Hey Bob,

I think this weekend was a good break-out weekend for all bay area
pilots...

On Saturday, I got my instructor and he and I had a very enjoyable
trip down to San Luis Obispo in 61J for the stereotypical hundred
dollar hamburger. The purpose of the trip was to get a chance to go
under the hood at night for a long cross country... although the moon
was spectacularly bright (kinda defeating the purpose, but it was so
pretty I didn't care)... The high point of the flight was definitely
heading on down past Salinas at sunset with the sun setting off our
Right Wing and a Blood-Red (still in the final throws of eclipse) moon
rising over our left wing... The moon looked like something out of a
dream, tremendously beautiful and surreal.

This was my first time making it down to KSBP... and one only my
second time trying to navigate an unfamiliar airport/pattern in the
dark... Great little restaurant down there too, complete with little
kids saying "Excuse me, are you a _real_ pilot!?!" I would have loved
that place when I was a kid

Definitely one of those flights that immediately made all of my recent
frustration seem trivial. (3 weeks down for overhauled mags, 2 days
down for a new x-ponder, now it looks like she needs a new rotating
beacon... I love that plane so much I just might not kill myself)

Good Flying,
-Scott