Into Arizona!

Nasty 20-25kt headwinds all day today. In the morning, I subtracted those numbers from 110kt true airspeed in cruise, because it was calm. By the end of the first leg, the thermal activity was picking up, and going too high for me to fly over it, so I had to slow the plane down, too. For most of the day, I was making only 60-70kt (70-80 mph) over the ground.

Before I landed at Belen, NM, I did stop and try to turn a few thermals. They were definitely big enough, but I wasn't patient enough to practice. It's a shame to miss out on New Mexico thermals, but it would be a bigger shame to miss out on visiting David in LA.

Arizona is pretty!

All those headwinds meant changing plans; no way was I going to approach Cottonwood, Arizona in a crosswind at night! Various replanning steps led me to arrive in Taylor, Arizona a half hour before sunset. 35kt winds at 1500', and 12 gusting 22 at the surface, but right down the runway.

The bad news was that I had no cell service since Albuquerque, and still none in Taylor. The good news is that they had a payphone (!) so I could close my flight plan, and the pilot's lounge was open. And there's a sedan outside that just screams crew car! The bad news is that no one was inside. The good news is that the airport manager left his phone number on the wall. The bad news is that, when I called it, the phone company said "the party you are trying to call is on the same line. Hang up and wait for it to ring..." I hung up and the same phone rang. The good news is that they had WiFi. The bad news is that it had an unspecified password. The good news is that I could call the 1-800 weather briefing service, and the guy there looked up the airport manager's cell phone. The bad news is that the number was long distance. To put this story out of its misery, I'm writing this as I walk from the airport to the highway in a windy high desert dusk.

The thrilling conclusion, which I'm uploading from my wifi-equipped hotel room, is that the hotel is 2.7 miles from the airport. The route went by a decent dinner stop, too.