July 26
When I woke up, I snuggled against Meghan until her alarm went off. She reached over and turned it off, then kissed my nose and asked me if I was ready to get up yet.
I said that I wasn't, and she said she wasn't either. She scratched my ear and I nuzzled her chin, then I asked her if my ears moved when I was asleep.
She wanted to know why I was asking, and I said 'cause I didn't know.
Meghan said that she wasn't sure, but she thought they did. She said sometimes when I was sleeping on my side, I'd walk in my sleep, which was really cute. I wasn't sure if I believed her—I thought that was something that I would remember doing, but she swore it was true, and she said usually I'd get the blanket tangled in my hooves and push it off the end of the bed and that was what woke her up.
And she said that when I was lying on my stomach and she got up to pee in the middle of the night, I'd pop my wings out which she thought was for balance.
So we agreed that if I was moving my legs in my sleep and I was moving my wings, than my ears must be moving. Meghan said that she'd watch next time I was asleep and she was awake, and let me know for sure.
When the alarm went off a second time, we got up and I went to the bathroom while she put on her robe, then I went to the kitchen to set out breakfast for us.
I brushed her hair when she was done with her shower and after she got dressed we went downstairs for breakfast and she asked me what I was going to do with my day. I said that I was going to fly all morning, because I wanted to fly to Chicago before I left to go out west, and then I was going to see if I could get a camera like the one Gates had loaned me so that I could take pictures of me in flight.
Plus I had to check the bird feeders and read more of the Bible.
Meghan laughed and said that it sounded like I had a busy day planned.
We washed the dishes together, and she went upstairs and got my saddlebags and strapped them on, so that I wouldn't have to do it myself, and then we went out and waited for her friend to show up.
Once she'd left for work, I went home and took off my saddlebags and then I refilled my birdfeeder, 'cause it was nearly empty. That meant that Aric's probably needed attention, too, but rather than fly off right away and fill it, I filled up my camelback and got dressed for flying, so I wouldn't have to come back and do that.
I probably should have called Mister Salvatore and asked if he wanted to drive me to get a GoPro, but I didn't know what time I was going to be back, so I decided that I'd do that later.
Aric's bird feeder was almost empty, too. I went into the garage and got the bag which was pretty empty. I guess the mouse had eaten more than I'd thought he would. They were really tiny; I didn't see how one mouse could have eaten that much. Maybe there was more than one and they took turns at it.
Well, however many there were, they were going to be disappointed, because I emptied the bag in the feeder, so that the birds could enjoy it.
I went back and sat on the garage roof while I called the airplane directors to get clearance. I'd decided that I was going to fly north, all the way to Grand Rapids. I could just follow the 131 Highway up there.
Dori reminded me that Grand Rapids had an airport, too, and I would have to make sure that I had clearance from them before I got too close. So I said that I would, and she told me to be safe and to call in when I was back in Kalamazoo.
I flew almost due north from Aric's house, and when I crossed over the dirt mines, I started angling to the west. I could see the 131 Highway off to my left, and I crossed it just past where there were a bunch of little lakes and it made a jog to the east.
When I had crossed over, it was okay to climb, so I went up to about five thousand feet and used my radio to make sure that other airplanes knew where I was.
It was about a perfect day for flying. The sky was clear and there wasn't much wind at all. I wasn't the only one who thought so, either; I saw a balloon off in the distance, and also saw a few little airplanes going by, and some big ones up high that were making clouds behind them.
A lot of the land under me was farmland, and that got kinda boring sometimes, so it was fun to watch a noteworthy car or truck go by under me and then see how long I could keep my eye on it before it disappeared off in the distance. There was a bright yellow semi-truck that I could see for almost ten minutes before it was gone—semi-trucks were easier to keep an eye on, 'cause they were bigger and didn't go as fast as the cars.
It would have been really useful to have a map that I could put on my foreleg, so that I'd know where I was. I'd kinda memorized my route (and since I was following the 131 Highway, it was hard to get lost), but after I'd been flying a while, I started to wonder just how close to Grand Rapids I was getting. I had an idea where the airport was—it was east of the 131 Highway, off the 6 Highway.
There weren't any big towns, so when I saw Grand Rapids, I figured that I'd know, and then I'd tell the airplane directors in Grand Rapids where I was.
I saw the big lake where I'd first tried out my radio with Mel; that was on my right, a few miles away from the highway. And I thought I saw the building where we'd eaten, the one that had the small dirt pit next to it. I hadn't seen it from the air, so I wasn't sure if it was the same place. There was a big metal pavilion next to it now, and lots of machines around the metal pavilion.
By the time I got past the next curve in the 131 Highway, I could see Grand Rapids off in the distance, so I called their airport and told them where I was, so that they'd know.
They thanked me for advising them, and they said that I would have to descend below 2000 feet when I got to Moline. I wasn't exactly sure where that was, and they said that I would see the 131 Highway make jog to the west, and Moline was near the end of that jog, on the east side of the highway, and on the west side there was another town called Dorr.
Well, I was pretty much over that right now, and I was way too high, so I told them that I was going to circle back and descend, and they said that I could, so I made a big descending loop and when I came out of it I'd picked up some speed and was at 1500 feet, which was plenty safe enough.
I told them that I was now under 2000 feet and continuing north, and I said that I was going to turn around when I got to the 6 Highway, and they said that was okay.
It wasn't much further before there was city under me, and it stretched out in front of me as far as I could see, and I followed the 131 Highway all the way to a big intersection with roads and bridges going off every which way. I could see on the big green signs below me that this was the 6 Highway, which was where I was going to turn around, and I decided just for fun I was going to take the path that a car would if it wanted to turn around in the intersection.
I think I went the wrong way around one of the loopy ramps, but since I wasn't on the ground it didn't really matter, and I did end up going back south.
I called the airplane directors again and said that I was now headed south, and following the 131 Highway, and they asked me if I could give them an estimated airspeed.
Well, I wasn't sure, but I didn't think I was going faster than 20 miles per hour. I could have sped up, but then I might get tired before I got back to Kalamazoo. Everypony knows that you don't fly as fast as you can when you're going long distances.
When I got back to Moline, I got permission to climb again, and I took a couple of miles to get back up to 5000 feet.
I was really happy when I finally saw Kalamazoo off in the distance, and I could start gliding for longer stretches, 'cause I didn't have to worry about keeping altitude as much any more. I called Dori and told her that I was back, and said that I'd just passed D Ave and was descending, and asked if I could cut the corner from there to Kalamazoo College (I couldn't quite see the bell tower yet, but I could see the dirt mines, and I knew the area well enough to know where the bell tower was). She said I could.
I still had to fly some; I wasn't good enough at really stretching a glide to get all the way there, especially with the wind blowing out of the southwest.
By the time I changed my course enough to land at my apartment, I was exhausted. My wings muscles were sore, my coat was soaked, and my blinking light had quit completely, but I still felt pretty good, 'cause I'd just finished a seventy mile flight without stopping. That was almost enough to get to Chicago. A little bit more practice, and I'd be able to do it.
I stripped off all my flight gear and put my blinking light on my desk so I'd remember to put new batteries in it. I instantly felt cooler when I took off my vest—I don't understand why humans want to exercise with clothes on. If sweat doesn't evaporate, it doesn't cool you off, and it can't evaporate like it should when it's held in with clothing.
I stayed in the shower until the water turned cold, and then I turned it off and shook myself off and rather than dry myself, I took my towel and put it on the balcony and took a little nap under the tree.
Apparently, the birds decided that when I was sleeping, it was okay to get food, and that it was okay to peck fallen seeds out of my mane, 'cause I woke up with a robin digging through my mane and then he had the nerve to chirp at me when I jerked my head up and scared him off.
I told him that I wasn't the bird feeder, and he should get his seeds from somewhere else.
I was mostly dry, and my wings had stiffened up a little bit when I slept, so I shook them out and went back inside. I was starving, 'cause I'd flown through lunch, so I had a big plate of clover hay, and then I called Mister Salvatore.
He said that he'd take me shopping and that we could go today or tomorrow, whichever I preferred.
Well, I thought that today was a good day, so he said that he'd come by after dinner, and I said that I was worried that the stores might close, and he said that they were open late, so we'd have plenty of time.
So I sat on my futon and preened out my wings, and once I'd done that I got my Bible and went back out on the balcony to read it.
Isaiah started off by saying that God was mad because His people had forsaken him, and He was going to take things away from all the people who were bad and lead them to ruin. But for those who were good, he was going to make them holy and protect them with smoke and fire above Jerusalem.
And then God came and told Isaiah to be his messenger, and Isaiah said that he was unclean, so an angel touched a hot coal to his mouth and cleansed him with it, and then God told Isaiah to tell His message until everything in the land was forsaken.
Isaiah had sex with a prophetess and she gave birth to a son named Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, and then God told him that a flood was coming, and I was curious what was going to happen next but I saw Sienna turning into the driveway, so I put away my Bible and brought my towel inside and went downstairs.
I asked Mister Salvatore to stop at Taco Bell, 'cause I hadn't eaten dinner yet, and he said that we could go after we'd done our shopping, to minimize the chances of being stuck in a van with a farting pony.
We went to a store called Best Buy first, and it was filled with all sorts of amazing human gadgets. I kept getting distracted by the movies on the big flat televisions, and there was one that you could stand in front of and wear special glasses and see the picture in three dimensions. I'd never seen anything like that before, so Miss Cherilyn held the glasses in front of my eyes (they weren't really made for ponies) and all of a sudden everything seemed to pop out of the television until it was right in front of me, and I stepped backwards in surprise and then the picture on the television was all blurry.
That was pretty amazing magic, I thought.
Mister Salvatore said that I might really like the Oculus Rift, and Miss Cherilyn said that she didn't think that was a good idea at all, and he said it probably wasn't, but it might be funny to see, and asked her if she remembered what happened when one of the field agents brought his in, and she said that she did remember because that was the day that the break room table got broken when Agent Marshall had tripped over it.
Mister Salvatore said that had been a great day.
Then they took me over to the camera department, and we found a GoPro camera and a set of straps that were called a chest mount. Mister Salvatore persuaded the salesman to take it out of the box so I could try it on, and Miss Cherilyn helped me put it on and adjust it.
Well, I was glad we did, 'cause it would only fit with the camera under my belly, and the straps were pretty awkward, too. It wasn't something I was going to be able to put on and take off by myself.
The salesman suggested a wrist mount, which would go around my foreleg, but with the radios and altimeter I'd normally be wearing, I didn't see how there would be room for it at all. I guess I could put it on a hind leg, but then all you'd see most of the time was my forelegs, and that wouldn't be too interesting.
We tried a head mount next and that worked okay, I could pull it on by myself; the only thing I was worried about was it flying off and the salesman said that it wouldn't.
I wasn't sure that I believed him. I thought it would be okay for normal flying, but I don't think that the salesman has ever flown in a thunderstorm.
So I decided that I would see if the makers could build me a chest harness that would put the camera right at my brisket, that I could put on and take off by myself.
There was a Taco Bell that was between us and Meijer, so Mister Salvatore stopped there and told me that he'd better not regret it, and I said that he wouldn't.
Then we went around Meijer and I got two big bags of birdseed and also some more shampoo and soap, which I could have gotten on my own but since we were already here, it would save me a trip.
Mister Salvatore carried the birdseed up to my apartment, and Miss Cherilyn carried the other bags, and he asked me why there were haybales in the bedroom, and I said that I'd gotten a great deal on them at the farmer's market.
He made me promise not to buy more until I was almost out, and I said I wouldn't. I thought that those would probably last me through the end of August, and then I'd just get one more, and for school I could buy the smaller boxes (even though they were more expensive) because I didn't think that Peggy would want haybales in the dorm room.
And then he said that we'd be leaving the Friday after next for Stratford, and we'd pick up Aquamarine in Lansing. He said that we were going to drive the whole way, 'cause the train didn't go there.
I asked if Cayenne was coming, too, and he said that she was flying in to Detroit, and that Mister Barrow and Miss Parker would be picking her up, and we'd meet her in Stratford.
I thanked them for going shopping with me, and he said that he was glad that it had been pretty uneventful.
After I put the shampoo and soap in the bathroom, I sat in the papasan and read the instructions for my GoPro, changed the batteries in my blinking light, and then I went to bed a little bit early, 'cause I was pretty tired from the long flight today.