This started as a post over in the New Horizons thread but it took on a life of it’s own and doesn’t belong over there anymore.
I’ve been disconnected from my computer since the 12th, busy driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, then down the California coast To Santa Cruz.
Good night sleep and returning up the coast, a quick visit to Redwoods, then getting my feet into the Pacific Ocean for a short walk.
Taking a right at Half Moon Bay and driving though the old neighborhood and a look at my high school, first visit, (er drive through) in 35 years.
That brought us to the airport 8/14/2015.
Being the Darma Bum I am and into the moment, specially when traveling, I didn’t think about New Horizons once.
When we got home there was a new job waiting for me and I jumped right into it and it wasn’t till today that I had a chance to get caught up.
Then it hit me, WAIT A MINUTE that’s when I was flying with all sensors humming for my final opportunity to record the wonderful, amazing,
fantastic landscape of my own home planet. It’s one of those cosmic giggles that has made this life such a cool ride.
A line from San Francisco to Denver at about 35,000’.
Like a mesmerized ten year old, forehead straining against the window for better views.
It’s such a fantastic privileged thing to be able to do - and such a wonderful experience looking down on the land,
eyewitness not just to the wonder of our Western US landscapes, but it’s also a grand view of the fabric of our modern society.
I can’t help but try to soak in as much of that while in the moment.
In any event, knowing this was my last flight in a long time, if not for ever. I was in full absorption mode as we took off and left the SF Peninsula,
across the Bay, over the Big Valley, then a peak into Yosemite Valley and the Sierra Nevadas, past the vast Nevada landscapes that’s are way more varied
and interesting than given credit for, then come some hogback ridges and canyon lands, the Green River I’ve canoed down thrice,
then the confluence with the Colorado River and the backdrop of the Canyon Lands disappearing into mountain ranges and wide high mountain valleys,
a few massive mountain ranges and then swopping down onto the Great Plains that stretch out forever.
With that good night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydU-YrG_INk This simulated flyover of Pluto’s Norgay Montes (Norgay Mountains) and Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain) was created from New Horizons closest-approach images. Norgay Montes have been informally named for Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two humans to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Sputnik Planum is informally named for Earth’s first artificial satellite. The images were acquired by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers). Features as small as a half-mile (1 kilometer) across are visible. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI{updated title 7/20/15, fixed formatting}