Back to work!!

Back on night check. I secretly missed it a little bit, not the hours though lol- especially compared to C school!!! But i checked back in to my command, and my buddy up in admin told me that i am eligable for the next advancement (to E5) exam in march. thats like less than 2 months away!!! ahhh. Such good news but i got to start studying meow. So my outlook for the next couple weeks/ months is im def cutting back on making to trips to fresno to fly, which will be good for my finances, and i think i stopped at a pretty good spot to pick up once we come back from the boat. I'll just be studying really hard for this upcoming exam, cuz this is the big one, this has to do with my life, so i really wanna focus on this rather than other stuff, plus i dont have much time to do so. time to cram!! bout to go wash my jeep off, eat some chow, then get back to the books!

My own room!

Forget to tell you guys that when i returned from San Fran that weekend, i came back to my own room. That friday i found a paper on my door kicking my roommate out. Finally!! i was so happy and couldnt wait. so then later that week, i went to walmart bought an inch and a half temperpedic for a king size, and also sheets and comfortor as well as two pillows. it looks really nice, and my set up is wonderful. im so excited, and its super comfortable to lay in. got my tv set up, started watching the new girl. life is good!

Off roading

So a couple of buddies of mine invited me to go four wheeling with our jeeps on sunday. we had sunday night off for the holiday, so i gladly said yes. it was 2 hours away in hollister hills. we drove there, only 5 bucks to get in. lots and lots of trails. labeled like skiing trails- blue green and black diamond. we deflated our tires quite a bit to get some better traction. started off with some green trails that led us to a beautiful overlook, then went a little harder. eventually went down a black diamond which was very steep and bumpy- bottomed out a couple times, other than that it was exhilerating. Next up was a little play area for off roaders. aka a mud pit. this was a lot of fun. we just blasted right through the mud and it sprayed alls over the jeep, did that a couple times. my buddies jeep ended up stalling out after he went through, and it wouldnt turn over. but the battery was still working. my Father taught me how to pop the clutch when i was younger with my truck, so i thought we would do that- cuz he never did that before. they gave me a push, popped it, started right up, had to turn it a little, and lost it.then he wanted to try it, and went down a bigger hill, and ended up getting it to stay. So by this time, we were ready to head out. we came to a fork in the road and stopped to look at directions. just so happened that a grandfather and his son were blazing the trails with a pretty intense 4 wheeler. they needed help pushing it in their trailer cuz they broke something. so we helped them out- took a little bit, and they offered us a beer. a nice ice cold dos equis. that beer was soooo delicious, and we just talked about life. Turns out hes pretty high up for the company esurance. you could def tell. after we parted ways we took to the streets, filled up our tires and got something to eat. then headed on home. long exhausting day- but fun.

Flying Solo

So ive been trying to solo in an airplane for like a week straight meow, but the weather hasnt been up to par. meaning the visibility is not far enough for me to fly by myself. So we schedule my next solo for a little later in the day for the weather to clear up -10am. I get there, check the visibility, and everything is perfect. cept for the fact that i havent flown in like a week, and i was a lil nervous. Everyone was in a good mood though. SO we take off in the airplane. and head over to another airport, this is an airport that i have not yet been to yet, so it was different. we did everything the same, i didnt feel very confident at first, and i just felt like a blob sitting there, but eventually, by the 3rd landing with my instructor, he was ready to get out. which really got my adrenaline going. i dropped him off and taxiied back to the runway. full throttle and i was off. My smile was from ear to ear, and it was just so peaceful not having someone yelling in my ear. i was free and flying. i did everything correct, and landed beautifully 3 times. the last time i landed was soooo amazing, like landing on a cloud again. i was so proud of myself, i think my instructor was too, he just didnt want to say anything. By this time i was drenched in sweat and ready to head back. We went back, i got a picture, a certificate, and some little wings. boy it was fun.

San Fran Weekend

So the weekend came up, got ready saturday morning, headed out that afternoon to san fran. Drove andersons car up there, started getting a little cloudy and rainy. boy was it nice to see the rain. San fran is actually a sister city to boston i guess? so it was equally as challenging to drive in as well. Little rough, but we made it. Stretched our legs out in the main city area, grabbed a cup of coffee, then went to look for our hotel. ended up being right on the water front, just as i suspected. So beautiful, literally in the middle of everything. they let us check in early, and parking was only like 40 bucks extra, where it woulda been so much more expensive if we were out on the street. We put our things down, and explored the city. It was a beautiful afternoon, everything cleared up, and the sun was shining. we walked down the boardwalk looking at all the street performers, and expensive touristy stuff. then we went out on a pier to get a better view of the golden gate bridge. beautiful. The sun was setting, and it was time to get some dinner. We saw a pretty cool place on the way there, so we stopped by, got a nice cold beer, and some bread bowls. man they were soooo good. hit the spot perfectly. after that, we did some shopping, then went back to the hotel to go swimming before it got to late. the pool was like 80 degrees, so it was nice. got out, and went to bed. Sunday morning came a lot earlier than expected, and we got up and checked out of the hotel room, since we were gonna be gone for a while. We start our walk to the pier where our boat is located, took like 15 minutes, and got in line. Got on a nice little boat to head over to Alcatraz. We got off, and the place was pretty small, and very beat down. we walked around, up and down, and alls over. the coolest part was the actual jail cells. we got to see the holes the prisoners made in the walls to escape. they went through an awful lot to get out of there! i would go crazy, and probably try the same thing. but these guys were isolated from the main land, this was torture. but it did feel pretty cool to walk the halls of this once prison. after a couple hours on the island, we were a little wiped out, so we grabbed some pizza and headed back to lemoore. bout a 3 hour drive, got home and passed out. best sleep ever.

Upcoming Events Jan-Feb 14

So, some things to look forward to in the upcoming weeks that go by. C school ends January 17th. So my little vacation will end. Back to my squadron it is! and i will be on night check, with a lot of cool people, so im excited. should be a good time, plus ill be pretty high up. So until then i will probably be doing flying lessons up the wazoooo. oh yeah! I just booked a hotel for san fran this weekend the 11th saturday into the 12th.... cuz we are going on a tour of alcatraz!!! ahhh im so excited!! The hotel looks over the bay area, its got like a pool and everything. I think we were going to try and do a hike early on saturday too, then relax at the hotel that night, and we got an early bird special tour through alcatraz. very cool. Thats gonna be with Anderson, Arce, and maybe Stiers, but she doesnt know yet. It will be a good time though. After that, more flights, and learning and studying. Then January 31st- off to fallon (if im on the list of people going) which i hope i am, cuz i have never been there before, and i would like to go. This should be a fun little event until february 21st. then come back to lemoore for a month, then off to the boat for 3 weeks, then back here for a little, then to the boat again for a couple months to cruise around the pacific ocean, go to hawaii, then rumors are we are switching aircraft carriers in japan? i have no idea, but japan would be a great place to see as well. So a lot is going on. Still need to bug one of my higher ups for my own room, but i have a feeling it will come soon. Just like my private pilot license. that will come in due time. but a lot of adventures on the horizon, and i got alls the time in the world, so i guess ill see where the tide takes meh. But all good things to come.

Back to C school/ Stage Check 1.5

So monday marked the beginning of the end of C school. I have been going to the gym like everyday, then we had class for like 2 hours. it was rediculous. I texted Matt to see if we could schedule some flying times this week. He agreed for tuesday to fly with him, and then finish off my stage check for just the part i failed. Which i was still a little nervous and queezy about. So Tuesday comes, i wake up early, get to the airport, have some good conversation with everyone there. Felt like there was a good vibe in the air, and that everything was gonna go smoothly. Matt and i had a great flight. went over what we had to go over real quick, i had two landings, and it truly was like landing on a cloud. maybe cuz im always on a cloud, i should know how it feels. Anyways, next up was to do the same exact thing but with a different flight instructor. I was still nervous, feels like i forget everything when im with someone else. ughhh. so we get in to the plane, everything was going fine. i just hate everything up until take off, i dno what it is, but once i take off, i feel a lot better. Anyway, he said i was going a little fast on the ramp. i may have, whatever, no big deal. we took off and headed out to chandler, a different airport. It was super hazy and i thought i was going the right way, but i wasnt too sure. So he asked me where we were going, and why were we climbing above 2000 ft. our altitude restriction hadnt been cancelled yet, but i contacted tower and asked for some directions, they graciously helped. finally i could see the other airport, and checked the weather over it, then started communicating with everyone else in that area, telling them my intentions. got down to pattern altitude, did everything right, landed once again beautifully, took off again, then started spiralling upwards, cuz thats what i went over with matt, but he asked me what i was doing, in which i told him, he thought it was strange, but it was perfectly normal. I got the weather for fresno airport, then reported back in on their frequency. Made radio contact and entered the airspace. woopdidoo, thats alls i had to do to pass right there. so i did it. we flew back to fresno, entered everything perfectly. my landing was outstanding once again- its the most fun part by far. Taxi'd my plane back and couldnt wait to get out. Once i put the plane back, i went up and spoke with him, he told me some stuff that i could work on, and different perspectives on how to do things. but its human nature for different flight instructors to teach things differently. So i took his stuff into consideration, but matts way of doing things will probably be my go to since im with him the whole time. It felt good to pass. Meow it was on to phase II of my private pilots license. This is the solo/ cross country portion of my training. It also consists of short field landings and take offs, which i heard was pretty hard. im up for a challenge though. We scheduled my first solo for thursday at 9am. we are gonna go to another airport, land 3 times, then he is going to get out and let me land and take off 3 times. Scary, but i cant wait. its gonna be awesome. Also, theres like 10 ground lessons and 10 flights in this stage II, he wants to try and front load these lessons, so we can finish them by january 31, because that is when my squadron is going to Nevada for some training until Feb 21st. So im planning some stuff out, ill do my homework, and see where this takes us. But im excited to learn some more stuff and engrave everything else that i already have learned.