Today I was able to celebrate my 10-Year anniversary of getting my wings by
flying Mary and friends to a wonderful lunch in Kewanee, IL (at an amazing
furniture store called "Goods"), followed by a full day of camaraderie and
fun.

Best of all, my landing in Kewanee was an absolute greaser, despite high,
gusty winds! (Funny how that never ceases to be a real ego builder...) In
ten years and over 900 hours, I've surprisingly managed to complete an equal
number of take-offs and landings, while simultaneously avoiding any bent
metal or mishaps. Meanwhile, my kids have grown up in the back seat of an
airplane, seeing so many things that they could never have seen from the
ground, and I've had the privilege of owning aircraft since '98.

It's truly been a wondrous decade.

Nothing in my life has been more rewarding than flying. In fact, it's hard
to believe how much aviation has changed my life in this very short decade.
Ten years ago I was a life-time wanna-be pilot, trying to figure out how to
get into the left seat and see what flying was really like. If anyone had
told me that ten years later I would have abandoned my newspaper career and
other businesses -- and could have convinced Mary to do the same with her
medical career -- in order to reap the risky and always doubtful financial
benefits of aviation (by creating an aviation-theme-suite hotel, of all
things!), I surely would have thought they were daft.

Yet, here I am. Only in America.

I always tell anyone who will listen that my first 35 years on this planet
were utterly wasted, spent on the ground, looking up. Flying truly is life,
ladies and gents, and I'm here to tell you that it's time to get out and
enjoy every minute of it! I'm looking forward to another ten (or thirty)
years of flying, and I'm incredibly honored to have been able to share the
sky with y'all over these last ten years.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"