1. I  run through my preflight checklist.
  2. Leaning out the window, I yell “clear” and start the engine, remembering for an instant the scene in MASH, the movie, when a prop runs through one of the characters—I don’t remember who.
  3. I head down the taxiway, still adjusting to steering with my feet.
  4. Since I’m rated as a VFR (visual flight reference, rather than instrument) pilot, I lift off into clear blue skies.
  5. I’m flying Nebraska skies so I turn my nose into a steep “crab angle” against a stiff cross wind.
  6. Oh, how I miss those clear, blue skies, even when I had to fight the wind.