Well, I have been working up to this for a few months now. Good flying days are few and far between in Wyoming, but we fly when we can. Today was a pretty nice day, 10mph winds, a little rain. Ill take it I guess. I got to the field at 7:00, and my instructor showed up shortly after. The last few flights, I was on the buddy box, but he didnt take control any, say for the last 3 flights. He asked me if I wanted to try it on my own, I said it was up to him. He said I could probably handle it, so I agreed. Went pretty good for my first time without the buddy box. Landing was smooth, but not on the runway. The wind was giving me fits. I flew a few more times after that, everything went good. I was pretty excited. Neverous too. Talk about shakey hands! All in all, it was a good day. We tied up some balloons, and some of the guys tried to hit them. Not exactly the easiest thing in the world. I didnt try it, but I could imagine. One guy brought out a combat plane, and flew it. Man, that thing is great. I'll have to look into one of those when I know a little bit more about what I'm doing. It was fast, and looked like a good flier. So anyway, I thought I would share that with you guys. What a great feeling!

trey