Jay Honeck wrote:

I was suddenly aware that we were SOARING

Glad you enjoyed it, but you weren't SOARING. You did what we call a
sled ride: Tow up and glide down. A nice experience, but not soaring.
Soaring means staying up.

I don't really have any interest in getting my glider rating -- there
doesn't seem to be any utility in it -- but, man, I sure do understand you
guys that have been raving about it.

No, you don't, otherwise you would have that interest. ;-) Soaring is
not about utility, it's just about the joy of flying.

If you liked that ride as much as you say, then do yourself a favour,
drive to some glider Operation and ask for a cross country SOARING
flight. You'll discover a whole new world: Air isn't just quiet or
bumpy, those bumps actually do mean something (as do the rudder pedals).
The pure joy of flight is just one aspect of soaring, the really
intersting part of it is to watch and understand the air and to take
advantage from that. As I like to say: To fly with the help of the
weather instead despite of it.

But be cautious: Once you've discovered the joy of flying a couple of
hundred miles without an engine, chances are you'll find motorized
flying dull, sell your spam can and buy a glider insted. You wouldn't be
the first to whom that happened.

Stefan