I woke up at 8:30 A.M.  Well, that is when I finally woke up anyway.  I woke up at 1:11 A.M. to my neighbor talkin' on the phone, again at 5:11 and 6:11 A.M. with no real reason why, and then somewhere around 8:00 A.M. to the sound of what appeared to be a beautiful nurse gettin' supplies.  I never saw her, but her voice told me she was cute!

It's Sunday here at the airport.  And everywhere else for that matter!  Not much takes place here on Sunday.  I went to First Christian Church here in town.  I was able to see a bit more of the town today but still not much.  I went for the 9:30 service, and I was greeted by just about everyone, starting in the parking lot!  Obviously, they could tell that I was new in town.  After I walked inside, I was greeted by another woman, then a man in a robe.  He asked me who I was, what I was doing here in Chanute, and if I was single.  No joke.  Just like that.  Boom, boom, boom.  I'm Andy, I'm doin' flight training, and I'm as single as they come.

Innocent enough.

The service itself was a typical service, I guess.  There was a wide variety of people in the crowd...old, young, foreign, local.  The message was decent, the choir was painful, the songs were slow, but the people were ultra-friendly!  And I don't even think they were trying!  It's just who they are!  I stayed after for cookies and coffee, and I grabbed four cookies as I didn't have breakfast this morning.  I then went to a Sunday School, and I was able to meet even more people.  And wouldn't ya know it, there were four countries represented right here in a small room in Chanute, Kansas!  I was blown away.  South Korea, Denmark, the Netherlands, and of course, the United States.  I guess the community college in town has just over 20 foreign-exchange students, and this church takes advantage of it!

About 11:15, everything was all over, so I headed back home to the aiport, hopeful of gettin' an airplane ride!  Van had told me yesterday that my neighbor might be goin' up today...

I get back, and he's not around.

But he soon walks in the door, and I go out to see him.  His name is Jarryd, and he's a young guy just like myself.  Lived in Chicago, went to Loyola University, and wantin' to fly.  We clicked right from the get-go, and I'm really glad to have someone here at the airport to go through this training with!  And I think he is even more!  He said he had been here alone for the past two or three weeks, and it's enough to make a man go crazy.  I mean, after all, we ARE in Chanute, Kansas!

I headed over to the FBO around 12:30 to pick up my books from last night.  A young man named Dustin was there.  From what I gather, he hangs around the airport, does the cleaning and trash pick-up, and might even fuel the planes.  He was watchin' some fuelin' videos, and we just sat there and talked as I read a pilot magazine.  That's the nice thing about livin' at the airport.  You live, breathe, and eat aviation.  There are aviation magazines and pictures all over.  Shoot, you can't even to to the throne without a magazine starin' at ya from the floor!  No better time to read, I've found.

I answered some e-mails from home...then headed back over to the quarters.  I unpacked everything, organized everything, and then talked some more with Jarryd.  He's a fun guy!  I can't wait to hang out more with him.  We talked about Europe (he studied abroad for a semester, I spent three months there), couch-surfing, and what we did before this.  And even what we want to do after this.

Some time today I started reading the Instrument Procedures Handbook.  I quickly realized that sleep was more desirable, and so after one chapter, I found myself having a slight drool on an uncomfortable couch.  That didn't last long, though.  My body has really been actin' up lately.  I'm crazy tired, and I can't seem to get full too easily!  hmm.

I read up some on White Air on the internet, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Van states everything up front.  I hadn't found the information before comin' out here, but he writes of the leaks, the older airplanes, the no-frills training as clear as can be.  Students come here to train, and that's what they'll get.  I kinda like it that way.

I also read up on White Air from the past, and it looks like they have had a successful history of training students.  And it looks like several more are interested, but the lack of instructors poses a problem.  With only one instructor, the school is booked up through June already.

I hit up Super Wal-Mart around 9:30 (yeah, Chanute did manage to get one of those!) for this week's food and a rack for my clothes.  I didn't have a closet in my room, and I needed a place to hang some stuff.  I still haven't seen too much of the town, but that will take place in due time...

I read part of another chapter in the book, then updated my log book.  Right now, I stand as a Private pilot with exactly 93.0 hours flight time.  I have 17.8 hours of cross-country.

Over the next few months, I will bump that up to over 250.0 hours.  Needless to say, I am quite excited!  And I became even more excited when I listened to where Jarryd has been on his flights!  He has flown to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Iowa...all startin' from here in Chanute!  Now that is what flying is supposed to be about!  As a pilot, I never left Illinois.  And that is just not fun!

So we made a deal with each other that when we go on cross-country flights, we will each take the other guy with us.  Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

I'm not sure what tomorrow brings.  I might be flyin', I might be doin' some class stuff.  Who knows.  But the neat thing about this is that some days you fly, some days ya don't.  But there's nothin' to worry about.  As sure as the Kansas wind, the flight time will come.

(Oh, I also learned some important info about our town.  Turns out Chanute is named after Octave Chanute, a man responsible for our modern bi-planes and also the guy who gave encouragement and support to the Wright brothers.  Yeah, go figure.  Back in December, I flew into Chanute Air Force Base (now defunct) in Rantoul, Illinois...it's all startin' to make sense now.  Who knew?!).

(Oh, and one more thing.  Last night Van told me that a former instructor is startin' up a flight school just 20 miles away.  No harm, he said.  He even wishes 'em the best.  But I guess Van and the owner had to find out the hard way...through the grapevine.  And sometimes that's just not too good.  So we'll see how that develops over the next few months...).

Went to bed at midnight.