After that giant flight from Adak, I crashed on the 7th of August and spent the day mostly just sleeping. That leg had occupied my mind for months, and having it behind me was like passing that final exam or handing in that thesis you’ve been working on for years. The result is that I didn’t see much of Sapporo – or more specifically, the surroundings in Hokkaido, which by all accounts are beautiful. I…

Robert DeLaurentis circumnavigated in 2015 and in his book about the flight he describes how, after completing the flight, he goes back to famous ferry pilot Fred Sorenson to have his ferry tank removed. (Fred, along with Dave Mathiesen who did mine, are basically the only two folks who does these ferry tank installations). As Fred is working on the aircraft Robert relates to Fred how he slept poorly and was really stressed about the…

The week before I started my flight, I had dinner with Yuri Gaspar, who circumnavigated last year with his wife in his Cessna 182T. Yuri left me with the sage words that 90% of the circumnavigation effort is the planning and preparation. Once you take off on the first leg, you’re just doing the last 10%. This is how it’s felt – especially in the weeks leading up to taking off. So after lots of…