[Insert cheesy grin here :)]

[Update: Added the GPS track picture.... I could see checkpoint 2 from the air, just outside my window it seemed, but the track doesn't lie -- I was already off course at that point. Something to work on...)

Paul, sorry, no picture of the cheesy post-flight grin, although I think I'm still wearing it... I did a cheesy self-portrait in the air, though, and pending editorial approval by moi, it might come up here. :)

I'm home, I'm safe, the flight went very well. I'm at work now and we have our office Christmas party tonight, and tomorrow we may be enroute to SC to beat the incoming storms, so it may be a few days before I get the usual description and analysis up.



The brief synopsis:
- Leg #1: First two DR checkpoints, dead on. Third one, never saw it, don't think I was anywhere close. Fourth one, doesn't count -- it was the town of Lawrenceville, home of the destination airport -- because it was by chance that I was flying over it after having missed the third checkpoint so dramatically. Thank you GPS for confirming and helping me get back to the field without too much further daliance.

- Leg #2: The NOTAM was right: the LVL VOR is unusable on radial 042 up to DALTO. The GPS track is going to look somewhat obscene, showing how I ran around trying to figure out if I was wrong or the signal was wrong, before I trashed that plan and switched to the RIC VOR. RIC to FAK to OFP went off without a hitch; Potomac approach kept me alerted to the Richmond traffic. Super nice lady manning UNICOM.

- Leg #3: Pilotage back to JGG went fine fine just fine. Such a pretty place we live in, even in winter. The only turbulence I encountered on the whole trip was crossing the peninsula from West Point down the Chickahominy to the James; otherwise it was smooth flying.

I opened and closed my flight plans with Leesburg FSS like a good girl, and had flight following on all three legs. I took pictures of the FBOs at LVL and OFP for the proof that I was there, as well as pictures of checkpoints and other things I found interesting along the route.

It was a really good trip! 2.9 hours on the Hobbs, distances meet the long x-c requirement, and the time went by pretty quickly.