Yes, we spent about $100 on a flight to Stephenville, TX for BBQ yesterday evening. (then we paid another $100 to come back home.) Since we decided we felt so liberated about not buying an older airplane that would cost us too much to comfortably keep over 10 years, we decided to treat ourselves (and the boys) to a short jaunt to Stephenville. The BBQ is very good, the atmosphere very outdoorsy and the flight was excellent there and back. Rusty flew us in while I took us back home.

Then, I found another Mooney today while saying good-bye to the previous "for sale" webpage. I noticed a newer only-slightly pricier Mooney for sale that had a nicer interior, that had a nice dash with IFR and weather instrument, that had new paint, low airframe time and years to go before an overhaul. This one is a 1978 M20C Ranger.

It's blue and white (y'all know how I feel about the color blue!). What I love the most about the plane is its affordability. I simply don't want to fly our finances into the ground. Whether we rent or buy, my bottom line goal is to be as economical as practicable. Excluding the occasional $100 dinner adventure!

There are some logistics to figure out. The plane is outside of San Antonio and we are not. The people selling the plane cannot fly the plane to meet us somewhere closer. "You'd have to come to us" the seller said.

It would take about 2 hours to fly there. But we can't fly it back to ADS ourselves because we're not yet certified for retractable gear. We'd need to have flight lessons in the plane that we're buying to be checked out as safe to land it.