Waking up early to go to Waukesha Airport is my favorite thing to do. I can go anywhere. Looking down at my map I review the navlog with my instructor, John before leaving. The sun peeks up, glowing orange in the distance. Putting the keys in, twisting and pushing in the mixture the engine roars. Getting clearance from ground control, I replied with “Taxi to runway 10 via Delta, Echo, Alpha.” The plane slowly rolls forward. Following the taxiways to the runway, checking the instruments, engine gauges, controls, everything. I am ready. 

Switching the radio to the tower I make a call that I am holding short of 10 with Alpha, ready to depart to the north. Moving to lineup with the runway centerline, pushing in full power, letting off the brakes. The plane begins to speed up hitting 55 then 60 knots, I pull back. Gaining speed, lifting up more to keep a constant speed of 73 knots and climbing. The more I climb the more time I have. I was told it’s like life insurance; the higher I am the longer distance I can glide down if something goes wrong.

 At 5,500 feet I level off, the sun still rising, turning clouds above me a bright orange color looks beautiful, and the colors start to pop. The view of Wisconsin from above is great, it’s like a thousand dollar seat that lets you see for miles, hundreds of fields scattered around, large cities, and small towns are all viewable from up here. Soaring through the sky, going over a hundred miles an hour John and I continue north for Door county. We change our frequency 123.45 a unicom to talk to all the people flying with us on this trip. It’s always fun talking to other people on the flyouts our local airports host. There’s always people messing around pointing out landmarks for everyone to see, then there's the people continuously talking about how they are so far ahead of us. Or the people who have autopilot running while the others all call that one person lazy for using an autopilot because nobody else has one.

Approaching Door County, we all land in order of the groups we took off in, counting the small planes that land after us, one, two, three, four. The airport manager standing outside the shed with his dog greets us all. It’s such a small airport but there is so much to do. They even have bikes that are free to take. The airport is directly across from Potawatomi State Park, the park is beautiful, it’s got beautiful coast views into the Sturgeon Bay, and lots of woods. If we had time that day we would have biked all the way through the small town, and to Kwik Trip. The best place to stop for some quick food or drinks. So we stayed at the airport with the group, \grilled food and relaxed sitting outside of the office. The trip home is always nice, flying over Wisconsin seeing all the open fields, cities, and towns. It’s always a fun way to spend the weekend.