Hi Jay,

Thanks for giving us a chance to tag along on your trip. Great story!
I'll take an opportunity here to make a suggestion for the next trip
coming out this way. You wrote:

Occasionally we'd hit
a smoothly rising pocket of air, and I'd have to push over to maintain
altitude. During these brief spells, our ground speed would approach a
more
normal 135 knots -- but the inevitable sinking pocket of air would soon
follow, necessitating a pull back to maintain altitude. During these
spells, ground speed would decay to an abysmal 85 knots.

Most of us just "ride the wave." It took me a couple of trips and some
hangar flying with an old timer to get the idea. If you're VFR, why worry
about going uphill for a while as long as its free. Sometimes, we'll even
pull the speed back a little on the way up to make it last longer. Then, on
the down side, power back up and go through the 'sink' faster. The net
result is usually a little free altitude and some gas savings. Try it next
time -- and I'm betting there will be a next time.

Regards,

Casey