Friday Night In The Big Town

Greetings all and welcome to another instalment of my wonderful travels. First a couple notes from past posts. I mentioned that I have been having some technical problems with my computer. Basically the screen in my laptop has taken a header and it looks like it will be down for the count. What I hadn't mentioned is that on the drive down from DC the fan in my car decided it didn't want to play, so I had no AC for the trip and shortly after getting here my iPod froze up severely. Fortunately, I am able to plug my laptop into the TV here to act as a screen and the car and iPod have fixed themselves, but now my e-mail account is currently off line. Hopefully, with the help of my folks this will be fixed soon; but right now I can't send or receive anything. I think a gremlin is after me.

I would also like to mention that as far as I know the bird that tried to occupy the same space as my windshield at the same time is still alive (though he probably had one heck of a headache and he is wanted by the Stephen Hawkings for trying to break one of the laws of physics).

So I promised myself I would not write anything really bad about Alabama for the first week and give it a chance to grow on me. Well it has been two weeks so here we go. I know Gary L. is probably going to call me dirty names since he is currently in Afghanistan (hi Gary, I hope things are well) and no matter how bad Alabama is it is not as bad as Afghanistan. But it's my blog and I'll do as I please. Also, as the saying goes, "A bitching sailor is a happy sailor".

Let's start with a small geography lesson. Dothan is about 2 hours south-southeast of Montgomery, Al, 1 1/2 hours north of Panama City, Fl, 3 1/2 hours southwest of Macon, Ga and 2 3/4 hours northeast of Pensacola, Fl. So this means that Dothan is, as far as America goes, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Now Ft Rucker is not actually in Dothan. It is located in Dalevile which is a small town 18 miles northwest of Dothan. So when I got here and checked into my room on Ft Rucker I was actually in a suburb of the middle of nowhere. Fortunately I have been able to move to to the Residents Inn in Dothan. It may not be much but it is the Big Town in the area.

This is not to say there isn't anything in this area. There just isn't much. Ft Rucker is the home of Army Aviation (like Pensacola if the cradle of Naval Aviation) and houses the Army Museum of Aviation. I have yet to make it there, but plan on doing it this weekend so you can look forward to that report soon.

Also, Dothan is the home of the National Peanut Festival (bet you didn't know we, as a nation, had a Peanut Festival). Not only do they have a festival, but they also have a pageant (I would like to congratulate Ms. Shannon Alicia Hatcher of Jackson County, this year's winner). Honestly the only issue I have with this is they preempted the last 10 minutes of the OU/Kansas game to broadcast the pageant; not a good way to endear yourself to me. Anyway you can expect reports on the parade and demolition derby in the future as well.

As for the reason I am here, the C-12 training continues along well. The program is designed for someone who is already qualified in a multi-engine fixed wing aircraft and since it has been 11 years since I last flew a fixed wing aircraft and it only had one engine, it has been interesting. Kind of like taking a drink from a fire hose. But I had my fifth simulator today, with a couple more next week and I should be flying in the actual plane on Wednesday. I will have the obligatory picture of me with the plane later.

Well that is all for the moment. I hope everything is good for all of you. As always I look forward to your comments and if you can't be good, or be good at it.

This Land Is Your Land; This Land Is My Land

Well better late then never right? I have arrived in Alabama and have started the C-12 training I have talked about in previous posts. The post below was written on 14 Oct, but due to Internet connectivity issues and computer problems I was unable to post it. So here it is in its entirety. I will make another post soon with more great and wonderful stories (or something like that).

Happy Columbus Day to one and all. Over the last week and a half or so I have traversed this great nation from west to east, north to south, back again twice. And as I sit in my room in lovely Fort Rucker, Al I am reminded of the great orator who said "From the rock bound coast of Maine to the smoggy shores of California; that is a long walk". That great orator was none other than Bugs Bunny, and while it looses something in text, he has a point. I have to admit I have a new respect for truckers. After spending three days driving from San Diego to Washington DC and then another full day just yesterday from DC to Ft Rucker, I am not sure I would want to do that for a living. But anyway, here are a couple stories from on my travels.

First, I've come to the conclusion that as you get further east and south the worse the drivers are. Perhaps it is the open terrain and reduced population in the west (I'm speaking of the open highway, not the city), but they seam to get it out there. Now what I am primarily speaking of is that slower traffic is supposed to stay to the right. The left lane is supposed to be used for passing and that's it, and as I drove through California, Arizona and New Mexico that's what I saw. But as I hit the center of the country there where more and more people just rolling in the left lane, until as I went through South Carolina I pretty much had to pass on the right. Anyway it's just frustrating.

So it's the morning of my second day and I have just gotten on the highway out of Roswell, NM (no I did not see any UFO's although that would be a great story). Now I want to set this story up with a bit of history. I have told this story to some of you before but for those who have not heard it, one time I was driving to school in college when I had a bird commit suicide on me. I was driving along, minding my own business when I happened to look at a bird sitting on a telephone wire. I guess at it was at that time that he decided he just couldn't take it any more, jumped off the wire and swooped directly into the path of my car. His path couldn't have been better (or worse depending on how you look at it) for his head became lodged between my front grill and the hood. So the bird succeeded in ending it's misery with a bit of help from my car. Now this story is kind of sad (the bird did die after all) but it was kind of funny in a shocking "I can't believe that just happened" kind of way.

So what do you think are the chances of having another bird strike with my car? Well what ever they are you would have won if you had made the bet. I'm just getting up to speed on the highway and there is a group of birds (not sure of the species but they were moderately big like crows) of to the side of the road. I guess my car passing spooked them for they all took to the air to avoid this strange beast racing past. Now this is a natural escape mechanism for a bird and normally works as long as he turns away from the incoming predator. This one, however, apparently wasn't the smartest bird in the flock and turned directly into me. He smacked into my windshield leaving an imprint mot unlike the one here (this one was taken from icanhascheezburger.com which if you have not checked out you absolutely must). Unfortunately, my camera was packed and I couldn't get to it to take a picture of my windshield. Anyway I spent the next several hours with "I can't believe that just happened again" feeling.

The other wondrous thing I observed I also unfortunately failed to capture on film. This was the great tumbleweed migration of 2008. I have just passed into Texas and I'm on a two lane US highway and I notice in the distance a redish orange color moving across the road. As I get closer I notice it is a bunch (and I mean hundreds) of 5-6 inch wide tumbleweeds being blown across the road. It felt like a National Geographic moment where the baby turtles are trekking down to the beach. I found it interesting at least.

Well that is all for the moment. As always please feel free to drop me an e-mail or leave a comment on this post. I really enjoy your feed back. I again apologize for failing to take pictures and video as appropriate. I will endeavor to do better next time. But until that time comes remember if you can't be good, be good at it.

The Pictures

Hey folks. Sorry about the slow output. But as promised here are some of the pictures from my time in Ohio. I will have another post soon. Let me know what you think of the pictures. So until we meet again, if you can't be good, be good at it.

Really? I mean, really? A bit ostentatious if you ask me.

Didn't Icarus crash and die? Not sure this is what you want in the entryway of an aviation museum?

Wright Brothers 1911 Flyer - The first military owned aircraft.

Sopwith Camel (Snoopy's Plane)

Flight school hasn't changed much over the years.

The "Boxcar"; the B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Boy" bomb on Nagaski.

F-22 Raptor

B-52 (big hangar eh?)

F-117 Nighthawk

SR-71 Blackhawk (I told you it was dark in the museum).

More of the Blackhawk.