Here, I'm about to cross the mountains, with the lowering sun shining on my instruments.

I'm at 3,655' above sea level, which puts me about 1,600' above the terrain. That's plenty of altitude to glide to one of those green patches you see to the right if the engine should quit.

My airspeed is 60 mph, and the GPS shows my ground speed to be 59.1, so I have no headwind or tailwind.

My next GPS waypoint is MidAtlantic a glider airport on the other side of the mountains. It's 8.18 statute miles away.

But forget the numbers. THE VIEW! It's spectacular. If you're flying a lawn chair in the sky, this is a good patch of sky to be flying it in.