27. Odate-Noshiro to Niigata - 27 June 2004

	Dawn of the third day

Thus begins the third virtual day of this tour. I took off at dawn on what promised to be another long flight.

After thirty or forty minutes, though, I found myself getting sleepy and decided to put down at what was going to be my turning point, Yamagata. Didn't bleed off enough speed and still bouncing a bit on touchdown.

Suspect that I need to work on bleeding off more speed in the downwind leg. Picked up the rest of the flight a few hours later. Still flying over thin sheets of cloud, with mountains poking out. Hazy at Niigata until the last 1,000 ft or so, when visibility plummets.

Fortunately, I was already lined up with the runway, with the lights in sight. I worked hard to get my speed down before crossing the threshhold -- a little bounce at the end, but not so much.