Hundred Dollar Hamburgers

Yesterday Larry invited me and Mike for a flight in his plane. It's been a long time since I was in a small aircraft, and Mike had never been, so we were both very excited about the invitation. It was a little cold out, but the skies were fairly clear and the sun was shining. A perfect day for a flight!

Our destination was Lansing Airport, and a bar/restaurant called Shannon's Landing. This was a place that I never would have known about, but if I lived in the area I would be there all the time. The atmosphere was comfortable, the food was outstanding, and the view of airport and the small planes taking off and landing was a lot of fun.

And the flight was a blast! I absolutely love the sensation at take off. No matter if I'm in a commercial jet or a small plane, I can't help grinning like an idiot when we take off. In this case it was even better because I was in the copilot seat, and we also had headphones so we could not only talk to each other but hear the pilot chatter. At 5500 or 6500 feet in the air, you also get a much different view of things. I spent most of the flight simply staring out the window, with my tongue practically hanging out. Larry also showed us the various readouts on his instruments, and explained what everything meant. You sure don't get that on American Airlines!

On the way back we could see that the clouds were starting to creep in. At Lansing there had been a lot of traffic, and that was probably due to the weather that we received this morning (snow!!!). A lot of pilots were getting in a last minute flight before they were grounded for a few days. Coming back, we could see the clouds starting to come in, and by the time we got back to Champaign it was overcast.

From the wide open skies I went the opposite way to the crowded grocery store. I pretty much had to climb over big groups of people (don't have your family reunion in the main lane to the produce section!), and many of the shelves were empty, causing me to make a side trip to another store. What a let down after feeling so free!

Thanks Larry for an awesome time!