If I died today, I would die one very happy man.

Woke up several different times this morning...all on my own doing.  I first woke up at 4:36  A.M. to the sound of thunder.  I checked the radar, and the storms were still a couple hours away.  So I set my alarm clock for 6:50.  Woke up then but it was still dark.  So I pushed my alarm back one hour to 7:50.  Then 8:50.  Finally got out of bed around 9 o'clock.

The radar was still lit up, but most of the action was south of us.  A tornado warning was given around Parsons not too awful far from here, but most of the warnings today were in Oklahoma or Missouri.  We did get quite a bit of rain, though.  Jyri and I went out driving to try to find some cool pictures to take, and we had to turn around at one point because of water pouring over a road...I didn't so much feel like gettin' swept away.

So all of my storm excitement kinda left me hangin'...but that's the nature of the beast.  Gotta roll with the punches.  And we thought that we weren't goin' to be able to fly today, but as soon as the storms passed, we took our opportunity!

So around 3 o'clock, Jyri, Venkat, and I headed up in some windy conditions.  Destination?  Wichita.  Purpose?  Read on.  Winds were from 290 at 19 gusting to 24.

We flew the long leg over (nearly two hours!).  We had a pretty stiff headwind the entire time.  In sometimes difficult VFR form, we mistakenly set up to land at the Air Force base, but before entering the pattern, Venkat recognized our mistake!  So we continued on to the real Mid-Continent Airport!  oops!

We landed on Runway 1R...with winds at 290 at 20 gusting to 25.  Jyri was in charge of this one, and he put it down nicely.  Very nice cross-wind landing.

We grabbed the 2007 Chevrolet Malibu courtesy car and followed my GPS to our destination:  a house with a 2003 Honda Shadow VLX 600.

That's right.  I bought a motorcycle today!!!

It's been said, "If ya find a job you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life."  Well, if I can somehow figure out how to repeat today, I'll surely never work again.  Today was just about perfect!  I was able to combine two of my passions into one!  And I loved it!

So I bought the bike, and Venkat and Jyri took the courtesy car and plane back.  And I rode the motorcycle back.  And let me tell you, I had the time of my life!!!  I had memories of my other cross-country motorcycle trips...flashbacks as I was riding.  I think I could've gone all across the country yet again.  There is so much to see!

And much to my surprise, I was passin' through some of the most beautiful country in America!  Whoever said that Kansas was flat obviously never ventured off of the Interstate.  Beautiful rolling hills, prairie grass, smells of cattle, and some fun small towns (I found a needle in a haystack AND America's oldest wooden water tower).  Not much beats a two-lane highway through the country in my book.

The ride started out pretty nice.  The weather wasn't too bad with my gear I had brought.  But after 30 or so miles, I was chilly!  At 40, I was cold.  At 50, I needed to stop!  So I found a rest area and went inside to warm up.  It was around 45-50 degrees, I think, and the winds were still pretty strong.  25 mph or so.

After about 10 minutes, I hopped back on the motorcycle and never looked back.  I raced for the end of the thick cloud cover and was greeted by some beautiful rays of sunshine about 30 miles outside of Chanute.  I had the sun setting behind me, I had brown grass around me, and I had the darkest of clouds ahead of me.  Vibrant colors only making me wish I had my camera!

The entire trip was 111 miles.  I ended up gettin' back just 15 minutes after Jyri and Venkat.  Not too bad!

Took a warm shower when I got back, then studied more for the oral exam.  Ended up falling asleep on accident around 10:00 P.M.  I guess I was tired!

What a day.  To all the people stuck in jobs you don't like out there, do whatever you can to get out and follow your dreams.  There's not much else that compares to doin' somethin' that you love.  Hey, we only get one life to live, right?  It's pretty hard to describe the feeling exactly, but it's probably best summed up this way...

When riding that motorcycle through the back-country of America, I physically could not wipe the smile off of my face.  I was singin' and laughin' and was just happy to be alive!

I think that's the way it should be.