Dateline: Marriott Business Center

Too cheap to pay the $10 per day fee for wifi in the room, I'm sending my luv from the business center, next to the free coffee in the lobby. Can't stay on the computer longer than half an hour... others are waiting, looking at their watches to check my usage here.

Weather looks good for getting outta here. We may catch up with this frontal movement on our way home and have to sit and wait for it to move in front of us, but if we can make it home for Christmas we'll be there!

Tim, Frank had the Angus Cheeseburger and fries at Marana. I had the Turkey with lettuce and tomato and onion rings. It wasn't the Ritz, but we were hungry and both sandwiches went down quite quickly. I'll take your suggestion at CHD at some point in the future though, and your lunch is on me.

Normally our first stop out of ELP is at Carlsbad, N.M.. It's a long leg, depending on wind... a little over two hours in the R44. If winds keep blowin' up our ass we might even make Hobbs, N.M., and that's what we'll try for... longer legs with fewer stops today because we have a little more faith in the reliability of this new machine. So far it has performed perfectly... burning less oil (but a little more fuel) than normal. All that may settle down as the day progresses.

Frank brought an MP3 player and has the ability to plug it into the intercom system. We've been listening to Beach Boys, Doobies, Eagles, Elvis, Herman's Hermits (!), and Cher. I've been thankful for the extra room the R44 provides... you can actually do a little boogying in that seat without changing the CG a great deal.

I can see home just over the horizon folks, and it feels great.
C'mon weather... give us a break!

More later.