23 December 2014. Travel day

This is your pilot, Estaban Canyon & we are away fom the gate. Thank you for flying Bill’s airline today, we will be travelling to our final destination New Mexico at an altutude of a little over one (1) meter. The flight attendent will be thru the cabin as soon as we are out of town with the beverage of your choice or light snacks. All transactions are CASH ONLY.

It is Tuesday and only a few very minor setbacks before takeoff. The keys to the rooftop cargo carrier were not the right ones & would not unlock the box so all gear, luggage & gifts were stuffed into the back cabin causing only minor & occasional discomfort.

After departing, we had to do an about face blocks from the cloud to retrieve the atlas.

YOU HAVEN'T HEARD OF GPS CAPTAIN OBSTINATE?

Nix to you all. Having the TANGIBLE map, aloha YOUR GPS. Of course I know what it is but becoming too reliant on those creature electronic comfort gadgets very well could be the end of INTELLIGENT mankind. You LOSE critical skill sets like NOT knowing HOW to read a map.

Maps seldom go wrong more often ‘operator error’ can be the fault or as we used to say in the corporate world the ‘root cause.’

So there. I said it.

Anyway, fast forwarding … the trip was fairly uneventful. Yours truly Estaban was at the helm 90% the remaining 10% the copilot Otto took over.

Highlights … FB & S1 will be well-familiar & versed with the extended cross country excursion protocols. Scheduled stops for fuel only Then food, change drivers OR extreme emergencies.

The weather changed multiple times before we got out of TX. Rain in McK. Stopped. Started. Snow blew across the highway a number of times in short, brief squalls however nothing of consequence. Before the next exit it was over & we carried on.

Around dusk we started final descent to ALBQ.

Landed & made camp again with no problem or glitches to report.

END DAY ONE***