The final leg from Sedona to Santa Monica was not for the faint of heart. It seemed to start out just fine, the wind was still pushing us to a slow crawl, the sun was setting and ahead the clouds were moving over Santa Monica.
Justin, again was cool and calm, although, we’d been up there so long, he was growing a beard that rivaled Santa. It was business as usual, on the autopilot, posting photo’s, listening to music and then I started to feel the plane climb past its point of comfort. The stall warning let out a whine as we slowly but surely got sucked into an updraft. I was asked by ATC to maintain 10,000 but I simply couldn’t. Of course, Justin let them know, we were doing our best. Slowly, we broke out of the drafts, looked down on all the traffic leaving Las Vegas and thanked our lucky stars.
I’m incredibly thankful to Justin for co-piloting the journey, I learned so much from him. I’m also grateful for my darling dog Friday, who flew 25 hours from coast to coast with me. I’d do all again tomorrow.
