Had a nice break for the holiday and embarked on the annual Dove hunt once again. The weather out there turned out to be much nicer than the weather in Denver, and we had a great time. Saturday was opening day, and almost everyone limited out within a couple of hours. This hunt has taken place across 3 generations of family over the past 40 years, and has become somewhat of a tradition over the years. I even let junior drive the car on the county roads, and he did great. Top that off with feasts on both Saturday and Sunday night that consisted beef brisket, Dove cabobs marianated in 3 different sauces, potatoe salad, carrot cake, Sweet corn from Olathe Kansas (The absolute best there is in my opinion), and so on.....
I have always had dreams of being able to fly my airplane to and from the hunting grounds, with all my gear safely packed inside. Several builders with similar interests have also outfitted their airplanes to be able to carry hunting, fishing, and camping gear. Mine will have to do all that AND also haul my guitar and the ocassional Radio Control airplane or two, which I plan to enter in various RC competions and fly-ins all over the country when I retire. Hmm. I may need that RV-10 after all.
Anyway - today it was back to flying the Citabria to see if I could get those pesky wheel landings figured out. It was a beautiful cool and still morning, and the airplane just wanted to blast off and fly to the stars it seemed. I initially had a little problem with dancing a bit too much on the rudder pedals after the main wheels touched down, but after a couple more I started to get the hang of it. We mixed in a couple of 3 point landings and called it a day. I am getting more and more comfortable with the plane during each flight.
It was already busy at the airport by the time I was ready to takeoff at about 0630 this morning. A stinson was already up performing close quarter short final slips to landings on runway 35L, and we were instructed to switch over to the alternate tower frequency - yet another sign that aviation may be starting an upswing in activity. I certainly hope so. Centennial Airport used to be a consistent contender for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in the number of total operations, and the ranking as the busiest general aviation airport in the nation.
There is nothing like watching the sun rise against a lazy, red adn pink colored Colorado sky, while you crank up the engine and slip the sirly bonds of the earth. Fall is defnitely great time to be in Colorado. I am scheduled to fly tomorrow and again on Sunday - still trying to knock out the 10 hours I will need for the check out. Just need to polish some things up now, and I would like to try to find some gusty or variable crosswind conditions to really test my skill. My instructor John told me today that "your really are a pilot." That made me feel pretty darn good. We'll see if I earn the same praise after tomorrow....
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