Finally, good weather

The short story:

We sleep in, get out to the airport by 9 am, chat with Bob, the fellow that runs the maintenance, flight training, and other services at the airport. By 10 AM, we've stuffed our bags into the Phoenix, take off, and head for Moriarty, NM, in clear blue skies.

The terrain is flat at first, but rises slowly, and becomes rugged. Easy flying in light headwinds at 8500", then 10,500 as we near Moriarty, elevation 6200".

I do a "go-around" when he first landing bounces too much; the second landing is good. We pull in and fuel. By then, a couple glider pilots we know have discovered us - Mark Mocho and Dan Marotta. Conversation enuses, we go to lunch, decide to skip the soaring museum to get to Page, AZ before it's too late in the evening.

Three hours of flying over unmostly uninhabited and unforgiving desert, we arrived at Page, AZ. The AWOS (automated weather station broadcasting conditions to aircraft radios) indicated a direct crosswind of of 8 knots, more than my experience, so I let Russ do the landing. 

We fueled, got a ride to a good motel in town, bought a couple salads to go and a bottle of wine at the nearby Walmart, retired to the motel room for our dinner, and went to bed. More later, maybe.