Caution: Long post ahead....

I got my final 3 hours of cross country flying in today.

Yay!

Trust me when I say that I am glad to have that over with. The next time I do any cross country flying I want it to be because I decided to go somewhere like the Cape or Florida.

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My day started at 9:45 when I left Northampton and flew to Westfield (Barnes). The ATC there was beyond helpful and got me set up for my flight to Nashua, NH. He was also the guy who was on duty when I had my flat tire and we chatted about that for a few minutes. To my surprise, he said that now that he knows I'm a student pilot, he is kind of impressed with how I handled that incident.

Once clearance was obtained, I left Westfield, climbed to 5,500 and made my way out over the Quabbin. Bradley departure kept an eye on me for a bit and then transferred me over to Boston center. They kept an eye on me and kept me informed of any traffic in my area.

Boston turned me over to Nashua tower and I landed at Nashua with a certain amount of finesse. I taxied to the ramp, set myself up for my next flight and departed Nashua feeling pretty damned good about things.

From Nashua I made a quick jaunt over to Keene, NH, once again under the watchful eye of Boston center.

Just to note, since today was a pretty nice day, there was a lot of traffic out there and I'm grateful to the ATC folks who watched over me. They contacted me three or four times during my flight to inform me of traffic in my area.

So anyways, as I was approaching Keene, getting ready to enter the pattern, another pilot chimed in and indicated that he was on a 3 mile final for the same runway I was going to land on. I offered to make a wide right 360 to give him time to land and he said he would appreciate that. I did my 360 out over the city of Keene and Keene State College, thinking to myself that if my son is looking up, he sees me.

I settled into the pattern, did a nice landing at Keene and then set up to visit the good people at Orange.

From Orange, it was back to Northampton and an end to my cross country requirements.

All toll, I flew 150.6 nautical miles over a period of 3 hours. Combined with my previous 2.1 hour trip to Lebanon, NH, I'm pleased to say I have 5.1 hours of my required 5.0 hours of XC time.

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While I savor my cross country completion and root for the Indians to kick the Cubs ass, you can click on these:

• In my opinion, the hottie in the bikini needs to dump the guy that left her to get eaten alive and hang with the stranger that showed up out of nowhere to protect her.



• Only in Florida.



• Also only in Florida.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.
  (Shockingly enough, it happened in Florida.)



• Stay classy Buffalo. Stay classy....