Memories of Arizona

Before I set out on my trip around the states, there was one thing that I had to achieve. I had to earn my private pilot's license (PPL). I wanted to earn it badly enough, that I decided to push back my departure date from June 28th, to whenever I passed my PPL check ride, a.k.a. the final test.

I won't lie, adjusting to adult life whilst continuing my flight instruction was hard. My mom had moved on May 28th, and as a result, I had to find new living arrangements while studying and training for my license. For the first few days, I camped at the Lewis Crossing Campground in Rim Rock, AZ. It was a great introduction to what I believe my travels will look like. My camp neighbors were friendly, I was right next to the water, and I was equidistant from Cottonwood and Sedona. However, that is not to say camp living came without any drawbacks. On account of my closeness to a body of water, the bugs were absolutely terrible. I'd wake up every morning with legs full of red dots and the uncontrollable urge to scratch them. On top of that, despite being equidistant to both Cottonwood and Sedona, I was still 45 minutes from both.

I survived for about a week out at Lewis Crossing until one fateful day, one of my aviation connections offered me a deal. They had a place for me to stay in Cottonwood, but as a form of rent payment, I would work for an airplane mechanic for free. To be honest, the deal was too good to be true, but I still had a couple of things to think about. I still had to pay for food and gas money, and if I was working for free, I wasn't sure how I'd manage that. However, after a meeting with my connection, my worries were put to rest. I would have my weekends free, so I could work for pay then. Happy with the agreement we came to, I accepted the deal. In hindsight, this was defintely a smart choice. The agreement ended up lasting until my departure and I gained some very valuable insight into the mechanics of airplanes through working with the airplane mechanic.

Instrument panel for the Pilot-In-Command of a Cessna 172 Skyhawk

Sadly, however, it was within that next week that the path to my PPL had to be put on hold. I won't dive into specifics here, but as the result of some unsafe decisions I had made while flying, my flight instructor said he would no longer be willing to instruct me. It wasn't a personality conflict, we both enjoyed each other's company, but he felt like his instruction just wasn't getting through to me. So began my productive, but quick search to find a new instructor. The EAA connected me with another flight instructor in Sedona, who I not only met, but got to fly with twice. Flying with him was quite fun. He was not only very knowledgeable about flying, due to flying military and commercial, but he was also very personable. After my break-up with my last flight instructor, I was feeling down, but things were finally looking up. However, June 11th marked the day that my PPL had to be put on hold.

As a quick disclaimer, I was funding my PPL through the EAA's Ray Aviation Scholarship. About two years ago, I had taken a keen interest in aviation and wanted to find any way I could start pursuing that dream. Some quick researching brought me to the EAA scholarship website. After a call to my local EAA chapter president, I attended the next meeting. Long story short, I continued to attend the meetings and was eventually awarded an $11,000 scholarship that was to pay for my PPL. Unfortunately, after quite a few bumps in the road, including having to switch flight instructors twice, the EAA chapter had spent much more than the scholarship originally funded. On June 11th, I had breakfast with two of my EAA mentors and was informed that they just couldn't keep funding my PPL, especially after I had just switched to a new instructor. To be clear, I hold no resentment for the EAA or any of my mentors. If I were in their place, I suspect I would have done the same. That in mind, I was still extremely disappointed. I didn't personally have the kind of money or income to continue funding this endeavor, so I decided to put the PPL on hold.

Despite this massive blow, I knew I had to keep my head high. Since my PPL was now indefinitely on hold, June 28th would once again be my departure date for the trip. That meant that I'd need to say my goodbyes within the next couple of weeks, and of course, hang with the boys.

June 12th river day with the boys at Sycamore Canyon. From left to right: Jackson, Tyler, Me, Matisse

Ironically, the day after putting my PPL on hold, I had plans to go to the Sycamore Canyon Blue Hole with four of my friends. After being tossed around by life for a while, a day with the boys was all I needed. My friend, Jackson, had moved to Oklahoma a year ago, and was back in town. He was planning of shipping off to the military soon, and knowing that we would all part ways soon, we decided we needed one last hang out. We listened to music, jumped off of rocks at the watering hole, and caught up.

After hanging with the boys though, it was time to focus on my trip. My last two weeks were spent working, slowly saying goodbyes, and planning for the adventure to come. Overall, my last month in Arizona had it's ups and downs, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss this place. I know I'll be back here again eventually, but it will truly never be the same. In the meantime, I look forward to future posts and whatever life holds for me!