We just landed at Wings Field, outside Philadelphia, the airport where I first fell in love with flying.

I grew up about ten miles from here. As a kid, my dad and I would drive out to the countryside and end up at this airport, standing at the fence, watching planes take off and land. I had a big dream of aviation, but never thought it was something I’d actually get to do myself.

Last year, I got my pilot’s license. Then we bought a Cessna Skylane. This trip, we flew it coast to coast: San Francisco to Ohio, to Portland, Maine, to Philadelphia. Two weeks, 23 airports, 60 hours in the air, all the way across the country. And now we’re at the farthest point of the journey, back in the town where I grew up, at the airport where I first got the bug to fly.

I never thought this was something I could do myself. And I just landed at the airport where I used to watch planes take off and land as a kid.