Woke up at 9:00 A.M.  Didn't have a flight scheduled until noon.

Continued reading Instrument Flying Handbook in the morning.  I pick up something here and there, but most of it has been a refresher from Private Pilot training.  We use basically the same instruments, so it's just re-inforcing how the instruments work.

Headed over to Emporia again, this time under the hood the entire time.  My job was to track the VOR course in and keep the needle centered.  I did an OK job, but I would weave back and forth across the VOR course.  When I got off course (which I did frequently), I would shoot back for the course rather than make a minor adjustment and wait for it to line up.  My flight path probably looked more like a wave!

Flyin' solely by the instruments is fun...and demanding.  You really don't have any "break" time.  I'm constantly scanning the instruments, and you can do so good for so long, only to find out that you are off course just like that.  Or too high.  Or goin' low.  It really doesn't take much.  Just a quick moment of lapse is all it takes to start to veer off course!  Van even asked if I wanted a break (I think he could see me under the pressure!), but I pushed through.

Oh, and the Kansas winds were back!  Which didn't help my "straight-line" tracking!!!  And landing was a bear, too!  330 at 20 knots, gusting to 25.  Emporia has a 1-19 runway, so I landed on Runway 1 with a pleasant 40-degree crosswind of at least 20 knots.  I botched it!  Great approach, but I didn't fare so well on the landing.  It's an obvious weakness of mine.  But I have a feeling I'll get plenty of practice out here...I'll master 'em sooner or later.

Flew back to Chanute via the VOR and GPS.  Similar winds with Runway 36.  Another nice approach, a decent one-wheel landing, but I didn't stay on the yoke once down.  Had a nice lil' bounce!  But we were down.  These winds are just crazy here!

Oh, and before we landed, Van also did some unusual attitudes with me.  I would close my eyes, look down, and then he would take the controls and do something with 'em.  He would then ask me what I felt.  "I feel like we are in a climb."  "Open your eyes."  And I quickly realized we were in a nose-dive.  Or I would feel like we were turning to the right, and we may have been straight-and-level or climbing.  The body just can't register what's goin' on without vision!!!  It's such a crazy lesson to go through, but it quickly made me realize that I HAVE TO TRUST THE INSTRUMENTS.  I can't even trust my very own body!  Now that's crazy.

All in all, I had another 1.7 hours today.

Spent the afternoon watchin' some boring ASA video on weather.  I feel like I went to a 4-year meteorology school in one hour.  Soooo much information!  And rather dry, too.

Declined the offer to go to Manhattan, Kansas, with the other student here.  Decided instead to take it easy here at the base.  I headed into Chanute so that I could finally see exactly where I was staying in Kansas, and I just drove up and down streets, seein' what all was there.  Like even the locals say, there's not much.  Saw a few restaurants that I'll have to hit up, though.  This whole rice out of a bag and soup out of a can diet has got to break sometime!  That's one of the "perks" of trainin', I suppose...guardin' every last dollar ya have!

Watched another ASA video on Instruments in the evening.  For some reason, I don't think the questions match what the lessons are about.  I mean, I think I had 3 out of 10 and 4 out of 10 on the questions!  Somethin' isn't addin' up here!  They give an hour of information, then ask a question that they never really addressed.  Such is the fun I'm havin' today!  aggggh!

I think my brain is full.

Had a couple of people fly into the airport today.  A couple of guys came in a beautiful twin Baron, I think it was.  They are doin' aerial photography tomorrow and are storin' the plane here tonight.  And then an airplane stopped by tonight from Riverside Flight Center down in Tulsa.  Their heater had gone out, and they needed a screwdriver to fix the problem.  They said it was 18 degrees up in the sky.  That's cold with no heat!!!  The instructor worked for Pinnacle and says he enjoys his job...the sky part of it anyway.  There are people to deal with on the ground, he said!  That and he doesn't get paid much more than enough to buy 60-minute rice (he said the pay was lame, I added the rice part).  We are a crazy bunch, for sure.  We fork out $40,000 to have  a $20,000 job!  Where do I sign up?!

I'm flyin' to Lawrence, Kansas, tomorrow morning!

I'm only a couple of days into the training, and I must say it's quite enjoyable, but it's also demanding, too!  There is a ton of stuff to learn and put into practice!  It's a bit overwhelming at first, but I look at all of the guys and gals who have gone before me, and I know I can do this!!!

Experience, experience, experience...