Take off

I woke up and hit the road early, heading east just like everyday. I had about 40 miles in by 10am which is pretty good and then I was passing a small airport when I saw two guys walking around a plane that was running. I figured I would to talk to them and see how the flight was and maybe if I was lucky, I could get a ride. I went over and they had just landed and said it was beautiful up there. We got to talking about the trip and how great it was, then I popped the question "would you mind giving me a ride in the plane?" The owner of the plane, Ray, said "it's already primed, I guess I could give ya a ride". So we got in and buckled up, the engine would start. Ray said they don't start well when they're warm. So I spoke with the other guy, Shep, while Ray worked on the plane for about 2 hours. Shep and I had some great conversations and then Ray said it was time to fly. I got in and this time the engines fired right up. We went up for about 15 minutes and Ray let me fly the plane. He let me control it and do some turns and go up and down, it was pretty amazing to have control of the plane, definitely a once in a lifetime experience. We landed and I thanked them for allowing me to go up and for everything. I rode all day with a huge smile on my face and it was an awesome feeling. I finished the day with about 120 miles and found a great little camping spot in a national forest. The mosquitos were aweful and they don't make it easy to set up the tent while you're being attacked by so many of them, but I got it set up and had just fallen asleep when I was awoken by these loud footsteps and they were close. I sat up and put my flashlight on to see if I could see anything. I knew the animal had hooves, because I could tell by the sound they were making while they walk, so I wasn't worried about a bear. I thought it was a moose, who are pretty aggressive. I sat up and opened the tent and started yelling and clapping for the animal to leave. He was making a blowing noise and he was about 15-20 feet away. I was getting attacked by mosquitoes the second I opened the tent, so I climbed back into the tent and spent the next 30 minutes killing all the mosquitoes in the tent... The animal was gone and I slept well the rest of the night.