Great day and adventure out of Highland

[Lauren Tjaden]

Yesterday morning I strolled around the block for half an hour. I chanted, I am going to fly 60 miles today. I realized I was thinking so negatively I could barely say the words to myself, much less accomplish the flight. I flew both Thursday and Friday, and practiced approaches on Friday. I need more of this, but I figured I could be as picky as I wanted about the LZ I choose -- and it was time to start thinking of myself as a pilot again. ????I replaced batteries in my GPS, and programmed in an ambitious route. I?wrote down the airspaces in my path that I needed to avoid?and taped them to my base tube. I towed into a stiff Northwest wind and the adventure began. Paul radioed and asked if I was ready to leave the airport and I had to laugh. With my glide and that wind, I couldn't have gotten back ten minutes after the flight began.
????I fought my way up to 5000 feet, and Paul and I soared with a bald eagle, decorated with brilliant white.? I circled in mainly mediocre lift, only getting climbs of 500 fpm a few times,?mainly up high. I skirted the edges of clouds to avoid being digested by them.
????I noticed that I had forgotten to zip up my jacket when my right armpit got cold. It flapped behind me,?a giant sheet hanging out of my harness. I stuffed it back in under my harness as well as I could, where it nestled, a huge rock against my chest. Nice.
????Big ass clench factor over Federalsburg, some 20 miles south. It's a friggin' city! We had to veer east to avoid airspace. I really didn't want to land there -- not seeing the normal 400 acre field I choose for landing below --? but I got down to 1900 feet before I found a climb.
????I punched in my next go-to of Salisbury. And arrived there. Apparently if you fly to the west of Highway 13, you need to be 3500 feet or less, and if you fly to the east, you need to be 2500 feet or more. This is for a section of about 5 miles.
????I drifted low again. Paul found a climb to the south, right over the enormous city. I couldn't see any LZs and he was much higher than I was. I ran to the east, and at the last second found a climb that boosted me to 3500 feet. Not sure if it died or if I lost concentration. There is lots to think about. I still didn't have the altitude to cross the city and ended up flying upwind to land a couple miles back -- yes, in my Nebraska- sized field. My See you program said it was 45.3 miles, my best flight.
????But it got better. I heard yelling from overhead after I landed. Skydivers! I yelled back and they sent a truck over from Bennett airport with refreshments for me. Then a woman named Dawn and a big blond guy named Pat returned. Pat grabbed my glider and slung it on his pickup, and Dawn told me to get in. I hung out with my new friends -- lots of them --?at the airport and watched skydiving and learned about it. I had arranged to go up in the plane (it was only taking 3 jumpers for a low jump, so there was room for one more) when David Rice, my ride and hero, showed up, with PK already in the truck. Paul was whining like a gurly mon that he wanted us to hurry to come pick him up so I missed my airplane ride. But I mixed a stiff drink and relaxed until we got Paul. Ate a buffet of plentiful food of questionable quality. Arrived home VERY late.
????Definitely a day worth being alive.
Lauren

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