MichronicMyOptics - A Visual Record of a Journey

On November 27, Thanksgiving morning 2008, Dad and I woke up early and drove to the Airport in Warwick,
NY. We pulled the plane out of the hanger where it had been stored overnight to keep the frost off. Just
before sunrise we commenced our journey west. The plan was to try and make to it Durango in two days,
flying a southern route through Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas,
Oklahoma, through Texas and skirting New Mexico while avoiding the highest mountains as we cross into
Southern Colorado.

On the first day we briefly landed in Scott County Tennessee to refuel and later stopped for the night in
Kennett Missouri. Kennett is a small agricultural town that looks like it has barely changed since 1950's. We
quickly realized that most business and restaurants are closed on Thanksgiving in a small town like Kennett
so we were relieved when we came across a Pizza Hut with a glowing "OPEN" sign in the window. It was
not much of a Thanksgiving Dinner, but after nine hours in the small plane, it was nice to be on the ground
for a while.

The next morning we awoke before dawn to find the local Micky D's totally packed. The sun had not yet
reveal itself itself, but the workday clearly starts early for the local farmers. At dawn we flew over Arkansas
and into Oklahoma stopping again in the pan handle of Texas to avoid some bad weather, and to monitor a
fuel consumption gauge that was inexplicitly creeping up. The town of Perryton, TX is in the north east
corner of the Pan Handle. The terrain is absolutely flat. They had had a wet fall season so when seen from
above the vast farm fields appeared punctuated buy lake size puddles. The locals at the airport took great
care of us; found us a hotel next to the steak house, and chaperoned us to and from the airport. We really
appreciated the small town hospitality. We learned while ordering dinner at the steak house that Perryton
is in a dry county.

After waiting for the night frost to burn off the plane we took off again the following morning for our 3rd day
of flying. We headed north west toward Alamosa. The weather forecast was not looking good as we
approached the San Luis Valley, which is the largest alpine valley above 7500' in the world and home to
the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. We flew toward the north east edge of the valley to see
the tallest sand dunes in North America; reaching over 700' tall. The mountain passes ahead were socked in
and the wind was whipping across the alpine plain, wrestling with our small plane, so we landed at the
Alamosa Regional Airport and caught a ride into town for burgers at the San Luis Brewing Company. By the
time we were finished with lunch the skies had cleared up. We took a cab back to the airport and took off
again hoping to make it over the front range of the Rockies during this window of clear skies. We started by
flying south toward Chama, NM. We crossed the mountains near Wolf Creek and then headed North West
over the Southern Ute Indian Reservation to Durango. We landed at Animus Airpark late on the 3rd the day.
Pete heard us coming in and was ready and waiting for our arrival. He was clearly excited to be seeing
Cessna Skylane N2437X in Durango.

The next day Pete took the controls for some desert flying as we navigated to Window Rock Arizona, the
seat of the government of the Navajo Nation. After lunching in Window Rock we continued flying for the
rest of the day site seeing over Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Monument Valley, and the
Goosenecks of the San Juans by Mexican Hat Utah. Heading back we flew over Soda Springs, Utah for a
spectacular view of the otherworldly terrain of the San Juan Canyon. We ended the day flying over Mesa
Verde as we headed back to Durango. Dad and I spent 3 more days visiting with Pete and site seeing from
the ground. The last day of our trip Dad and I drove to Ouray, Co to see the beginnings of the ice starting to
form on the vertical walls of the Ice park and Gorge where in another month and a half the world ice
climbing championships would be held.

Flying to the Grand Canyon September 9, 2008
Pete picked me up in Denver and after a day of waiting at the airport for the skies to clear we finally started
the flight to the Grand Canyon airport before dawn. Pete had packed bikes and we rode the final miles into
the park and up to the rim. We hiked a short way down the canyon and back before nightfall. After a very
satisfying diner in the lodge restaurant we headed back to the campsite we had established while riding in
that morning. We awoke well before dawn to the sound of bugling elk and rode the bikes back to the
airport in the dark that morning. We were back at the Animus Airpark just in time for Pete to start work.