
I took about a week or so to unwind and then I caught a jump seater back to PSP, where I ran into Mr. Blakely who was overseeing some service on a trusty Super 80...

I quickly volunteered to haul some passengers back to Chicago. Jeff had no idea I was on my way...

As luck would have it, my FO for the day was none other than Mr. Joseph "Heavy Metal" Crankshaw. I had to confiscate his cell phone so he couldn't warn the rest of ORD that I was on the way...

I have to admit that I was still quite rusty, but after a few minutes the climb checklist was a breeze...

The Super 80 was just the aircraft to get back in the saddle with...

Somewhere over New Mexico I started getting ACARS messages from an excited Tim Grupp telling me how he took care of my 767 like it was his own while I was gone. It'll be interesting to see the maintenance log there. I quickly got the idea that once I hit ORD I should start a hub tour to get back in touch with everyone. As night fell I began putting together my upcoming flight request..

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, aside from the incredible case of gas I got from the mexican food. Thanks a lot Mr. Blakely!

I don't know what gave JC the impression that he was going to get any flying in on this leg, but he handled it well. It was a beautiful approach into Chicago...

The landing was far from my best, but still good nonetheless...


No damage to the brand new struts Mike!

Stay tuned! More to follow....