headed back to Pontiac and was told to setup for a 4 mile final due to traffic. It was a nice long, straight in approach which worked out very nicely with the wind at 310 at 10 knots for a bit of a crosswind and an excellent landing.

I then did another short field takeoff, followed by a short field landing which was decent, then another short field takeoff and what would have been a nice short field but had to go around due to a slower Cessna not getting off the runway in time. No big deal and I'm quite good at go rounds. Then back for a very nice short field landing indeed, followed by a nice soft field takeoff and a soft field landing. I then did another short field takeoff and finished it off with a textbook short field landing that was just beautiful.

Ray said I flew just fine indeed and I'm looking good.

1.5 and 5 landings.

Back From An Epic Vacation

Back from the second longest non-stop flight in the world, and an adventure that began August 3.

16 hours in a United Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner direct from San Francisco to Singapore.

Before that was a 6 hour flight from Toronto to San Francisco in an Air Canada Airbus as its code-shared with United.

Abby instead of a Bat Mitzvah party wanted to go somewhere special for a trip and she chose Singapore, certainly she has fine taste in exotic destinations.

Luckily enough, it just so happens, a friend of mine from High School and University lived there and we got tons of good info and met up with him and got a native (or ex-pat) guide.

Now I have much jet lag, such jet lag, really the best jet lag, as its a 12 hour time change.

But, postings with plenty of details and pictures to follow.

WTH Canada?

I'm really hoping there's more to this story to explain this travesty of justice.

A fellow in Nova Scotia, Canada is at home when the home is invaded by three intruders who are armed with firearms.

In the struggle that breaks out, he gets ahold of one of their firearms and shoots at least one of them, causing them to flee.

One would think this is a happy result, yes? Well, the story isn't over......

He is then charged with attempted murder and unauthorized possession of a firearm and a raft of further firearms related charges including improper storage of a firearm.

No kidding.

Herald News: Break-in suspect shot, man in home charged

Police said that three men entered the residence with guns and a struggle took place with two men inside. The two in the home seized a firearm from one of the suspects and several shots were fired as the suspects fled. Police later located one of the suspects, who had non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. Munroe [the guy who beat back the home invaders] faces charges of attempted murder, intent to discharge a firearm, intent to discharge a firearm when being reckless, careless use of a firearm, improper storage of a firearm, pointing a firearm, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm knowing that possession is unauthorized, and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

I had no idea that Nova Scotia had turned into the United Kingdom when it came to self defense, and I expected better of the RCMP.

Stop Touching It - Part The Umpteenth

I can't think of a single reason why this would have been a good idea, and considering the outcome, it certainly wasn't:

The Detroit News: Cops: Man shoots self, woman while unloading handgun

A man and a woman more than 30 years his junior are recovering after both were wounded when the man attempted to unload a handgun on Detroit's west side early Monday morning, police said

The shooting took place about 1:30 a.m. in the area of West McNichols and Telegraph, said Dontae Freeman, social media manager for the Detroit Police Department.

The man, 56, and the woman, 25, were sitting in a Chevy Malibu when the man attempted to unload the gun, Freeman said. In so doing, he shot himself in his left hand, and shot the woman in her right arm.

Who the heck at 1:30 am, while parked and seated in the confines of a vehicle thinks to themselves -
"Hey, this is a great time to handle and unload a firearm".

Apparently it's no longer nobody, ever, as this doofus apparently did so.

I suspect either alcohol or showing off how cool he was had something to do with it.

Seated in a car at oh-my-gosh-early in the morning is neither the time nor the place to be handling a firearm without a darn good reason.

I can't think of any valid reason to be fumbling around and trying to unload a firearm while inside the confines of a Chevy Malibu. It really doesn't lead to a good outcome, especially while ignoring basic safety rules such as "Never point a gun at something you're not willing to destroy" and or course the classic "Keep your darn finger off the trigger until ready to shoot, yes, that includes you sitting in the Chevy Malibu".

They really need to teach basic gun safety in schools, along with some common sense.

The MiG and The Jett - A Thrilling Tale of Lawn to Lawn Combat

There was an epic meeting engagement this weekend between the Mig and the Jett.

While on patrol, approaching Pack VI, the heroic Jett pilot could sense the upcoming engagement in the air:

It's going to be a Mig day, I can feel it.

Sure enough, just up the way, the Mig waited under tight control at the base of the engagement area until it was time to be let loose.

Controller, where is the Imperialist American Jett?

When the Jett came in range, the Mig was loosed to pounce and the furball began.

I've got you now!

The MiG is both smaller and more maneuverable than the mighty American Jett, but if the Jett refuses the turning game and instead fights in the vertical plane with afterburners he can disengage at will.

No you don't got squat! Afterburners lit, and maneuvering to a more favorable engagement position.

And the Jett can then after disengaging turn about and re-engage at will:

The MiG is too close for missiles, I'm switching to guns.

After multiple maneuvers, and low on fuel, the MiG had to return home to its safe haven, promising to come out to play another day.

I'll be back, you American running-dog".

The tail continues.

Flying Lesson #143 - More Checkride Prep

Yesterday was a beautiful day to go flying.

Winds were calm, cloud layer only starting around 6,000 feet, both main runways open (18/36 is still closed) and life is good. Flying with Ray today and he says it will be a practice checkride.

So I taxi up and do a soft field takeoff to the Northwest and get a check-ride shakeout.

I navigate towards Linden and then we divert away towards the North-East-ish so we stay out of Flint's Class C and then start some maneuvering.

I do slow flight, and apparently the examiners now want you to slowly settle into slow flight at 2,000 RPM and hold altitude until the speed slowly bleeds off rather than cutting it to 1,500 RPM and quickly dropping the flaps in while maintaining altitude as the speed quickly bleeds off. This makes it feel like it is taking forever to get into slow flight.

I then do power off and power on stalls. On the Power on stall, the plane does not want to stall, especially when done how the examiner will want it - full power once you hit 60 knots. You practically have to get an Archer standing on its tail to stall in that configuration and that tends to lead to a snap roll of the pane onto its back and into a stall-spin which is not happy making. Basically, as soon as you add power you need to yank the yoke back for all that it is worth while keeping the wings level and right rudder in and try to get it to stall before you've gone vertical.

Then we did turns around a point, climbed back up and he yanked the throttle on me for an engine out forced landing practice, which went well and I did all the required steps and would have made it into the landing field etc.

Then we climbed back up and he did something an examiner has recently one to another student: "I smell smoke and there's a fire under the instrument panel."

So, a simulated electrical fire then.

Simulate turning off the master switch, telling passenger to grab the fire extinguisher and smother then flames, drop the nose, reduce power so I don't red line (or yellow line) the plane and dive for an emergency landing spot. What fun.

Declaring that we survived that, I get to navigate us back to Pontiac sans GPS which I do ok by first climbing and then finding Oxford (it has a really nice beach with very blue water that stands out nicely from any other lake around - I'm talking really,, really bright blue) and thence heading back to Pontiac from there.

Tower wants me on an angling right base for 27R and the instructor wants a short field landing. So I setup for a short field and all is well, get to my touchdown point still going great and just about to touch and a heat wave off the runway balloons us up nicely. So I just hold the angle and land once the plane settles.

Before you ask, it's not just me - every plane is ballooning right by that spot - a Citabria, a Cirrus, a Cessna, an Aviat Husky, everyone is getting that same ballooning updraft just before touchdown on the runway.

We do some short and soft field takeoffs and landings. On one particular landing, the wind without any prior notice kicks up to 10 knots from 350 as we're landing - "Oh, that's why you landed left of center on that one". Then the wind goes away as if it was never there. Nice.

Anyways, not a bad lesson, landings were all good, takeoffs were fine and the stuff in between worked out well enough. I apparently need to hold my heading better while doing slow flight and stalls, but other than that it was quite good.

1.3 and 4 landings.

When Your Car Has An Increased Rumbling Sound From The Back.....

It may not be just because of the shoddy condition of Michigan's roads.

There was a fair bit more road noise that I figured may have been a tire and I planned to take it in for a rotation and oil change as it was just about due for both and have it looked at.

Turns out it was the passenger side rear wheel bearing going bad, along with the speed sensor on that wheel which decided to fail the day before I planned to do the oil change/rotation.

The speed sensor going bad caused all sorts of blinking lights on the dash to come to life, and a sudden and complete loss of AWD, traction control and anti-lock brakes. Car was still drive-able but I took it in and got those issues fixed.

$813 later, it drives a lot quieter and smoother, and will continue its quest to reach 200,000 miles with 92,000 to go.

Ouch.

You Don't See That Everyday - A Democrat Politician With His Hands In His Own Pockets

Michigan's upcoming gubernatorial race is getting all sorts of interesting on the Democrat side.

Plenty of politicians and others on the D side are playing "Will she?, Nil she?", as they decide if they should compete against the "Its my turn" politician Gretchen Whitmer and Democrat party heir apparent to the governorship race, who is hardly inspiring nor anything more than a D-line politician and likely will not contribute much to Democrat enthusiasm in the upcoming election. The "I am woman hear me roar" approach kind of fizzled with Hillary! and it'll like fizzle even more so with the even less inspiring and rather insipid Whitmer.

Potential candidates have put their toes into the race and dropped out, including Mark Bernstein of the Sam Bernstein local legal dynasty and Mike Duggan, the Mayor of Detroit who I daresay smartly kept out of it as he's pretty secure and ding a decent job in Detroit as Mayor now. Others have yet to formally jump in or decline such as Mark Hackel. Hackel is Macomb County's Executive and former Macomb County Sheriff, who is likely too darn honest, too level-headed, too uncorrupt, and not driven sufficiently by ideology to get past the Democrat base to make it as a candidate for governor. If he did though, he'd have one heckuva good chance to take it as a mainstream prgamtic and well-spoken candidate with proven abilities.

But now, along comes the rarest of Democrats - one putting his own money in the race to become governor.

The Detroit News: Democrat Shri Thanedar pumps $3.3M into governor’s run

Certainly not something you see everyday, and good for him for putting his own money on the table.

Its going to be an interesting Governor's race here in Michigan, that's for sure. If Fieger enters the Democrat race for Governor again, and it looks like he's maneuvering to do so, prepare the clown car folks, and have the popcorn ready.

Flying Lesson # 142 - Solo On And Off The 9 Side

A really nice day today for a lunchtime solo flight. The sky was clear, winds light but shifty and Pontiac was using Runways 9L and 9R.

I took off from Runway 9L and headed to the northeast for the practice area.

Once near the proving grounds I did some clearing turns followed by some steep turns, slow flight, and did my stalls.

Then back to Pontiac for some pattern work.

The first landing tower asked me to keep my base in close so he could sequence some traffic and I obliged and did a darn nice landing wiht the winds form 030 at 8 if I say so myself. I'm talking smooth, even though I haven't landed on the 9 side in awhile solo or otherwise and its always fun to come over the water and tree line onto 9L.

Then I headed back and did it again and the winds came up to 10 knots out of 360 for a full crosswind of 10 knots, which was no problem to me at all, and I simply put in a crosswind correction and greased the landing. This gave much confidence.

The next pattern the wind shifted again but ended up right down 090 at 5 knots which made it really easy. Again another smooth landing.

Then the wind shifted to 130 at 6 and again I did a nice landing and decided to call it a day. Tower had me roll on tdown to the end which was rather nice of them and I then contacted ground, headed back to DCT, parked the plane and that was it.

1.3 and 4 landings.

Flying Lesson #141 - Really Quick Up And Down

I was scheduled to fly at 2 but my instructor called and asked me to come in at 12 as he had a cancellation. I said fine as I'm helpful that way. Big mistake.

This is because at 11:30 the skies open up with rain, the clouds fall to marginal VFR conditions and rain comes on nicely.

Once I arrive at the airport the rain has stopped but the clouds are low.

I preflight N5337F, an Archer I haven't flown in much if at all, and discover the seats are way low and do not adjust upwards. We actually both require cushions to see sufficiently over the nose. One main landing strut is way taller than the other but its fine and good to go.

I start it up and it wants to be a pain and it takes a few tries to get the motor to catch. We get clearance to taxi and takeoff and we're going to do pattern work as it is a damn low ceiling. As it turns out, its lower than that.

We takeoff, get to pattern altitude and it's cloudy with a chance of a little visibility. Not particularly good, as in IFR condition at the pattern height flying through clouds from crosswind to and in the downwind.

So we do the pattern in these serious clouds on downwind, I cut in a short base to keep the runway visual and I do another nice landing and that's it for this lesson.

Of course, as I sit here to type this it is now the time for my original flight and the clouds have cleared and its nice out. Sheesh.

0.3 and 1 landing. The only upside to this is it gave a perfectly round number for total hours for my logbook, the down side is that total number is ridiculous.

While They Were Horsing Around . . . We Went On A Field Trip

Last Saturday, while Leah and Tash went to Breyerfest, Abby and I headed off to a place where they take corn, rye and barley and use them for a more glorious and noble purpose:

Yes, we drove a few miles out of Lexington to visit the Buffalo Trace Distillery. One of the oldest distilleries in America, it makes many fine products.

It was pretty busy that Saturday and while all the reserved tours were cancelled as they were on Summer shut down so some areas were not available to be seen, such as the huge mash tanks, but they did offer a free 1 hour tour that we took.

First we went to the visitor's center and then the old firehouse that has been changed into a sandwich shop - we had some excellent hot dogs and root beer before going on our tour.

The tour was led by a very friendly and knowledgeable gentleman who is a University folklorist in his regular job.

We learned how the distillery was one of 4 that were allowed to operate during Prohibition, making medicinal spirits that could be acquired in limited quantities via a doctor's prescription. The solution of course was to have a large family with each of the kids getting a scrip so the parents would have at least something to drink.

We saw a nicely produced film on the distillery and how whiskey is made and how they use different variations in the mash to get different products. The mash is fermented and then distilled, and then aged in new charred oak barrels.

This is Warehouse Cone of the storage houses where the barrels of whiskey are aged. Each floor gives the whiskey a different quality - the upper floors have larger temperature swings so the quicker maturing whiskies are located there. Buffalo Trace tends to be on the middle floors and product like Weller and Pappy Van Winkle resides in the basement.

Note how the racks are actually built into the walls. The building survived a tornado in 2006 that tore the rook off but otherwise did not harm the buiding - it apparently created a very fine whiskey that year as a result and they're trying to replicate the effects of the storm on the shiskey even today.

We then entered Warehouse C, labelled as Bonded Storage Building C

And within the building:

Barrel upon barrel of Whiskey slowly aging to perfection in the dark, hence the lousy photo. We were on the lowest floor and saw barrels that might, should they meet quality standards, become Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year - aged 23 years and the barrel loses 30% of its volume the first year and 3% or so each year thereafter - that's why Pappy's is rather rare and expensive. They don't make much and if it doesn't meet their standards its not released. The building had a lovely smell of whiskey all about it.

After that we got to see the bottling facility and some Blanton's Single Barrel that had just been bottled and packaged for shipping.

then off to the tasting room for a sample.

You could try 2 of either Buffalo Trace, White Dog Mash, Wheatly Vodka, or Eagle Rare. I tried some White Dog Mash and Eagle Rare. The White Dog - unaged Whiskey fresh from the still had a sweetish corn taste and at 125 proof went down rather well when sipped, or when others tried to slam it a coughing fit that was rather humorous to watch.

The Eagle Rare, a Bourbon aged for 10 years was very nice and refined indeed.

Then everyone got some Bourbon Cream, a drink like Irish Cream, but better, as a dessert.

Abby contented herself with a free Root Beer that she enjoyed quite nicely as in lieu of alcohol as they gave her a rather large and cold glass of the quite tasty root beer.

Then we went to the visitor's center again and I picked up a bottle of Bourbon Cream and a T-shirt to take home and that was our visit to Buffalo Trace.

It was a darn good trip and if you're ever visiting the Lexington area, the Buffalo Trace distillery is well worth visiting.

It Was Like Dragon's Milk To Him

Because it was Dragon's Milk.

When I met up with Tom last Friday night, I presented him with a bottle of this fine Michigan product:

At 11% it has quite a kick that sneaks up on you, and then drop kicks you especially as it comes in a bottle containing a pint and 6 ounces.

It tastes a bit like Guinness that's been aged in a bourbon barrel. It has a very deep, complex, and rather roasted taste that grows on you as you sip it, or the alcohol content does anyways.

Tom appreciated it, and even moreso when I told him the story behind it:

For you see, New Holland has Michigan's oldest monastery where the monks have taken a vow of silence, and within the walls of the monastery is indeed a real live dragon that is milked to produce the eponymous wonderful substance that I brought to him.

Milking a dragon is rather hard work as a dragon tends to take exception to it, typically by ripping your arms off.

So twin monks were tasked with the job of milking the dragon.

It went well until the Dragon grew annoyed with the first one and sure enough ripped his arms off.

The Abbott then had to find him a new job, and the only one he could do was to climb the tower and ring the monastery bell to signal the time of day by taking a running jump at it and hitting it with his head.

This he did for sometime with great devotion and fervor and until one day he missed a jump and fell down the tower and sadly broke his neck and died.

MIOSHA, OSHA and the coroner came out and inspected the premises and asked the Abbott if he had any information on this now deceased monk.

"I don't know much about him or even his name", said the Abbott, "But his face sure rings a bell."

But the story doesn't end there. His twin, who had taken over the milking of the dragon also eventually fell prey to having his arms ripped off and sure enough, he too was tasked with ringing the bell.

Sure enough, after leaping at the bell and ringing it loudly, the day came where he too fell to his death.

Again MIOSHA, OSHA and the coroner came and asked for information on the incident and the identity of the deceased.

The Abbot again sadly stated, "I don't really know who he is either, but he's a dead ringer for the previous guy".

Flying Lesson #140 - Some Quality Usable Alone Time

This morning the weather was most promising. A scattered layer about 4,000 and winds around 9 from 180.

Might as well go up for a flight.

So I preflight N1689H and find that the right fuel sump will not stop dripping. It's a slow and steady drip, but an ongoing drip all the same. Tugging on it does nothing. I ask a maintenance fellow at the flight school and he examines it and then quickly swaps it out for a new part. Turns out a bit of dirt inside it was stopping the spring from fully closing the valve, thus letting it drip fuel.

With that done and both fuel tanks at the tabs, meaning there was 17 gallons in each tank. Plenty enough for the planned flight.

Oh yes, I was going to be flying alone, something I hadn't done for a month.

A good start and I had got the ATIS already while the guy was fixing the sump so I got a taxi clearance and headed to the run up area. Did the run up and headed to the runway. The runway was rather busy as 27L was closed again, leaving everyone and their propellers turning onto 27R. No matter, I've got this.

A nice takeoff with some left wind correction in and I was up.

It was a lot quieter with the right seat unoccupied.

I headed to the practice area by dead reckoning and got over the proving grounds, did some clearing turns and then did some maneuvers - slow flight, stalls, and steep turns (which still aren't quite how I want them) and then lower for turns around a point and some S turns across a road.

Then after a few lazy circles just enjoying the view I switched fuel tanks and headed back to Pontiac.

Once within hailing range there it was clear that it was rather busy with a number of planes in the pattern and some coming and going.

I first had a clearance to check in once hitting 2.5 miles away for a right base, but they then amended that to a 4 mile straight in final.

I then came in and did a darn nice light crosswind landing as the wind was 180 at 9 and it was damn smooth if I say so myself. I mean really nice. The sort of perfect landings that only happen when no one is watching and there's no instructor i the right seat of your plane. I then got clearance to taxi back to 27R and do it again.

The next time around the pattern was quite nice and I did yet another nice smooth (if slightly more solid than the previous one) landing.

The next takeoff took awhile as quite a few planes were lined up both to land and takeoff. It was get in line and then line up and wait time.

I went around the patter and then the tower announced they would call my base due to traffic. Then I got a clearance to turn base at my discretion as I was now clear of traffic and had seen the traffic turning base to final and followed it in and did a really smooth landing - stable, precise airspeed and just a beautiful approach, round-out, and flare. Very nice indeed. I decided to call it at that point as my time was getting close due to the late start from the sump valve repair and I did the taxi back to the flight school.

1.3 and 3 darn nice landings.

Kentucky Weekend

Kentucky is horse country.

Leah is big into horses.

This worked out rather fortuitously this last weekend was Breyerfest - a horse fair and model horse extravaganza.

It turns out Breyer model horses are a very big deal, with quite a following and they put on quite an event.

So we decided to take her to Breyerfest held at the Kentucky Horse park in Lexington.

We stayed at an AirBnB that was an actual horse farm and she was thrilled and many horses happily accepted carrots fed to them by hand.

However the trip down could have been smother.

First was construction in Toledo, next was an over hour delay due to an accident on I-75 further south in Ohio.

Next was construction right in Cincinnati right before the border with Kentucky.

Finally we saw this:

But only after we had lost over another hour in standstill traffic there. That made it a seven and a half hour trip which sucked mightily.

But we made it there and met up with Tom of Daddybear's Den and his family for dinner on Friday night at a nice BBQ restaurant they had recommended, and had a very nice time catching up and chatting. Great people.

After that we headed back to the horse farm, unpacked and made the beds and that was Friday.

Canada Pays The Danegeld - Terrorist Receives $10.5 Million

Canada just gave 10.5 Million dollars to Omar Khadr, a Canadian who fought against the US and Canada in Afghanistan as part of Al Qaeda.

Note well that Canada quickly and quietly paid the money out to Omar Khadr, before the family of Sgt. Chris Speer, an American soldier killed by Khadr in Afghanistan, who Khadr admitted to killing, could get it blocked to enforce their judgment against Khadr.

This quick payment to screw over the widow of an American soldier was intentional:

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source familiar with the situation told The Canadian Press that the government wanted to make the financial payment to Khadr promptly to get ahead of a massive U.S. court award against him. “The money has been paid,” the source said.

To say that this is beyond shameful and a parody of what a sane government should do is an understatement.

Given Khadr and family's background and close ties to Al Qaeda, the likelihood of a goodly sum of this money heading to terrorist groups is pretty much assured. I wonder if part of the deal said he can't use it to attack Canadians.

Whether this was a payoff in exchange for terrorists not attacking Canada and Canadian interests under the guise of paying a terrorist for the discomfort of being hosted in Guantanamo after his capture as a terrorist is certainly open to question. As usual the proggy editors of the Toronto Star are falling all over themselves on how righteous and upholding of Canadian values of making such an insane payoff.

The only payoff Khadr deserves is about $0.50 moving at 1,246.7 fps at his forehead.

This isn't the first time Canada has shamefully helped bad actors out. During the Somalia incident, Canada gave asylum to Mohammad Farah Aideed's family while US and UN forces were hunting him. Whether it was a quid pro quo in return for making sure Canadian troops in Somalia were not attacked was never explained. Yep, while American soldiers were being killed in the Blackhawk down incident, Aideed's family were living on welfare in Canada.

Canadians now and in the future should and will hopefully look back on this decision to payoff a convicted terrorist in outrage, shame and disbelief.

Flying Lesson #139 - Slips and Sweet Landings

The day did not look promising for a post-workday flight.

Rain and low clouds loomed and it seemed like it would be a scratch.

But the rain stopped and the clouds lifted just enough to get above IFR, so might as well take it up again.

The first takeoff was a short field, kindly setup by the tower having us line up and wait so I had plenty of time to line up perfectly at the very end, hold the brakes and when given takeoff clearance advance the power to full then release the brakes at max RPM and haul the plane off the ground. Not bad.

We headed out to the East and soon realized the clouds were not nearly as high as we would have liked. The ATIS claimed it was a scattered layer at 2,500, but in truth it was more like a broken layer and a pretty solid broken layer at that. So, we couldn't work on some of the things Ray wanted me to do, but we worked around it.

Ray wanted me to work on my forward and slide slips so we would set at 2,500 feet and I would do a forward slip or side slip down to 2,000 and then climb back up. We did it for a bit and then headed back to Pontiac as the clouds were getting a bit lower. Then it was pattern work. Slips to land, short field landings, soft field landings, and slips to short and soft field landings were the order of the day with soft and short field takeoffs. The pattern got pretty busy at times which was good for developing situational awareness as in the haze planes had a habit of disappearing when you're turning and you sometimes can only acquire them again as they turn. The tower handled things well and had a funny exchange with an incoming jet - "Cleared to land Runway 27L, I have 4 in the pattern for 27R, do not drift north [into the 27R flight path]." "Ok, we won't drift north and we'll keep our eyes out for the little guys."

Landings were quite good - silky smooth and I only had to do one go-round when I came in too fast on a soft field and decided it wouldn't work, which was good aeronautical decision making. Overall the landings are pretty decent at this point.

Unfortunately, it looks like the examiner typically used by the school will not be available until August, which will present a host of issues and closes out any hope of my getting a license within 2 f'n years of starting this exercise in insanity. I think my personal hard cutoff will be when my written test expires in October. If I'm not certificated by the expiry date, it will be well past time to put a stop to it and let this go.

1.6 and 9 landings.

So Much For Separation Of Church and State- The ACLU Backs a Sharia Activist And Her Calls For Jihad Against Trump

For a long time now the Left has been trying to change the title from Islamist to Jihadist, and it looks like they'll now have to search for yet another term as one of their darlings, Linda Sarsour let the mask slip quite a bit. The old saw that "jihad means peceful inner struggle" seems to be wearing a bit thin.

PJ Media: Hamas-Linked Women's March Organizer Calls for 'Jihad' Against Trump

Twitchy: ‘We have to stay outraged!’ Linda Sarsour endorses ‘jihad’ in anti-Trump tirade

You can go to those links and hear her say it lie on video, including her invocation that

“Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community. It is not to assimilate and to please any other people in authority. And our top priority…is to please Allah, and only Allah.”

She's been known to advocate for instituting Sharia law in the US, as well as far less savory anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments and attacks on Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and hugging and supporting convicted terrorist and immigration fraudster Rasmea Odeh.

Interestingly, the ACLU, an organization that among other things is rather vociferous about separating religion from the state, right after Sarsour made these jihad statements posted on Twitter that she's a fighter for civil rights and liberties. Methinks the ACLU got their wires rather crossed on this one. One would think the ACLU's concept of separation of church and state would include separation of sharia and state as well, but in the pantheon of progressive causes, Islamism apparently comes first.

Flying Lesson #138 - Mock Checkride Is Mocking

For this lesson I did the pre-flight and after the run-up did a short field takeoff and headed to the northwest finding Linden by pilotage only - no map, just landmarks, in this case the handy railroad and water towers.

Winds were about 5 knots variable so not a big deal.

I then did a nice short field landing at Linden. Then it was a soft field takeoff and around the pattern for a soft field landing that I rejected and instead did a go-round as I was coming in too high and with too much power and decided not try try and force it in, which was a good decision. I went around and then did a nice soft field.

Then I did another soft field takeoff and did another soft field landing and off again for another short field landing.

Thence we headed out towards the east and I did some maneuvers and then climbed into a blue hole amongst the clouds, reaching 5,000 feet before the instructor yanked the throttle and i had to do an engine out procedure, did ok but have to work on holding best glide throughout. Then navigated my way back to Pontiac and did a nice soft field landing.

1.6 and 5 landings.

When The Left Eats Their Own, Toronto City Council Edition

A progressive Asian Toronto Councilwoman found out the hard way that she's not oppressed enough for Black Lives Matter to not be outraged at her attempt to create an "Intersectional Awareness Week" - Yes, really. The Toronto Star: Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam withdrawing ‘intersectional’ motion that clashed with Black activists: Paradkar

She was apparently unaware of the outrage such a suggestion of intersectionality would pose to Toronto BLM activits who apparently have trademarked oppression and no intersectionality need apply as their outrage must be in first place and will stop for no intersections.

She had to quickly kow-tow to the BLM activists and withdraw the motion.

It's certainly good that Toronto council has solved all the City's other problems (newsflash - it hasn't) so it has time to spare for this silliness and to pass a resolution requiring the city manager "to create an “Intersectional Gender-Based Framework to Assess Budgetary Impacts,” in next year’s budget". Expect the report to read "Women, minorities hardest hit".

Read the whole article as the follies and idiocies of the City Council of Canada's largest city. It appears the City Council has been taken over by a university gender studies department and seems to want to rule via jargon and appeasement of their progressive base, and it is indeed something to behold.

Flying Lesson #137 - More Getting Lost and Found

It was a nice sunny day today and I headed out of Pontiac with Tiffany. The airport was all sorts of busy today with lot of traffic.

I let ground know we would head to the northeast.

I then navigated us to Romeo and did a short field landing there on Runway 18.

Then I did some steep turns and Tiffany had me do some unusual attitudes, which were fun and I handled very well.

Unusual attitudes start with your eyes closed and chin on your chest while the instructor banks and pitches the plane around to make you lose situational awareness and reference to what the plane is actually doing and then says "Your Controls".

You then need to quickly figure out what she just did to your aircraft and get it back to stable and level.

It's always fun opening your eyes and seeing the ground rushing to meet you, or seeing nothing but blue sky and seeing the airspeed indicator start to unwind as the altimeter goes up. No big deal to fix it in either case and fix it I did. Like I said, fun.

Then I did lost procedures and did ye olde climbing circle to get my bearings and then found where I was and navigated back to Pontiac.

I then came in and did a soft field landing that felt like it would take forever to get down - the hot air really kept us floating for what felt like forever, but it was a nice soft touchdown.

Then we did some pattern work with power off 180s each time. the first two times I was floating so much that I was going past the 1000 foot markers so we did some go-rounds. On the third time I figured out to extend the downwind more and then turn in and got it ok. Then I did it again and that was Lesson 137.

1.5 and 4 landings.

Flying Lesson #136 - Lost And Found, Engine Out and On, and Steep Turns A Go Go

Beautiful day and calm variable winds at last.

Today I went up with Marcus, headed to the practice area and did steep turns.

Then we did multiple engine out emergency landings, working on descending from 3,000 feet and hitting the picked field successfully, not to mention picking a successful field and doing the full ABCDEs of emergencies. Finally getting decent at that after much trial and error. I daresay the poor engine was rather upset at being declared to have failed so many times.

Then after being turned around sufficiently doing all that, I was sufficiently disoriented to work on lost procedures.

First when climb up and look around, then if still not knowing where you are look for landmarks, which worked out ok.

Then I practiced more lost procedures by tuning in two VORs and triangulated my position nicely.

Then I got practice using the non-map page of the GPS to work on finding an airport by both the NRST function and by bearings using the CDI page, and I now have that down nicely and should have had it down before.

Then I got to figure out how to navigate back to Pontiac in a little haze and did so successfully.

1.5 and 1 landing.

Same World, Different Realities, And Media False Memories

Leonard Pitts, prog journo extraordinaire is at it again, trying to pull off a full 1984.

In Leonard Pitts Jr.'s open letter to journalists, via the Detroit Free press, reality takes a hard left turn:

Dear Colleagues: We’re doing it again. Remember last year’s campaign? Remember how dogged and relentless we were in covering Hillary Clinton’s sloppy handling of her emails?

Seriously? Dogged and relentless? More like lap-doggish and tail tucked. Pitts and the other journos couldn't wait to quickly declare there was no there there and sweep the embarrassing national security scandal and legal violations by Clinton under the rug as they jumped in the tank with both feet trying to drag her over the finish line.

But wait, there's more!:

Remember the comparatively free ride we gave Donald Trump despite his repeated demonstrations that he was unserious, unsound and unfit? Remember all the hand wringing afterward about how we had embraced a false equivalence? Apparently, we learned no lesson from that.

Were we watching the same news? Does he really expect us to forget the extensive attacks on Trump (whether deserved or not) over for example the locker room tape from 12 years ago?

Let's recall how much of a free pass it was - oh wait! - Pitts himself wrote a freaking column roasting Trump about it at the time! So much for the comparative free ride.

Perhaps Leonard Pitts is getting senile and can't remember his own columns, or he just hopes you don't.

Perhaps in his current state he's conflating the free pass he and the rest of the media gave to Obama with the attack dogs unleashed on Trump.

Happy Independence Day!

So far Independence Day 2017 is going great.

After coffee I made breakfast for the family and taking a page from Tam's blog after wishing them Happy Independence Day had to ask the kids: "On a scale of one to bald eagle how American are you feeling today?" I got back two happy enthusiastic yells of "Bald Eagle!".
Kids raised right are a beautiful thing.

Thence to build a small bonfire in the fire pit with the kids help and make them smores, because 'Merica!

Then we grilled hot dogs over the fire in preparation for lunch and because you never waste a good bonfire.

Now to relax and enjoy the day.

The day shall end in fireworks, patriotism, and happiness.

Happy Independence Day to you and yours!

The Deadliest Sin

Is Sloth

Now Sloth Has A submachinegun. Ho. Ho. Ho.

Happy Canada Day! 150 Years

In 1867 Upper and Lower Canada and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick came together in a confederation and became the Dominion of Canada, with other provinces and territories to follow.

Happy Sesquicentennial Canada!

And here's some Canadian 150th Anniversary Airshow goodness being livecast from Vintage Wings of Canada:

And here's some premium Canadian Content from LetterKenny:

It doesn't get much more Canadian than that.

Range Day - P30SK at 450

A very decent day today so far.

Worked out in the morning, then went and bought some new shoes to workout in as the previous pair is really ripping my feet up.

Then Abby and I headed to the range, stopping for lunch on the way.

It rained on and off but turned into a beautiful if hot day.

Abby had fun shooting the M&P .22 compact with Gemtech suppressor and merrily went about knocking down poppers and hitting paper with it. She enjoyed herself quite a lot.

After she had ran through all the 22lr ammunition I had on hand, she tried out the M&P 9mm full size and liked it well enough but she did like the 22 compact a fair bit more.

I was shooting the P30Sk - rapid, right hand only, left hand only decent practice after not being out at the range for awhile. 100 more rounds to make it 450 through the P30SK and no cleaning with one FTF (#22), not due to the firearm.

Now to do some work and then make dinner and then celebrate 150 years of our northern (and actually southern in Michigan) neighbor - Happy Canada Day.

Scenes From A Courtroom

In court yesterday to expunge my client's plead-to conviction for misdemeanor brandishing of a firearm (a reduction from felony carry of a Taser prior to Tasers being legal to carry in Michigan), and all worked out very well and she can go on with her life now.

While we're waiting to be called however, people are getting their tickets processed and numerous miscreants are showing up from jail and a few stand out.

Scene 1: Quit While You're Ahead

A lady is called up by the prosecutor on her ticket, speeding 17 over in a school zone.

Sadly for the lady in question, the prosecutor is not a township or City but one from oakland COunty and they tend to be a little harder on things.

The prosecutor offers her a deal of 2 points and regular speeding not in a school one.

This, for those who don't know, is a very nice deal considering the speeding in school zone at her speed is 4 points and expensive.

The lady however wants the points gone. That's not going to happen says the prosecutor. After some back and forth the prosecutor finally says you can take the deal or set it for a hearing and we will have the deputy come in and testify as to your speed and there will be no deal.

You guessed it, she demands a hearing because she thinks that will get rid of her points. . . .Good luck with that.

Scene 2: If You Can't Even Do That Right, What Makes You Think You Can Represent Yourself?

So our miscreant gets hauled in from jail.

At the outset the judge asks his name and age.

"Name, I'm uh 62".

The judge asks him when he filled out the form the judge has which he holds up.

"Uh, just before they brought me in here."

The judge, much to the courtroom's bemusement, asks him if he just had a birthday.

"Uh, no."

Well, the judge asks, how is it you wrote you were 61 on the form and now a few minutes later you say you're 62?"

"Uh, well, you know, hard to remember sometimes, something something drink in Tennessee". [People in the courtroom: Wat?].

The Judge then says: Sir, the form you just filled out was to represent yourself in your case and you've now just said you can't even keep your own age straight, are you sure you really want to represent yourself?

"Uh, that might just not be a great idea".

The judge agrees it is not the best idea the fellow has ever had, and adjourns it for him to get a public defender.

Why Detroit Can't Have Nice Things, Part The Umpteenth

Detroit's fireworks displays were again disrupted this year by innocent people being shot when in the crossfire of hood-rats having arguments.

The Detroit News: Victim recalls pain, fear after being shot at fireworks

Also in Detroit, a very eco-friendly and people-friendly Bicycle shop and its employees get death threats after a black customer first verbally abuses a Black employee for "working for the master now" (yep you can't make that up), and then the goofball makes up a claim that the store personnel jumped him because he was black, leading the usual scumbags and those with perpetual grievances to threaten the lives of the store workers and the store:

The Detroit News: Detroit bike shop closes after alleged racial incident

The headline on the article for the incident is rather misleading, do read the whole article to get an accurate picture. Note the shop being threatened is part of a group in a program giving bikes to impoverished Detroit youth and teachign them bike repair. Apparently no good deed goes unpunished in Detroit.

That's Detroit for you.

Disney Day 4 - Hollywood Studios

Our last day at Disney was dedicated to the smallest park they have, Hollywood Studios.

We had left our luggage and all bags at the hotel and traveled light for this one. You know what that means - yep, a sudden torrential downpour and no umbrellas.

e went to the Star Tours ride first. Last time Leah was 5 and didn't enjoy the experience. This time the story was different and felt less rough and shaky compared to last time and all 4 of us enjoyed it a lot, it was very well done indeed. Can't wait for Disney's Star Wars park to open.

Then we did the Great Movie Ride which was a fun relaxing tour of some great scenes of timeless films and a brief history of the silver screen.

We did the Toy Story Mania ride and had fun blasting things.

Then we headed back to the hotel, retrieved our luggage from the storage area and caught a Disney bus to the airport.

Amazingly Spirit was actually on time and we arrived in Detroit Early. Baggage handling, what seems to be a perennial problem for every Spirit flight I've been on, was as expected, sluggish.

That ended our End of School Year Disney Trip.

In short, Disney was magical - the Coronado was a great place to stay, the staff there was great and welcoming and made it an excellent place to rest in between Park visits. The parks all had different aspects and everyone found rides to their liking and it was an excellent family time together.

Be As Tactical As Master Ken

If you're not regularly watching Enter The Dojo on YouTube, you just can't honestly call yourself a sheepdog, nor a member of Mall Security Team 6 for that matter.

While Master Ken typically does specialize in unarmed combat, this time he decided to do some firearm-related tactical exercise activities:

Flying Lesson #135 - Naviguessing Perambulations

Today the winds were 15-25 but mainly right down 270 degrees which made it not to bad, but there was some shifting to make life interesting at times.

We did a simulated check-ride with Ray acting as the examiner. I flew a previously planned cross-country course and then after finding my first two way points got diverted to Linden. So I naviguessed from my then current position up to Linden - I continued west until I hit US23, ent north along US23 to just before the curve, dropped down below Flint's Class C airspace and found that Linden had not moved from its previous location, for which I was thankful.

At Linden I did a normal landing, a short field landing and a soft field landing.

I did do one go-around when I did not like the approach on a short field landing - a bit too high and fast so I figured just go round and do it again and that was according to Ray a good call.

The short field landing I then did after the go-round would have qualified as an aircraft carrier landing - would have made Juvat's Navy instructor happy it would, but nothing was broken, just a very very solid landing indeed right on the numbers.

Then I naviguessed us eastwards to the practice area and Ray threw some foggles on me and I got to make turns, climbs and descents by instruments alone and he said I did very well. It didn't help that the turn coordinator in the plane was Tango Uniform but I made do without it.

Then the foggles came off and I did some clearing turns and then did steep turns and he said they were the best ones I've done, so the lesson went quite nicely.

Thence I naviguessed us back to Pontiac, called them when we were 11 miles out and entered a right base for 27R and did a short field landing that would have been more to Juvat Air Force Instructor's liking, but with the fun of a sudden gust from 300 degrees just as I was about to touch down, but I handled it and it was fine.

Can I ever get a nice calm wind day, please?

1.6 and 4 landings.

Disney World Day 3 - Animal Kingdom

The Kali River Rapids ride was our first ride of the day, and as a water ride there was perfect for a hot day, and Sunday was a scorcher.

Heck, it was so nice we rode it twice and got well and truly soaked and enjoyed it profusely.

After that we wandered about the park seeing many of the animal exhibits, including a walking path that had these two birds acting rather curiously:

They were resting right on the path, not moving, and there was a Disney cast member right there to make sure no one messed with them. They basically were sunning themselves and had picked up a habit of regularly just laying there and watcing the people walk around them without a care in the world.

We then did the Kilimajaro Safari ride which was quite cool - you get a guided tour on a truck through a land filled with impressive animals, some of which get quite close sch as the Ostrich that tried to play chicken with our truck.

I mean, who doesn't love seeing a baby elephant?

We then went to ride the newest roller coaster, Expedition Everest. Unfortunately, Leah decided at the last minute to bail out and I had to go with her. I think she got a bit freaked form all the screams coming from the coaster. Abby and Tash went on it and Tash really did not enjoy the experience much. Apparently going backwards in the dark on a fast roller coaster will do that to people. I believe her words were "I'm never getting on that thing again!". Leah regretted that she bailed out so we will have to come back and do it again someday.

Animal Kingdom's newest exhibits are the rides from Avatar - The World of Pandora.

Right as we headed to the world of Pandora however it began to rain rather heavily.

While Avatar was a neat movie from a special effects standpoint, its overall theme of "Dances With Smurfs" hardly made it an enduring tale nor does it have a tight Disney connection. Most people today if you ask them about Avatar are hardly going to rank it in the realm of great or especially memorable movies. I do have to wonder why they decided to spend four years building Pandora. Now the Star Wars theme park they're working on, that makes sense from a cultural and thematic perspective, Pandora, not so much.

We could not get Fast Passes for either of them and we waiting in line in the wet for the Navi River Journey ride as at 2 hours it was a shorter wait than the more exciting ride of the Flight of Passage with a two hour forty-five minute wait and the kids were not going to wait for that. Two hours in the rain was enough, thank you. At least the waiting area was full of interesting Pandora-like scenery and fake Pandora plant life that made it interesting:

It's an awesome spectacle and they really went all out on the scenery to make you feel like you are indeed on Pandora. But its scenery that seems to have no real overall heart. I think they'll do better when they make an immersive Star Wars park as if they take this level of detial to scenery, characters and story line it will be beyond awesome. Pandora feels like its great scenery that's missing something.

The Navi River cruise, once we finally got on it was pretty cool with lots of neat bio-luminescence and fun effects and some neat moving Pandora creatures, but to me it rated a solid Meh. At least they didn't sing "It's a Small World", but they might have sang it in Navi and I just missed the translation. Nothing scary nor a unifying story, or particularly really cool, but it provided some interesting scenery and a place to rest our tired feet. Not worth waiting two hours for I'm afraid.

After that we declared it a day.

While Animal Kingdom felt like a smaller park, we still racked up 16,921 step and 6.7 miles.

Flying Lesson #134 - To Troy Again

Today winds were gusty out of the west and Pontiac's Runway 27L was closed again.

I complete the preflight and then Ray comes over and says that the checkride examiner seems having applicants navigate to Troy and says we'll go there today.

So I get taxi and takeoff clearance and we head to Troy, passing over Orchard Lake on the way.

I find the airport ok and checking the AWOS to confirm the wind is from the west as well go for Runway 27 at Troy in a rather shifting wind. So I do a short field landing and then taxi and we do it again and again, coming over the building and thinking I'm going to land on the building, but I do some pretty decent short fields and short field takeoffs on each time. The winds would shift from left to right and gust a bit on each landing and it made the short final approaches kinda interesting.

Then we navigated north to the practice area and I did some steep turns and turns around the point and it went ok and the steep turns were within tolerances.

After that I navigated back to Pontiac by dead reckoning called in and got a landing clearance to come in on a right base and landed on Runway 27R and that was the lesson.

1.7 and 4 landings.

Disney World Day 2 - Epcot

EPCOT would be the most miles walked of the Disney World experience. It was also the hottest day we were there.

We had to go do my favorite ride, Soarin' first.

They've changed Soarin' since we last did it. It's no longer a scenic glider ride over Claifornia, it now takes you on a whirwind world tour. With dips and swoops its a lot of fun and they inject appropriate scents into the air as you fly over things. Flying over the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, and the Taj Mahal and other sites was very cool indeed and its amazing how immersive and detailed they've made the experience.

After Soarin' we did the Living with the Land ride and rode a boat through the EPCOT greenhouse. Then we did Soarin', again. Because that's how you have a good time at EPCOT.

Then we found there were spots open in the Behind The Seeds tour which takes you for an up close and guided tour of the Greenhouse and I highly recommend it. You get to walk through the greenhouse and see everything up close.

We learned that the items grown in the greenhouse are indeed used as food at the parks.

We started in their bio technology area where they are using natural predators to defeat agricultural pests - for example they use a parasitoid wasp to control leaf miners and we got to seee a time lapse video of the process. Yes, parasitoid wasps were the foundation for the creature in Alien.

Everything in the greenhouse is grown hydroponically, and mainly vertically to save space.

Cucumbers for example.

We then got to sample a cucumber and they were some fo the best cucumbers ever with a lot of flavor.

One of my favorite agricultural plants was there:

We also got to feed the Tilapia they fish farm there:

Lots of neat things to see, including some huge winter melon and an 9 pound lemon.

We learned a lot about hydroponic and drip agriculture, and fish farming, so it was rather interesting and educational tour that was done very well.

We had then originally planned to go to all 11 World Showcase national pavilions and eat a dish at each one. A good plan but execution was lacking as we were beyond full by stop 6. We did get Viva Puffs at the Canadian pavilion, Fish and Chips and a nice Ale for me at Britain, fine French delicacies at France, Mint tea and baklava and the Morocco pavilion. I highly recommend the fish and chips it was most perfect. We did make it to all the pavilions and did a fair bot of shopping at the Japan pavilion and saw first a very cool acrobatic performance and then a nice short film at the China pavilion about, yes you guessed it, China.

Then we did the Spaceship Earth ride which was a nice relaxing way to rest our tired feet and learn some things about the history of communication technology.

Then we stayed for the fireworks show, but wow we were completely wiped by the end.

Over 20,000 steps and over 7 miles.

Day 1 At Disney World - Magic Kingdom

We had planned out our 4-day-long-weekend trip to Disney planning to go to one park per day. We didn't bother with the expense of a Park Hopper pass as there's more than enough to do for a day in each park.

We woke up to a beautiful morning:

After we got up, we went to the main pool at the hotel and enjoyed the water slide.

On the way there we walked by the pond which had these prominent warning signs, likley put up after that unfortunate incident of the unfortunate child and alligator encounter last year:

We had breakfast poolside and Leah had to have the Mickey waffles - which really were excellent.

In fact we found all the food at Disney to be very good indeed with some of it simply outstanding - The food at the Maya Grill certainly was the night we arrived. The only reason we didn't pack on the pounds this trip was due to all the walking we were about to do around the parks.

We put on our magic bands and got a Disney shuttle from the resort to the park.

Magic bands are Disney's latest stroke of genius - each band is its own chip and pin system that not only has your park tickets and acts as your room key, but when tied to your credit card lets your purchase anything you want at a park or resort by placing the band on a scanner and entering your PIN. No need to carry a wallet or cash around the parks - and it has the neat effect, from Disney's standpoint of the feeling that you're not paying with real money at the time so you're less concerned about the cost. Simply brilliant.

We had arrived at the Magic Kingdom:

We did the Pirates of Caribbean ride first, and they've added to it since we lat rode it and added much more of the movies to the ride which made it even more fun.

We then did the The Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride and it was pretty cool to see them enjoy it since they last rode it five years ago.

Of course we had arrived in Disney's rainy season so each afternoon it variously drizzled, poured or combinations of both so umbrellas came in handy.

It started raining right after the Magic carpet ride, so we went indoors for the It's a Small World ride.

Then it was off Futureland was a ride on Buzz Lightyear, a fun cartoon shoot-em-up game that, while it kept pausing for some reason, was fun for everyone. After that was a relaxing ride around Futureland on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover which gave some nice elevated views and ran us through various rides in Futureland.

Then we did the new Dwarf Mine Train roller coaster - we didn't have a Fastpass for it so we stood in line for 2 hours and 45 minutes but Leah really wanted to ride it so we hung in there and then had a very fun roller coaster ride. Some yelling and screaming was heard.

We also wanted to do Splash Mountain but it was sadly closed due to technical difficulties. That closure got us a FastPass to ride Thunder Mountain, Magic Kingdom's signature roller coaster and it was a lot of fun too.

After 8 hours at the park we were done and took the bus back to the hotel and had dinner at the Pepper Market - cafeteria style restaurant at the resort, and we had a swim and that was Day 1.

At Magic Kingdom we walked about 5.6 miles and 15,000 steps per my iPhone, but it sure felt like more than that. We had the blisters to show for it too.