Jessica Dunlap's Wild Wild West Blog

so, the guy who did my stage III check yesterday afternoon, scott ervin, he is living the dream--salaried pilot for a rich dude, just flies this guy to his different businesses all over the country and to his son's motorcross races.  NICE!  and at summit, he gets the fun stuff of mt and tail-wheel endorsements and stage checks.  wizard.  and he's a nice guy on top of it.  he signed me off no prob with my stage III stuff yesterday so the next few days will just be getting me ready for my written exam and the practical.  i'm scared to death but i've had good instructors.  i have a cumulative review today which i need and will be reassuring when i can nail all the stuff lance and i go over today.  i should come home a pilot if the weather and my brain cooperate with me the next few days!

rachel and adam are coming up from the park today.  they're getting tattoos, then we are partying and then friday we are all going to see willie nelson in big sky!!! i'm getting a tattoo saturday--i opted for saturday to make sure adam and rachel could get squeezed in with the little bit of time they have on today.  the guy i picked to do my tattoo, sean, he is a character.  i've never met a tattoo artist with an overly-friendly attitude BUT unlike the person i talked to the other day, this guy looked me in the eye when he talked to me and i took a liking to him immediately. alright, few more hours of sleepy time before i have my 8am lesson with lance... 

so i may well finish up my private pilot's license here.  that would be splendid, to say the least.  while the 141 program is a federal program and transferable to any locale, the process of transferring is a pain--it requires getting to know a new instructor who has to evaluate your skills for themselves--they cannot take the word of another instructor at another school because it puts their own license in jeopardy to do so.  when you go before an FAA examiner, you have the endorsement of your instructor saying that you have the skills necessary to breeze through the practical so to avoid potential embarrassment, an instructor in rock hill would have to take some time to review my skills with me and as we all know, time is money.  i am mere lessons away from my practical--we are talking early next week for this intensely stressful sphincter-tightening experience.  what would be cool is f ii could wrap this private pilot's license up early next week, get a tail-wheel and mt endorsement right before alaska and then get a sea plane rating while in alaska...WOW, i would be  all kinds of impressed with myself.

tonight is free salsa lessons at bacchus pub and before that, i'm eating at the BEST italian restaurant this side of napoli--damasco's!!!...i will say again, dave andrade, BETTER THAN PORTOFINO'S--hands down, no contest!   

i was challenged by a friend this afternoon to write in a voice other than my own, a voice besides jessica dunlap's which i thought would be easy but now that i have sat down to do it am finding it difficult to begin...and i would like feedback please, from those of you who have become familiar with my "voice." 

Dan Brown would make anyone who attempted to use Leonardo DaVinci as a title or subject of a contemporary work look a little foolish with the success of his novel The DaVinci Code.  This is irksome for a writer because DaVinci is such a prolific figure and forgive me for this Beatles-esque comment but just as worthy as God as a subject of inspiration and awe. The Museum of the Rockies is playing host to a DaVinci exhibit at this very second which is scheduled to leave in a matter of days. Bozeman is one of the only cities in the United States to host DaVinci's "Machines in Motion," therefore the privilege of attending was enhanced by the exclusivity of the event.  No matter what your occupation, your background, your age, your IQ, your sex, your race, etc, this exhibit will intrigue any human being that has the capacity to be inspired. Yesterday was such a dreary afternoon as I wandered into the Museum of the Rockies.  I was going not out of an active interest but more of a way to pass the time, to keep my mind occupied. I was down in the dumps because the weather had once again kept me out of an airplane, I had been terribly homesick for weeks, and the girl I loved broke my heart over the weekend. Here I walk into this world-reknowned dinosaur museum where "Big Mike" stands outside to greet you and lo and behold I walk straight into an exhibit hall full of all things Leonardo DaVinci.  The first thing I noticed was DaVinci's famous quote regarding flight, "Una vez que has experimentado el vuelo, siempre caminarás por la tierra con tu vista hacia el cielo, porque ya has estado ahí, y siempre desearás volver," and immediately the pity party I had been throwing for myself began to end.  This quote made me remember my passion for flying, consider the long evolution of flight and laugh at myself for despairing over a few days' weather.  I became increasingly light-hearted walking through the exhibit, watching kids learn from the hands-on machines and gaining insight from the many quotes from the man himself, especially when he talks about how fire changes the composition of a thing forever.  I related to that quote on a metaphorical level in regards to my heart enduring what I considered to be Hell this past weekend.  All in all, DaVinci, one of my heroes, was able to pleasasntly surprise and uplift me over 8000 kilometers and 500 years distance, and while I have nowhere near the mental capacity that man had, I hope one day I can make someone's day the way he made mine yesterday afternoon.   

i finally did my cc solo today!  after 3 times having to re-schedule it, janine nunes calls me this morning basically saying," get your butt up here, the weather should hold til 2pm!!!" so i jump out of bed, into the shower and zooooom over to summit.  my flight plan was already made but it toko me about an hours worth of recalculating for the current day's winds aloft to get it ready for my flight.  after that, i got into the plane and took off...i haven't flown in over a week so it felt weird to be flying and it felt especially weird to be flying without an instructor.  

i'm finishing up stage III tonight with three more landings, that's all i require for my night stuff--there was a huge SNAFU the night i flew with Dugan where the airport closed early to have the runway painted and neither one of us was aware of it.  they were waiting for us to get in and luckily had not started painting or we would have been stuck at three forks airport waiting on dugna's wife to get out of bed and come pick us up.  anyway, so i didn't get to do my landings that night but will finish them up tonight!

i left out vegas details AGAIN! there was this bum selling botled water out of a cooler between caesar's and the bellagio, i mean in the most half-hearted way a person could ever sell water and butch asked him, is there any alcohol in that water, and the guy replied, "all the alcohol you wish was in here is in here."  whatever that means.  i almost bought some though. 

so my face has been all broken out since i got to bozeman, like the worse it's ever been in my adult life, almost, which i'm not over a greasy grill so i don't get it, but i have been drinking a lot of coffee so i'm gonna lay off the coffee and just go to tea...it's cheaper and i think i like it more?

i went to the museum of the rockies yesterday afternoon--what a treat BUT i really think i shoulda gone in the morning bc my brain just works better in the AM.  they had a davinci exhibit and i'm really glad i went yesterday bc my rockford coffee house friend britnee harper whose bf is from alabama, told me this is the only place in the US getting the exhibit AND it is leaving in the next day or so.

alright, i'm going to research tattoo artists b/c the one i got introduced to yesterday hit me wrong.  she may have been having a bad day, i don't care...my gut says "no," and after the latest crap i went through, i am never doubting my gut feeling ever again...xo

so, i realized i left out a bunch of vegas details...

After a hectic night cross country flight with dugan to billings the night of august23rd, i got in the car and started driving toward las vegas, nevada.  being almost a full moon, the montana mountains were hauntingly illuminated but the eeriness was offset by the sheer beauty of what i was seeing glide by my window.  I got to see the sunrise over the uinta mountains in salt lake city, she was a sleepy sun, it's hard to rise over those mountains i guess...but it was GORGEOUS!  the great salt lake was exceptionally stinky that morning, like charleston pluff mud to the nth degree!  the virgin river canyon was amazing to see, i can't even explain how all the rock features were slanted at crazy angles--it made me feel like i wasn't in straight and level flight, like i was cockeyed because of the orientation of the landscape--wild!  after descending through the canyon, i got to the flattest, hottest, dryest area i've ever seen in my life.  i could see vegas from miles and miles out.  i texted wendy mckoy to tell her tht taking her son rowan all over the world is so awesome because i couldn't believe i was seeing the desert for the first time in my life at 29 years of age!!!  we were booked at the rio and i'm pretty sure i was close to tackling nancy daves when i saw her in the lobby, then we grabbed a cocktail and started puttin oney into machines and being silly.  It was all about La Bala de Plata--the silver bullet--and Black Jack!!!  it took me a few hours to realize i was on pacific time...almost went to pick maxine up early, noticed just in the nick of time.  steve and i went to scoop her up from the airport.  we hungout in the room for a few minutes where i was like, " listen, max, i have this CRAZY notion that wendy is hooking up with my friend rachels friend bianca, but it's SO ludicrous and so improbable that this is totally just my imagination running away with me, right? i need to use my fiction factory for economical gain, right??? how silly i can be, sheeeeeeeeesh."  i don't know if i convinced max, but i convinced myself that i was crazy and needed to chill the flip out...3 days later...turns out i wasn't so crazy after all...never go against your guts, kids, NEVER.  anyway, so max and i go to supper with the york gang and butch tells me tim roy is in town who i've never gotten to hang out with more than to serve him a couple of beers at the coal yard but whose brother and nephew are some of the most intensely fun characters in existence so i got excited about tim being there.  turns out mama and daddy joe partied with tim in vegas like 20 years ago--ha!  during supper nancy looks up from her meal, suddenly, first at maxine and gives her some good advice and then she looks at me and does the same.  it was so out-of-the-blue, like she was hit with a lightning bolt of information that was pertinent to our lives and needed to be shared without delay.  what she had to say, i definitely needed to hear.  thanks, nance! so then we return to the black jack table where the dealer was a bee eye tee see 8ch, for real, which sucked because the dealers we had earlier were AWESOME.  max and i were nearly comatose at this point and  retired after we almost face-planted into the table--they don't allow cell phones or face-planting at the table.  after breakfast max and i hit the town with tim roy, butch, and steve.  our first stop was margaritaville, which i would normally turn my nose up toward, BUT i was in vegas doing the whole tacky as helll tourist thing anyway so i felt ok with doing it to an exponential degree; however, we didn't get any hookers or drugs this trip, but there's always next time, and there WILL be a next time!  i kinda understand the hangover a little better now, and I DEFINITELY understand fear and loathing better.  so i had a lone palm amber at jimmy buffet's ridiculous bar which has an equally ridiculous blender sitting on the counter.  we moseyed through the extravagant shopping mall in caesar's palace and out to their pool-side bar where i noticed the BLACKJACK TABLES IN THE POOL!!!!!!!  they have "cocktail goddesses" too!  then we jump around some more drikin, got a free million dollar spin at planet hollywood, i got to hear great stories the whole way from these amazing fellas we were hanging with...stories about going to the beach too broke to even buy food, someone answering the door wearing nothing but a lamp shade on his head...i had to go back to casear's to play cards in the pool...the dealer was smokin hot, with a, come to find out, bulgarian accent. her name was teodora and i was pretty much in love with ehr for the 15 minutes max and i were there...when she took 180 dollars from me in that short a time period, i knew i had to go or she'd own my house by the end of the day--well, caesar's would have, but you get the picture.  so max and i gorged ourselves on indian--truthfully, it was just me that gorged myself.  i haven't had good indian in a longtime and this place called gaylord's is all over the world apparently and i ate everything i could fit in me!  that makes me think, i cannot WAIT to go to jai's new indian fusion place in huntersville when i get back.  so then we drove around the town to see everything...wild stuff in vegas, i tell ya, extravagant and WILD.  i cannot wait to go back because i will have more time and no one 800 miles away pretending to be my girlfriend. 

first of all, daddy joe, don't forget your dancing shoes for the drive to SC from Bozeman, kthxbai...

does anyone have any idea what it would cost to get a my motorcycle to europe with me for when i go for two weeks in dec?...whoa, when i am looking at that question typed out it sounds ludicrous b/c...hello--europe...in winter...on a motorcycle...i think i just solved my own problem here.

I went to see EAT, PRAY, LOVE...which are the priorities of the movie, in that respective order.  the italian smorgasborg of food (even gelato had a cameo appearance!) made me ready for france NAO! i can haz saucisson?! yes.  hoh hoh hoh--stereotypical french laugh sound, put some hard nasal into it, and if you still can't get it, watch the little mermaid.  anyway, i heard one critic say that EPL, should have been called, ME, ME, ME...i didn't find this to be true.  first of all how can AYTHING be ME, ME, ME anymore than our ridiculous social networking sights (to which I am severely addicted, i admit, freely) on the web these days?  ps--there is a movie coming out about the creation of facebook that i cannot wait to see!  anyway, i took a lot of nuggets of insight from this movie from the fat italian luka saying liz needed to learn, "the pleasure of doing nothing," to the idea of self-forgiveness toiled over at the temple in india(which by the way, the thought of some time at a hindu temple is SO SO SO intriguing to me-don't be surprised if i end up at one within the nex year.  as a girl who grew up wanting to be a nun until i found out it is supposed to be a lifetime commitment, the temple feels like it would be a good compromise and you get to eat indian food every day!).  also, i may be going to a hindu wedding in march of '11, if jai's brother ends up getting hitched.  i sure hope so--every time i see a hindu wedding, it just makes me happy and i sure hope i get to experience one in my lifetime.  the polynesian medicine man told liz to smile when she meditated--"even smile from liver," which a) made ME smile and b) made me wanna meditate.  mama just told me the other day that i need to meditate,  she so smart--like medicine man in movie.  I <3 Julia Roberts and i thought she did a great job with this movie, i enjoyed the story line, the cinematography, the supporting actors, everything.  i did something i havent in a long time while watching EPL which is take notes.  it made the whole process less passive (a lot of times i cannot even sit through a movie without falling asleep or just having to get up and go do something else) so i didn't get bored with it, and i remembered everything i wanted to mention about it, the things that stuck out for me.  i take notes about life all the time so why not movies too b/c i LOVE movies thanks to miss lindsey richardson! 

i'm supposed to ride my bike to the park today BUT the weather is craptasic--rainy AND cold (like european winter--ha! i should ride for acclimatization!).  xoxoxo!!!

so katie has some great tales from the land of debt collections.  my favorite one is a guy, who told her he was sittin' on the shitter and that his wife had left him and had ripped his heart out through his asshole...well, sir, your debt is still owed replies the amazingly stoic kathryn gail.  I'm relating to this sittin on the shitter guy right now because i myself had my heart ripped out through my asshole friday night--emotional hemmorhoids, ouch!  what REALLY sucks is it was done by someone who didnt deserve my affection in the first place...look, when your gut and ALL your friends say something, fuckin listen to them...or don't and learn the hard way...i always have to learn the hard way AND because i loved this girl so much, i had all the faith in the world in every single word she told me--a la my sassy gay friend, "you stupid bitch..."  so i got played like a fiddle but not just any fiddle..oh, HELL,.speaking of fiddles, i bought that bitch a fiddle, dammit--DAMMIT, i just thought about that...eff.  anyway, so i got played and in a majorly sick and sadistic way (it was such a fucked up ordeal that i had to stand back and ask myself, "girl, did you run over kittens with a lawnmower FOR FUN in a past life or something--WTF???!!!"). however, the situtation empowered me to get rid of this toxic asshole...britney spears made toxic sound so cool but trust me, it is NOT cool, and if you are involved with a toxic individual, get rid of them--STAT.  i'm still trying to figure out where i thought there was room in my life for a monstrously toxic asshole sadistic loser alcoholic.  this awesome wizard has no time for trolls...what a four month waste of life energy.  BUT i'm better off for having endured it--like when gandalf got pitched into the pit with the balrog and he came out more powerful, i am already a different wizard from this experience...i always thought i was a hobbit but maxine has informed me that i am indeed a wizard and i think she is right. 

either way, i am ready for some shire time.  monfuckingtana has been amazing, i have loved every minute of it and i have disassociated the negative BS from this beautiful place that i love, but this kid is ready to come home for a minute. 

OH, so i went to the berkeley pit yesterday to occupy some of my time and keep my mind off lowdown dirty shameful bitches...mary had told me about it thursday and it is a crazy place--it's in butte, montana, which is less than two hours west of me.  look up the berkeley pit, it is interesting to say the least.

  coming up we have willie nelson in big sky, alaska by RV, then york, sc!!! 

i put off vegas til my 29th year of existence because i just didn't think it would be my bag--boy was i ever wrong!  it IS my bag, and HOW! it's gonna be an achilles heel, i can see it now.  i enjoyed the heck out of seeing my friends, gambling a bit (especially in the pool at caesar's with the lovely teodora from bulgaria who could take every last dime of mine), and seeing the sights.  i didn't have much time, but we crammed in a good bit for the less than two days maxine and i were there...already schemin' another couple of trips out there...

visited zion on the way back--need to revisit that also with more time to spare

can i just say that in typical steve bolin fashion he comes out over breakfast with the absurd remark of , "let this place DIE." 

 oh, god, i couldn't stop laughing even though he was dead serious...oh, wow, love hat man!

um, did you mean john deere, annaliese?  heehee, that tickled the heck out of me.

anyway, so the homeopathic doctor is gonna see me august 31st.  but NOT for ADD, because pilots do not have that. 

before my doctor's visit on the 31st, i have another obgyn visit tomorrow, oh fun, right after my first solo cross country flight.  cross country is just a mileage term, it doesn't actually mean i'm flying across the country.  anyway, that is tomorrow morning, weather permitting (which when i filed my flight plan a little while ago, it didn't sound too promising) and tomorrow night i have a night cross country to billings which is class C airspace. THEN i go to vegas for a couple of days THEN i go to chico hot springs friday night. theni fly more and read flying books more and get licensed and stuff.

i went to the park friday afternoon and bianca, wendy and i harrassed rachel at the firehole all night after visiting moose falls.  bianca described for us the process of developing film and at one point she used the term, "covered in chemistry," which gave me the most vivid image of her in a dark room developing pictures.  awesome phrase.  

we went up toward livingston saturday to hike the pine creek trail which is strenuous but worth the trek.  it's the longest 5 miles ever, we all decided.  the weather was craptastic all night, major winds, intermittent rain, i just knew my backpack was gonna be floating in the lake when i got out of my tent this morning, but it wasn't, it was just blown a few feet away from where it had been hanging.  i did lose wendy's stuff sack for her sleeping bag though--whoops.  we got up late because there wasn't really any point in trying to get up eary to see the sunrise when the sky was overcast and the wind was howling so much that we couldn't have cooked really.  saturday's sunset was amaing though, and the moon rising up over the tarn behind our campsite was gorgeous.  we got us some good mexican in livingston when we got off the trail and now ive been sitting here all evening trying to figure out my flight plan to helena for in the morning. 

so the next solid week is crazy. i am going backpacking to pine creek lake between livingston and gardiner sat and sun, monday i am doing my first SOLO cross country, over to helena--it'll be the same route i took today with sam, hoever i have to create a whole new flight plan that takes into account the weather for that particular time.  the weather affects everything to do with aviation.  even the trip we did today couldn't just be inverted on paper because the winds combined with our various directions, the weight of us in the plane, the amount of fuel, the air pressure, etc, ALL are variables in flight.  it's crazy the amount of time sam and i spent planning this hour and a half trip.  it was over in a heartbeat after all that effort.  we didn't stop in helena, for the sake of time, but hopefully i will get to for a little bit when i go on MONDAY MORNING!!! 

then after a whole bunch of flying and what-not, i will be headed to las vegas where i will pick up maxine and we will hang out with lewis nancy steve and butch for a hot minute then i will be headed to chico hot springs with wendy, rachel, and bianca friday and saturday next week.  saturday evening marks the return to school and very seriously at that, i only have a matter of days before i have to be finished with my private pilot's license because i am leaving for alaska sept 11th with mama, daddy joe, and grandma fred.  daddy joe is flying back to bozeman with me and we are heading back to SC via all kinds of fun places!  i have loved being out here.  there is nothing like the wild west.  however, this hobbit is adventured out and more than ready to return to the shire for a few months.  justin said i can sling drinks or whatever at the coal yard.  i'll be making y'all some vegan craziness and pouring some SC beers--can't wait to drink a son of a peach!!!  gah, i really cannot wait to drink some peach shine--now, THAT will be when i know i'm home!