Thanks for the kind words & thoughts. Hopefully she'll pull through, but she's battling an inoperable brain tumor & all the associated side effects - tough war to win. She has large blood clots in her lungs, legs & one near her heart. I'm not a doc, but from what I understand if those clots move, things get gravely bad pretty much instantly. Not a fun time for anyone.
On a lighter note, I have logged some great cross country time the past couple days. Yesterday I flew three flights: L00-P14, P-14-AXX (lunch with Dad & step-mom) & AXX-T67. 6.9 hours total. The winds weren't helping me yesterday until the last leg. I did log some 200knot ground speed time up at 17500' near SPS. Love it.
I got up this morning & got the plane ready. Jay & Carol stopped by the gas pump at T67 to see what was up. Jay recommended flying over to XBP (Bridgeport) for gas...$3.38/gal!! So, I gassed up there & started toward Sante Fe, NM (SAF). After digging through my Flight Guide for the restaurant location (gotta write a review, ya know), I noticed the word "fee" just about everywhere at SAF. So, I turned north & stopped at AXX again. I managed to get my dad on the phone while I was about 10 minutes out & they met me again for chow.
The leg from AXX to SLC today was very cool. For those in doubt, the Rockies are big, nasty looking, non-airplane friendly mountains. Flying north west, my normal bozosphere cruising altitude of 16500 only left me 2500' over some of the peaks. I fought 50 knot headwinds until just before Telluride. Thankfully, they died down to less than 20 knots for most of the rest of the trip. The Canyonlands area also looks awesome from the air. I wrote down a few dirt strips (not on my map) that I'd like to fly to someday. Someday.
Each big flight today was 3.0. Those with the little hop from T67 to XBP made for 13.2 hours of flying in 2 days. Good fun.
On another note, I'm very glad I opted for the 22cu ft O2 bottle (Aerox "M" tank). With all the 17.5 & 16.5 time I've emptied half of the bottle in 2 days. The little bottle wouldn't have gotten me over the Rockies today.
I'll be back to Ft Worth for work again. Next time I'll bring the plane & stay longer than 12 hours...promise!