Dawn

Early in my flying life I learned that dawn is a pilots best friend. Getting an early start on a long trip makes the difference between comfort and well, NOT. Departed Buckeye Friday the 9th at 5:50 am. With thunder and lightning over the Superstitions to the NE, it was good my planned route was SE.

Air was cool - 60 deg. Flight smooth but a lot of haze and no photo ops due to rising sun. Crossed into New Mexico at 7:30 flying at 11,500. Reached Deming (DMN) at 8:10. Temps on the ground 78. Here is a shot coming in on short final, and the Little Florida Mountains from under Path's wing.


I made a quick 20 minute turn around asking for 12 gallons of fuel on each side, after confirming the price as shown on AirNav. Surprise! The charge was actually 20 cents a gallon higher on the receipt.

Crossed into Texas at 9:20. Crossing just north of El Paso, a flat spread out city under high overcast. Outside temp a comfy 60. Another 35 minutes and the sky was clear, but a lot of haze remained although visibility was well over 10 miles. I kept wishing there was something to take photos of to share here, but finally realized that TX is not exactly photogenic from nearly two miles up. I did see a lot of range land and I call this one "All Roads Lead To".

11:00 am. Fort Stockton, TX. Getting some chop (bouncy). Those big windmills you see all over Eastern WA are here too, but they are blue instead of white.
11:30 Iraan, TX and the first view of oil fields. No, I spelled it correctly, but thought the similarities were interesting. These oil fields are not what I expected (Hollywood input) but covered miles of ground on both sides of flight path.


Final hour into Hondo, TX (HDO) was uncomfortable. Constant heavy chop, and I was damn pleased to land at 1:00. That is when the time change clicked - it was 3:00 in Hondo. No wonder the air was so rough! Must remember to factor in time changes in my plans. My friend Ed was waiting and it was good to see him. He and his wife Carol have a great itinerary lined up to show me the local area. I'll be here for the next 3 days, staying in their guest cottage. Two more states added and in spite of the tiring ending to yesterday's flight am so excited to be discovering new places.