Off to Las Cruces

Jolene's temp job has wound down, giving Case the perfect excuse to kidnap her back to Las Cruces until something else develops that might keep her at home in Fullerton. So today, we packed the necessities (that's one bag for Jolene and six for Jack), said goodbye to our Fullerton house, loaded up the airplane, and headed back to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where Case continues his temp job.

Case has his pilot "Instrument Rating" now, so clouds don't deter him. However, thunderstorms are a concern for any pilot, so we made an early start to get through before they built up too much. Actually, the cotton-ball clouds added visual interest to an otherwise lengthy drone over the desert Southwest.Case's new instrument panel means he can dial in our route at the outset and never touch the yoke again -- save perhaps to deviate around the storms that pop up on the satellite weather receiver. Jolene isn't sure why, with all his interest in flying, Case bought instruments that do the flying for him. But she does understand that boys will be boys. For his part, Case is glad Jolene grew up with a brother.

While Case is playing with his panel of dials and gadgets, Jolene gets to play personal flight attendant to Jack. Then, if Jack isn't too demanding, there's time to gaze out the window, read, or doze off in the back seat.

Luckily for us, Jack is quite the traveler -- which is to say that, so long as we pack and portage his litter box, food, automatic feeder, scratching post, brush, nail clippers, carrier, and other paraphernalia, he is perfectly content to go anywhere we do. (Jack is the only one who gets a potty in the plane; that's his litter box in the back window.)
Jack seems to enjoy gazing out at the clouds, too. We haven't found a headset or earplugs that he's willing to wear, but the noise doesn't seem to bother him. (I suppose he might be going deaf, except that there's no difference between that and how he usually ignores my commands.)
We arrived safely, chauffeured Jack to his (our) apartment, and went for a walk before retiring. Watching the thunderstorms continuing to build over the Organ Mountains backing the town, we decided that, at this time of day, we preferred walking to flying.