Skylane 71178 Cleared Direct to Wray

I haven’t flown in a small aircraft since riding around in helecopters in the Army the 70’s. So i was excited when my uncle Dave who is a pilot and flight instructor suggested that we fly out to eastern Colorado from Denver to meet-up with my parents, who are out there (Wray Colorado) visiting. So after a couple coversations we decided to fly out on December 29th. We met-up and went out to Metro (formally Jeffco) airport where my uncle has several planes. The plane we were going to fly is a Cessna 182 Skylane tail number N71178. I was quite surprised When I heard that the planes was manufactured in 1968 and that it was still worth over a hundred thousand dollars. Guess I wont be buying a plane anytime soon.
We too off on a clear cold day. the temperature on the ground was in the teens and it was zero degrees aloft. With Ice and snow still on the Taxi ways. As soon as we got airborne , it occurred to me that maybe the snowplows had yet to clear Wray’s single runway. Not to worry, Dave assured me. One thing that struck me was amount of communication between Denver Control and our small aircraft, it gave me a renewed respect for air traffic control. We had a nice tail wind and made the 170 Mile rip in just over and hour.
But Dave assured me that the trip back would be a bit slower with a 30 knot head wind. My parents picked us up at the Wray airport and we had a late lunch at the only restaurant in town that was open , The venerable and decrepit Sandhiller Motel and Restaurant. I only had time for a quick visit with my 97 year old Grandmother and then it was time to fly back. We were trying to make it back by dark, but by the time had said our good byes and Got the plane ready, it was almost sundown, being one of those short mid-winter days. We took off and flew at low altitude ( 400 ft. AGL) to avoid the high winds. and then popped up into radar range when we got close to Denver. As it was dark when we got back to Metro airport Dave did a simulated instrument approach. I was all eyes and ears as I had never done a night landing in a small plane. Needless to say Dave performed a perfect landing. After putting the plane away for the night, which was complicated slightly by the icy tarmac, we stopped and had dinner and Caught up on family news.
I had a wonderful time and of course it got me thinking. Maybe I should get that pilot’s license.