From the logbook...busy, busy, busy

Since I have been flight coordinating this week, I have tried to stay on the ground, and have our other pilots fly. This isn't always an option. So, I put myself on the schedule on Wednesday to make two simple flights. They would have added up to just over two hours. But, on only my second stop on my first flight, I received reports of bad weather in Shell. I happened to be in Makuma (MAK) which is a great place to be if you get stuck in the jungle for any amount of time. I landed there about 9:30am, and Shell was shut down the whole day. Therefore I ended up spending the night in the jungle.

At 6:30am yesterday morning I awoke and got going trying to get back to Shell. I made two other stops and was on the ground in Shell just in time, by around 8:00am. Shell, and the whole jungle for that matter, was shut down until around 2:00pm.

Many of you know about the travel delays because of blizzards and things in Colorado, and probably many other states. This time of year there is a huge influx of travelers doing their holiday traveling. It is no different here. There are literally hundreds of teachers, missionaries, doctors, etc, that want to leave the jungle for the holidays, and then go back the first of January. I had a huge list on Monday to begin planning how to get them all out by today, and it has been a nightmare trying to get it done. Although the weather we have is far from blizzard conditions, it shuts us down, just the same as an airline. If we could only get one good day of weather today, we could get it all done. As I sit here and drink my morning coffee, guess what, it is raining! I guess we will see what happens today.

My family and I are all jumping on the bus tomorrow to head to Quito to welcome the first of our holiday visitors. Becca's parents and her sister's family are all coming down to see us. Pray that the Colorado runways will get cleared out by then, so they won't be stuck like so many others! Oh, the logistics of flying, mixed with "wonderful" weather. I have a good job!