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We watched the sun set enroute to Seattle... That was many hours and thousands of miles ago. Now, we are in the deepest, darkest part of the night; the part where circadian rhythm begins to work on the brain, telling you it is OK to fall asleep; after all, that is what night is all about, right? The moon is rising in the east; it looks like one-half of an orange. Really cool!

The co-pilot is a commuter (he lives in a city other than his assigned base and must commute to work... About 1/2 of all airline pilots practice commuting) which means he did not get good rest yesterday afternoon. Now he is paying the price as he struggles to stay awake. I am staring out my side window at the heavenly blanket of stars over the aircraft. The left navigation light looks like a red comet every time the strobe flashes. How cool would it be to ride on the back of the beast, leaning against the leading edge of the vertical tail fin? What a visual overload that would be, especially tonight. That thought leads my mind to the goblin riding the wing of the aircraft in the movie Twilight Zone. Yikes! Maybe I should turn on the wing ice light and take a look...

Obviously, I need more coffee. Behind me are 150 passengers, all trying to sleep; and three flight attendants trying not to... Philly is still 1,000 miles east. We will get to watch the sun rise before we arrive.

Position: Underneath Cygnus
Altitude: 35,000 feet
Groundspeed: 560 m.p.h.
Magnetic course: 102 degrees

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