The Day Before Takeoff

 It's May 23rd, the day before takeoff.

When I brought the idea of this adventure to my wife Linda four months ago, it sounded all so exciting! How cool would it be to finally realize this dream I had so many years ago?

I spent the following four months working on the plane to get it as perfect as possible. I bought ultra-light weight backpacking-style camping gear. I planned and studied and obsessed.

However, in the last few days this excitement has been replaced with something else. The realization that I am actually doing this has sunk in. It's not something that is happening in the future. It's happening tomorrow.

Today I seem to be having a lot of emotions and doubts. The biggest one is anxiousness. Not necessarily the good kind. I am so used to my daily life - my comfortable chair, my own bed, my daily routine. This routine is comfortable and safe and easy. As I have gotten older these things seem to take on a greater importance. I'm not sure why.

I am also feeling melancholy about leaving Linda. She is my best friend, my partner in life. I spend all day, every day, with her and its still not enough. I miss her already, even though I haven't left yet.

Do I really want to go on the adventure without my love of my life? How can I enjoy myself without her to share the experience? This is a very real concern. 

I've told Linda there are two things for sure that can cause me to turn around and come home. The first is that I can't keep my pain under control. The second is deciding I just don't want the adventure if she's not in it.

The first leg of my flight is, honestly, the one I have been most concerned about. It is the flight from Pine Mountain Lake to Kingman Arizona. 

Leg 1 - Pine Mountain Lake (E45) to Kingman (KIGM)

The concern with Leg 1 is the winds in the Mojave Desert, and at my destination, Kingman. For the past week they have been unflyable. The winds and turbulence was well beyond my comfort level - 26 knots gusting to over 40 knots.  

A few years ago Linda and I found ourselves transiting the Mojave desert in the Cessna Cardinal we were partners in. I decided to stop at Mojave Air and Space Port to hopefully get a peek at the Stratolaunch aircraft. Big mistake. The wind was so bad I could not take off again. For the next two days the wind did not die down and we spent a lifetime sitting in the small pilot's lounge. There is nothing to do in Mojave if you're not flying, so it was a very long couple of days.

However, the winds are forecast to die down starting this afternoon. The weather for tomorrow will be about as perfect as I could hope for. 

Monday's weather at Kingman - Sunny, winds 7 gusting to 13

The plane is packed, fueled, and ready to go. The only thing I have left to do is throw my two backpacks into it.

Now I just need to remember that this is supposed to be a fun adventure and I should be enjoying myself. Hopefully, once I am in the air all this anxiousness and uncertainty will fade away. I'll post again tomorrow and let you know how it went.

Here is the link to my Spot X gps tracking which tracks the plane:

https://maps.findmespot.com/s/JT4J

N972GL and Willy (I will miss him too!)