Thursday, May 10, 2007
Breathtaking
There's no better word I can find to describe the images captured along the flight from San Marcos to Albuquerque. You cross the Texas/New Mexico border just outside Roswell, NM and from there on you're on the leeward side of the mountain range that extends north. They start small but the northernmost peaks are snow covered and well above 12,000 feet. Quite a change of scenery from the flatlands of Texas.
This was a pretty intensive flying day, nearly six and a half hours in the cockpit. But it went by so quickly that it didn't seem nearly that long. I remember as a passenger flying from Boston to Manchester, England that same amount of time seemed to be an eternity.
There were two legs to today's flight: From San Marcos to Midland (no, I did not rent a car and drive out to W's ranch in Crawford) and from Midland to ABQ. Total air miles were 560 nautical miles. I flew at 6,000 feet to Midland and at 10,000 feet to Albuquerque. Tomorrow I break out the oxygen cannister for my flight into Arizona at 12,000 feet.
Actually, I would spell Albuquerque Albu-quirky. Kinda weird. I spent an appropriate amount of time on a barstool at The Library, a well-known watering hole on Central at 4th. The locals say it's the best place to be at 3:00 in the afternoon. As long as the bar is open and they're serving Margaritas, I don't much care where I am as long as there's something to watch. It's an interesting place to sit and form opinions. The more I consume, the more philosophical I get. So...I figure people in Albu-quirky are not your type-A personalities...if you know what I mean. They're pretty laid back and definitely into their own things. Makes for an interesting sight, if you're a southerner just out for a good time of people-watching. Lots and lots of pick-ups and motorcycles. It's sort of what I expect tomorrow when I'm "standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona." I guess it just comes with the territory. Sort of like what I remember seeing and feeling when I was in Alaska a couple of years ago. People who live there, according to well-informed sources, are there because they want to get away from everybody and everything else. You could come to Albu-quirky and do the same thing and nobody would ever think the worse of you.
Hell, I could go on forever about the thoughts I had sitting on that barstool. Yes, I stopped the flow of alcohol in plenty of time to be ready for my 6:00am departure tomorrow. As my instrument instructor told me, "12 hours from bottle to throttle." Yes, I remember even the most trivial of details. Later.
This was a pretty intensive flying day, nearly six and a half hours in the cockpit. But it went by so quickly that it didn't seem nearly that long. I remember as a passenger flying from Boston to Manchester, England that same amount of time seemed to be an eternity.
There were two legs to today's flight: From San Marcos to Midland (no, I did not rent a car and drive out to W's ranch in Crawford) and from Midland to ABQ. Total air miles were 560 nautical miles. I flew at 6,000 feet to Midland and at 10,000 feet to Albuquerque. Tomorrow I break out the oxygen cannister for my flight into Arizona at 12,000 feet.
Actually, I would spell Albuquerque Albu-quirky. Kinda weird. I spent an appropriate amount of time on a barstool at The Library, a well-known watering hole on Central at 4th. The locals say it's the best place to be at 3:00 in the afternoon. As long as the bar is open and they're serving Margaritas, I don't much care where I am as long as there's something to watch. It's an interesting place to sit and form opinions. The more I consume, the more philosophical I get. So...I figure people in Albu-quirky are not your type-A personalities...if you know what I mean. They're pretty laid back and definitely into their own things. Makes for an interesting sight, if you're a southerner just out for a good time of people-watching. Lots and lots of pick-ups and motorcycles. It's sort of what I expect tomorrow when I'm "standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona." I guess it just comes with the territory. Sort of like what I remember seeing and feeling when I was in Alaska a couple of years ago. People who live there, according to well-informed sources, are there because they want to get away from everybody and everything else. You could come to Albu-quirky and do the same thing and nobody would ever think the worse of you.
Hell, I could go on forever about the thoughts I had sitting on that barstool. Yes, I stopped the flow of alcohol in plenty of time to be ready for my 6:00am departure tomorrow. As my instrument instructor told me, "12 hours from bottle to throttle." Yes, I remember even the most trivial of details. Later.
Refreshed and Re-routed
My patience has been rewarded with a beautiful change in the weather. Storm clouds have given way to mostly sunny skies over west Texas. I'm departing San Marcos at 7:00am on a different route to New Mexico to make up for the lost day of flying. I'll be headed to Albuquerque by way of Midland, TX. It will put me closer to where I want to be tomorrow morning - within a couple hours' flight time of Winslow, Flagstaff and Williams, AZ - all towns bordering the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I hope to have some fabulous photos to post when I'm back in the blog saddle later today.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Westward Whoa!
I must not have made my tithe to the weather gods. They're angry and they're showing it by keeping severe storms over west Texas. I'm stuck in the Austin/San Marcos area until they dissipate or move on. I think I can handle another night in Austin. Now where was that little Mexican restaurant.....?
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Westward Ho!
Don Imus would cring at my title for today's entry. But that's his problem. I'm safely in San Marcos, TX, and have already enjoyed a couple of margaritas before exploring Austin, which is only a few miles to the north.
The flight over from New Orleans was lengthened somewhat by air traffic control vectoring me around Houoston. I was cleared direct to San Marcos from New Orleans, but my flight path conflicted with landing traffic at IAH (Houston) and there was weather developing in the area so was re-routed several times. My GPS got a real workout. West of Houston I was once again cleared direct to San Marcos and it was smooth sailing from there.
For the record, the flight was 3:30 minutes at 8000 feet with a nice tailwind helping me average a groundspeed of 135 knots.
My night out in Austin was fantastic. Thanks to the front desk clerk at my hotel I discovered a great Mexican restaurant named "Polvos" which specializes in South Central Mexican cuisine. It's the first Mexican restaurant I've experienced where they offer Chile Rellenos prepared more than one way. (I had the original recipe.) They also had a self-service salsa bar that included jalapeno-pickled carrots. I haven't seen those since eating at Mi Pueblo on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.
You can't visit Austin without visiting 6th Street, home to some of Austin's renowned nightspots. They humbly call it the "Live Music Capital of the World." You can walk along the street and hear an eclectic mix of Jazz, Rock'n'Roll, Hip-Hop, Country...you name it. If I hadn't planned an early morning departure enroute to Las Cruces I might have hung out there until they closed.
The flight over from New Orleans was lengthened somewhat by air traffic control vectoring me around Houoston. I was cleared direct to San Marcos from New Orleans, but my flight path conflicted with landing traffic at IAH (Houston) and there was weather developing in the area so was re-routed several times. My GPS got a real workout. West of Houston I was once again cleared direct to San Marcos and it was smooth sailing from there.
For the record, the flight was 3:30 minutes at 8000 feet with a nice tailwind helping me average a groundspeed of 135 knots.
My night out in Austin was fantastic. Thanks to the front desk clerk at my hotel I discovered a great Mexican restaurant named "Polvos" which specializes in South Central Mexican cuisine. It's the first Mexican restaurant I've experienced where they offer Chile Rellenos prepared more than one way. (I had the original recipe.) They also had a self-service salsa bar that included jalapeno-pickled carrots. I haven't seen those since eating at Mi Pueblo on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.
You can't visit Austin without visiting 6th Street, home to some of Austin's renowned nightspots. They humbly call it the "Live Music Capital of the World." You can walk along the street and hear an eclectic mix of Jazz, Rock'n'Roll, Hip-Hop, Country...you name it. If I hadn't planned an early morning departure enroute to Las Cruces I might have hung out there until they closed.
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