9 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

think I said this before but I greatly appreciate your service to our nation!

My wife started running again (after being a cross country/track star in HS), she ran the Vermont 100k not long ago. I can barely run a mile LOL. So good for you as well! It seems to be a healthy hobby, and CO is simply beautiful!

3 minutes ago, micstatic said:

amen. thank you very much

Thank you both! Always appreciated.

As for running, yeah, after I was wounded, I was in the hospital for about 15 months of rehab. I needed assistance just to walk. Long story short, I saw other Soldiers outside (I was in a base hospital) doing their runs and workouts and told myself one day I would run again. The last thing I wanted to be was some grumpy, disgruntled Soldier just sitting at home getting unhealthy and adding more issues on top of my combat injuries. So, eventually I was on a treadmill and then back to running outside. I am not setting any speed records, and I am definitely at "old guy" pace...lol, but I can knock out some distances still. And running in CO is nice a lot of the time, but the winter running is interesting to say the least 😁

4 hours ago, micstatic said:

Now I seem to be 80% GA and mostly flying into small little strips.

You can have both long range & complex systems while still fitting into teeny weeny grass strips - if you fly the BBS C-130 or similar.

Just sayin’ 😎

Edited yesterday at 08:11 PM1 day by UrgentSiesta

2 hours ago, sniper31 said:

So, eventually I was on a treadmill and then back to running outside. I am not setting any speed records, and I am definitely at "old guy" pace...lol, but I can knock out some distances still. And running in CO is nice a lot of the time, but the winter running is interesting to say the least

I blew my legs out courtesy of the USN. Never could run regularly again (Non-combat, and not disabled - other than mentally 😂)

Rucking, particularly in CO, was and remains a fine substitute.

1 minute ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Rucking, particularly in CO, was and remains a fine substitute.

Rucking was pretty much my whole career as a Light Infantryman...lol. But yes, rucking/hiking are good alternatives. I DO still hike, but don't carry near as much weight as I did when I carried my 120-pound ruck on missions. Not to mention the civilian hiking gear I have now is so much lighter on its own 😉

4 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

blew my legs out courtesy of the USN. Never could run regularly again (Non-combat, and not disabled - other than mentally 😂)

My nephew was in the USN for about an eight-year stint. Sonar operator for most of that time.

Edited yesterday at 08:15 PM1 day by sniper31

26 minutes ago, sniper31 said:

Rucking was pretty much my whole career as a Light Infantryman...lol. But yes, rucking/hiking are good alternatives. I DO still hike, but don't carry near as much weight as I did when I carried my 120-pound ruck on missions. Not to mention the civilian hiking gear I have now is so much lighter on its own 😉

My nephew was in the USN for about an eight-year stint. Sonar operator for most of that time.

Oh yeah - I’m never more than 35-45 unless short range camping.

Heavy enough for a good workout, light enough not to do more damage. 😁

Edited yesterday at 08:49 PM1 day by UrgentSiesta

35 minutes ago, sniper31 said:

My nephew was in the USN for about an eight-year stint. Sonar operator for most of that time.

Submariners are legit insane. They tried so hard to bribe me to become a Nuc. 😂

Sonarman would be dope, tho. And I know there’s a bunch of very cool ISR work being done, too.

My boy is a Corpsman presently attached to the USMC. He gets plenty of sightseeing walks in the country 😂

But every time he bitches, I tell him I’d trade places in a second (and I mean it!).

Edited yesterday at 08:54 PM1 day by UrgentSiesta

42 minutes ago, sniper31 said:

Rucking was pretty much my whole career as a Light Infantryman...lol. But yes, rucking/hiking are good alternatives. I DO still hike, but don't carry near as much weight as I did when I carried my 120-pound ruck on missions. Not to mention the civilian hiking gear I have now is so much lighter on its own 😉

My nephew was in the USN for about an eight-year stint. Sonar operator for most of that time.

47 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

I blew my legs out courtesy of the USN. Never could run regularly again (Non-combat, and not disabled - other than mentally 😂)

Rucking, particularly in CO, was and remains a fine substitute.

Retired Air Force here, thank you both for your service!🍻

Edited yesterday at 08:57 PM1 day by blueshark747

3 minutes ago, blueshark747 said:

Retired Air Force here, thank you both for your service!🍻

And you for yours! 🙏

1 hour ago, blueshark747 said:

Retired Air Force here, thank you both for your service!🍻

Yes, thank you as well!

Thank you guys for your service!

In terms of the “spark” topic, I’ve had a rough couple of flight sim days - both sims.

Way too much fiddling or wondering what went wrong, not enough flying.

And so I am calling (for myself) a 30 day period of “all default” operation in all sims - a total add on diet, free or paid.

I installed add on linker to get to an empty community folder, hopefully disabled all of the marketplace stuff so I don’t see any try to use things I shouldn’t like the Shorts Skyvan that still isn’t fixed - and just FLY.

The sim loaded VERY quickly and my 3 flights in MSFS2024 after my little metamorphosis went very smoothly, as did the 2 flights in that other popular sim.

Will my Thoreauvian flight sim simplicity experiment return that “spark”? Will I do the equivalent of hitting the fridge at 2AM when on a diet “But I NEED to fly my Bae-146s BAD!”? I am going to find out, and report back (but still enjoy all of your add on adventures vicariously).

Great topic! For me, when I do have time to fly I enjoy flying the airliners and stick with the Fenix. It’s a tremendous plane. The thing is, once I’ve flown a 3 hour airline route I don’t have much more interest in booting up another flight. I think that’s why lots of us fly what we like and only occasionally feel the need to branch out from that. It’s not our fault- it’s just human nature to stick with what you know, what works and what you can count on when time is of the essence.

1 hour ago, Republic DC9 said:

And so I am calling (for myself) a 30 day period of “all default” operation in all sims - a total add on diet, free or paid.

Sounds like an interesting experiment (or fad diet...lol) to try. Be interested to see how it works out for you. Keep us posted if you start getting urges. Maybe we will decide NOT to intervene 😁

10 hours ago, sniper31 said:

Sounds like an interesting experiment (or fad diet...lol) to try. Be interested to see how it works out for you. Keep us posted if you start getting urges. Maybe we will decide NOT to intervene 😁

Ha - I will, Sniper! 😂

No urges so far in either sim (but it’s early, withdrawals come later), just silky smooth flying and re-discovery of the lovely Piper Dakota and default Cessnas and even a flight in the “BBJ Max” by Asobo.

And the experiment is renewing the fun and spark which at least for me adds to the fun, just like the weekly weight loss check in I don’t some buddies or morning exercise and pushups before any fun stuff.

I’ll keep a log and report back! 😊

Have to say I was disillusioned for a while having had the recommendation to turn the Turbulence to "Low" in the sim .. the "on rails" feel was really offputting. Turning it back to Realistic and letting ActiveSky do it's thing is a game changer.

Airliners + Realistic Turbulence + ActiveSky in passive mode is superb and really transformed FS2024 for me with all of my addon aircraft. Sometimes it feels like you really have to fight it all the way down. I watch channels like "Approach and Departure Videos" and the setup I have now really replicates what I see in real life on those videos which is what I felt I was missing.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by FPVSteve

3 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

Airliners + Realistic Turbulence + ActiveSky in passive mode

Hi Steve, mate, just wondering if I have my Active Sky set to Live Weather... can i sue the same in the Fenix and it will be authentic? Im not sure what passive mode is (bit dense lol!)

Cheers

Doug