Finally a real good flight

Perfect early morning here.  Down to the cafe for my standard breakfast, two eggs over easy, hash browns, toast and coffee.  Full plate and coffee refills, $5...

Flew north to the Missouri Breaks, which is why I came here.  The river runs through spectacular eroded badlands country.  Inaccessible by road, so it's unmodified since Indian times.  Lots of protected gullies for deer and elk to feed and shelter.  Could imagine Indians hunting them as they came out to the river to drink; good terrain to stalk in close and set ambushes.  Could also imagine Lewis and Clark poling up the river, under those impressive cliffs.....  There are several old 'bush' strips up that way, but I didn't feel like landing on them if I didn't have to, cause each landing with a very light aircraft like this, with a tiny tailwheel, has some risks, and don't want to break something out there and get stranded....  Now, if I'd been in my Savannah, all of them would have been targets..... Flew 2 hours, found that I need better padding under the seat....

The Missouri river winding through 'The Breaks'.

Flying high, cause there's not many places to land down there if the engine stops.....

 I like to imagine Lewis and Clark paddling and poling through here, 

not knowing what would be around the next bend.

 There are a lot of deer and elk down there.

Hunters come from all over the country to hunt here.

Farming right to the edge.....

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Then came back and flew short circuits at the field.  Just the right place for that practice that I needed in this new aircraft.  Smooth grass and no traffic, so just round and round a few dozen times.  Finally figured out that this aircraft needs to be 'wheeled on'.  I'm used to flaring right back to a stall landing, but these Kolbs sit so flat on the ground that the tailwheel lands first if I do that, and then the mains come down with a mighty thump.....  So, just hold it level and don't flare, and just pin the mains on when they touch down.  So it's landing faster than a fully flared landing, but that's the way it has to be.... Feels a lot better now.

There's a big sign company in main street so I stopped to see them.  I would mostly expect to find a business like that in a light industrial district in a noisy big city.  But these fellas have got themselves known for specialty big sign work, and city firms sub-contract to them.  So they can live in a quiet small town, and don't have to put up with the city, pretty smart, eh....  Anyhow, I'd dreamed of covering those big windows in the van with the perforated vinyl, used for 'see through' signs on windows.  With the white outside, and black inside, I can still see out really well, but outsiders can't see in.  But I'd given up on chasing around a city to find a sign works and having to deal with them....  This was really easy, and at the same time I had them make up a couple of red kangaroos for the van and aircraft.  Looks great I reckon.