Reached A Milestone - Sort Of

With my BFR and IPC complete, I had an opportunity to just go for a joy ride yesterday. I wanted to cruise a little and let the engine recover from the workout on Monday. I chose to fly up to Hazelhurst, Georgia (KAZE). I picked it because it was just far enough to enjoy level cruise flight and listen to the XM radio for a while, I had never been there before, and the fuel price was reasonable.

It was a nice 45 minute flight each way. Hazlehurst is a nice airport and the manager even met me on the ramp and fueled my plane for me. After a short stay and a Dr Pepper, I flew home. During part of the trip I flew through the shadow of contrail which due to the haze I could see it in the air and on the ground. I thought it looked pretty cool. The pictures don't show it very well.

So now the milestone. I have filled up my first log book! I thumbed through it a little to reminisce about my flying "career". My first flight was on February 27, 1996 as I started my private pilot raining in Hayward, CA. Here a few items from my log:

Soloed: March 26, 1996
Private Pilot: May 7, 1996
Instrument Rating: December 16, 2008

Total Flight Time: 468.8 hours (did not fly between June 29, 2002 and September 6, 2007)
Actual Instrument Time: 56.8 hours
Number of Landings: 727
Instrument Approaches: 150

It never ceases to amaze me how my flight activity grew exponentially once I became an airplane owner. I am blessed to have made all those adventures that are accounted for in my log book. I wonder what cool adventures will fill my new book!