Happy landing

It had been about 3 or 4 months since the last time I had been into Patuanak's short gravel strip. Now on short final, with the threshold of RWY14 coming at us at 110mph, my mind is racing with possible situations that could arise between now and engine shutdown. 'What if we float too far in these windy conditions, the runway is only 3000' long.' 'What if we break a brake line with this gravel?' 'How far into Beta/Reverse is OK before we start to damage the prop?' 'How soft is the runway.'
My mind is alert for what might happen in the worst of situations and how to handle them while keeping my attention focused on the job at hand, approach and land, all in safe fashion...

The last time I was here was spring and the runway was soft, requiring higher than normal taxi power, which in turn caused our props to take a slight beating with all the thrown up stones. A brake line was broken on landing also, resulting in an interesting taxi. Example: a normal 90 degree right turn now became a 270 degree left turn. The takeoff was also a little unnerving as the end of the runway started to approach much sooner than what was comfortable. But in the end, after a company Cessna 402 had flown a couple of mechanics out to fix the brake line, we got out of Patuanak alive, safely, on time and without worrying our passengers.

...Our tires hit the ground at 95 mph and spray gravel in all directions, a cloud of dust is climbing behind us and racing down the strip to catch up and cover our plane in a thin brown coat. Props flatten into Beta range and act like spoilers, creating drag, and pushing me forward into my shoulder harness. The brakes tighten up and slow the wheels down, turning the kinetic energy of the spinning tires into heat waves wafting up from the brakes. Within about 10 seconds and thankfully well less than 3000 feet, it's all over, the plane is turning around to back track RWY14 to the little gravel apron. Once again, the satisfaction of a safely flown plane is heard as the passengers all clap their hands in appreciation of their two pilots...Okay, I went a little far there. The clapping is all in my head and the passengers are wishing that we had never landed as now it is their turn to start working...