Woke up at a beautiful 11:15 A.M. woo hoo! I finally had a solid night's sleep...and I was out like a log! I think I only woke up once during the night! There was a beautiful King Air about 150 feet outside my window, too...that's always nice to wake up to.

I watched some more King videos this morning on Flight Planning to get me more prepared for my written test. The material seems to be never-ending! I know a lot of it, but I still have several videos to go through! A little after 1:00 P.M., Van and I went up for some flying.

We flew up to Topeka, Kansas, and I did the Localizer Back Course for Runway 31. More or less, that just means that I use the localizer for Runway 18, but I read it backwards. If the needle is to the left, I go right instead of left like I normally would. It didn't take much to get used to...not bad at all, really.

We were flying up there to eat, but we soon found out that the restaurant on the field was closed. Closed at 2:00, and we were there at 2:30. Too bad. Another student and instructor were doing the same thing (flying to eat!), and they asked us if we wanted to go with them into town with the courtesy car. Sure, why not...

We ended up eatin' at KFC. Nothin' like the Colonel's original recipe! The other two were from Lee's Summit, Missouri. The instructor used to be a pilot for TWA...from the very beginning, it sounded like! He flew for them when they had airplanes, not jets! Yeah, it had been awhile, for sure!

We headed back to the airport, departed Runway 36 and headed back to Chanute. The flying was ridiculously calm today. I was surprised to find two days of back-to-back low-wind flying in Kansas! As the other student said so very well, every time he flies into Chanute, he can expect to encounter some heavy winds. Yeah, that's what we like down there!

I came back and landed on Runway 36. Winds were 350 at 10 knots, almost right down the runway. Oh, and I have to say, too, that Van was gettin' a lil' bored on the way back. Smooth flight, familiar terrain, so he started playin' with the cigarette lighter. Pushed it in to see if the alternator would bump up a bit. It did. Well, I'm watchin' him the entire time...and then he took it and put his finger on it quickly to do the test to see if the lighter itself actually worked. Nothin' felt. So then he puts his finger on there longer...I've never seen the guy move so fast! I think I may have heard a word or two in there, too...

"It works, huh, Van"? haha...

Watched some more King videos tonight, but I was tired and had a headache. I think I may have even fallen asleep during one of the videos. I remember opening up my eyes and the guy was still talkin' away, but I didn't have a clue what he was talkin' about anymore. So that was it. I shut him down and laid on the couch and watched some basketball instead.

Another 2.3 hours today. Tomorrow we're plannin' on doin' my required IFR cross-country trip. It's a trip of at least 250 nautical miles with three different instrument approaches required...will probably do the ILS, GPS, and VOR/DME-A.

A pretty normal day. Nothin' too out of the ordinary. I went to bed earlier tonight at 11:30 P.M. A very excited 11:30 P.M.!