This year. Wow. It’s been unlike any other. For the first time in 15 years Mark & I’s professional lives diverged and we spent more time apart than we ever have before. While I spent a lot of my time on commercial airliners, traveling for work, Mark spent most of his in a Kitfox, flying around the Idaho backcountry teaching others the art of being a tailwheel pilot. This month...
You can thank my mom for this post. She’s reminded me that just because we’re not living on the road anymore doesn’t mean I should stop posting : ) We’ve lived in Idaho for a little over two months now. Last week we sold the Casita and if I’m being honest, I wasn’t sad to see it go. It served the exact purpose we bought it for. To have a comfortable means...
Yes, you read that right. We are moving to Idaho! I’m excited to share this story with you but I thought I’d jump straight to the point so you can decide if you want to stick around for what may be the longest post I’ve ever written. It may be long, but I promise…it’s a good story. April entailed bringing a dream to fruition after a long, hard year of soul-searching. The start of...
We enjoyed our previous stay in Cottonwood so much that we decided to return and meet up with Mark’s parents who decided to drive out from Iowa to visit us. We enjoyed a week of perfect weather, delectable food and more exploring around the area. We called Dead Horse Ranch State Park home once again and enjoyed the park just as much, if not more than the last time. While in Cottonwood...
It’s been one year since we bought our airplane and a lot has happened since then! Mark spent the summer refurbishing the motor since it had been sitting for 10 years and did not run when we bought it. On the last day of September it was flight-worthy and he flew it for the first time. I finally put together a video celebrating the occasion. If you’ve got 8 minutes to spare and...
When we bought our Kitfox airplane three weeks ago, we bought it knowing there was a possibility it would need a new motor. We got such a great deal, the airframe alone was worth the price we paid, that we were willing to take the risk of having to buy a new motor. However, we’re not made of money and while we were willing to take the risk, the idea of having to buy a new motor had us a...
Tuesday was one of those days that we’ll never forget. After a year-long, exhaustive search for an airplane that would fit our budget, our lifestyle and would perform well in the mountains…we finally found it. And in the most unexpected way. Through the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association), Mark found two people in our county that own Kitfox airplanes. Two weeks ago he reached...
When was the last time you did something that was so much fun you couldn’t get your jaw up off the floor? When was the last time you exclaimed “THAT IS THE MOST FUN I’VE EVER HAD!”? This is precisely what happened in December when I went for my first flight in a weight-shift control trike. My husband, being the incredibly smart individual and awesome husband that he is...
above: a mid-way fuel stop, not much going on in McCook, Nebraska Last week we hopped in a Cessna 172 and flew across the midwest to visit Mark’s family in Iowa. It’s something we’ve dreamed of doing for years now so it was pretty sweet to finally be doing it. We may have only moved at a fraction of the speed of a commercial airliner but Mark let me bring more than 3...
For years Mark & I have talked about him getting his private pilot’s license, yet I never completely grasped exactly what it would take for him to earn that title. In the most simplified terms, you basically need to put in enough time in the air and in the books to pass a verbal test on the ground and an in-flight test with an examiner. The FAA requires a minimum of 40...
