They call us 'Citiots'

Finally back. I didn't actually solo due to lack of a medical certificate (they like to know that you won't stop suddenly while flying) and marginal weather. But I did have my first actual in-flight emergency! We were 3 mi. north of the Brainerd airport when I smelled a suspicious burning smell. We couldn't at first diagnose it, but when the Instructor saw a little billow of smoke rise up from under the transponder, she very efficiently and capably declared an emergency and landed. The Brainerd rescue team (I think his name is Don) wasn't exactly Johnny-on-the-spot. Or should it be Donny-on-the-spot in this case? Anyway, it took the guy like 5-10 minutes to roll up in his truck after we landed and were standing, by correct emergency procedures, 50' upwind of the airplane. You hope that announcing that your plane is potentially on fire would have a more galvanizing effect on emergency rescue personnel. All was fine in the end, just a transponder that thought it was a toaster.

The major highlight of being back home so far (and only b/c I haven't yet seen Maritime, Kovsky, or #2): vegetables. I don't know what Northern Minnesota's problem is because they grow plenty of them, but they sure aren't eating many. The entire 4.5 days I was there the only vegetable (and I use the term loosely) I had unless you count pickles was Iceburg lettuce. Seriously, just the bad lettuce and pickles. My colon put the brakes on fast, if you get my meaning. My entire digestive system was thrown for a total loop. And I am developping a theory that long-term constipation, the product of years, even decades without sufficient vegetable intake, results in decorating with tchotchkies and 'collectables'. The Instructor's grandmother's house was like one of those German/Scandanavian restaurant/gift shops. Every single box of tissues was in some sort of cozy. It was like some sort of urgent, snot-driven, Where's Waldo search everytime I needed to blow my nose. And in that sort of frilly environment, just because something has a plume of white material coming out of the top doesn't necessarily mean that it's a kleenex. One cozy was a scale replica of the couch. I'm not even kidding.

Oh! And here's an illustrative tidbit about small-town Northern MN life: I went to the 'fancy' restaurant in town (I can recommend the breaded cheese and black olive mixture) and the entryway glass display case featured a dreamcatcher with a little patch in the middle that simply said 'Diabetes'. It was presented by the Lions Club. There are so many layers to explore in that even aside from the higher incidence of diabetes in both Native Americans and Lions Club members. An absolute dreamcatcher. I'm still just amazed by the whole thing.