Fun-Filled Two Days

When Wednesday starts to roll around and I haven't been called for work yet, I start to feel a little more comfortable with the fact that I might actually have some time at home! I called around to make some appointments for my car (oil change, tires rotated, new shocks, etc.), then received a call from Terry just a few minutes later to let me know we were leaving that evening! Shocks must wait!

We left with Joe and three passengers to Colorado Springs on Wednesday evening around 6:30 PM. After a few hours in KCOS, we used most of the long runway to take off towards Blaine, Minnesota, which is in northern Minneapolis. We landed around 1:30 AM, and it's always fun trying to find your way around an unfamiliar airport at night! I got the passengers' bags loaded in the rental car and sent them on their way to the hotel. The line guy gave us a ride and we beat everyone else there! By the time I brushed my teeth (I even did it that late...can you believe it?) and crawled into bed, it was 2:15 AM. Slightly past my bed time!

Thursday morning started early. Less than 5 hours after I got into my room, I was up and at 'em again for our next flight. The day was to be filled with shorter hops but not much time in between. Even though I am not a napper, I was hoping for at least an hour to sneak one in (never happened). We flew to Oshkosh from Blaine. It looks so different without a a millionty airplanes parked on the field. Then we flew over downtown Milwaukee on our 20-minute flight south to the brewing capital of the world (or at least Wisconsin). During our short stay on the ground in Milwaukee, we made a mad dash to El Fuego Mexican Restaurant just down the street...marveling that we had eaten there just the week before. Sometimes I don't know where time goes! After Milwaukee, we flew to Chicago and got a great view of the foggy city before landing at Midway Airport. We stayed for a few hours, which I mostly spent arranging cars, hotels, and cars at our upcoming destinations. I did get to watch Michael Jordan's Gulfstream taxi in. Late afternoon, we flew to Syracuse in beautiful New York. The view of the Finger Lakes was breath-taking thanks to the wonderful sunset behind us. After an hour at Syracuse, we finally headed to rest towards Hanscom Field in Bedford. Like the Teterboro of New York City, Bedford Airport acts as a reliever airport for heavy Boston traffic for us corporate folk. We landed at 9:45 PM and went to the Holiday Inn Express for a night of much-needed sleep.

Friday morning didn't start as early since the passengers had several meetings arranged in the Boston area. Luckily for me, it gave us the chance to enjoy my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory, at the Burlington mall just a few miles from the airport. I tried something new and loved it...the Orange Chicken. Yowsers, it was good! I think everything tastes better in that magical building! We waited for a few hours at Jet Aviation until our passengers arrived. I spent that time arranging maintenance over the weekend at our home base in Phoenix. I get to babysit all work done before we leave early Monday morning for another week of flying, this time with Ron. We stopped in Kansas City to get some fuel on our long flight home. We radioed ahead and convinced them to order some pizzas for the passengers, and I accidentally ordered us one as well! One time, I made the mistake of thinking they would leave us a few slices. Who likes pizza crumbs! So I smarted up and now order a crew pizza, too!

It was a packed two days. Ten cities. I am drinking orange juice like no tomorrow to try to avoid getting sick from so little sleep!

Phoenix - Colorado Springs - Blaine - Oshkosh - Milwaukee - Chicago - Syracuse - Bedford/Boston - Kansas City Downtown - Phoenix

It's Official

I'm not sure if this is something I should admit to the public, but I have officially become obsessed with The Sound of Music. And I don't even feel badly about it!

We watched it lots of times when I was growing up, casually using our high-quality fast-forward button on the VCR to avoid all the long and boring songs scattered occasionally throughout the movie. It was a treat to watch. Being the imaginative kids that we were, we often played that we were the Von Trapp family running away from the bad guys of Nazi Germany! I'm sure all kids did that growing up. Am I right? Guys?

A few weeks ago, I was able to download the soundtrack on iTunes thanks to some gift cards from a friend. And I have listened to nothing else since! In my mind, I can see exactly what happens in the movie by listening to the song. The desire to watch the movie was just too much to fight. But it IS hard to schedule three hours to watch something so long! About a week ago, I finally got the chance.

I thought watching it would quench my hunger for it. However, by the very next day I was trying to figure a time to watch it again...and soon. I remember thinking as a kid that Captain Von Trapp wasn't particularly handsome. Let's just say that viewpoint has changed significantly. I love how the onscreen romance blossoms over three hours. I love how the family goes from broken to insanely happy because of a little singing in the country while wearing drapes. I love how everything works out in the end, even though they had to climb (every) mountain in some shorts and awesome hats. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, just as a movie should!

They certainly don't make them like that any more!

Is It Tough In Here?

I am finally home, after a long, busy week. There is no doubt that this was the busiest week I have ever experienced at this job. It was fun, but it was exhausting!

On Thursday morning, we departed Hartford, Connecticut for Millville, New Jersey. They were having motorcycle races there (yawn), so the airport ramp was packed with airplanes of racing fans. I am glad I never got into that! Millville was the first defensive airfield built during World War II, and some of the original buildings still stand! They had a free museum honoring WWII soldiers. I love looking at old stuff like that. They even had an early Sperry Trainer, which was used to train pilots in the good ol' days to fly using the airplane instruments. While waiting for Joe to return from their trip in town, we ate at Dotty's on the airport. I had a delicious chicken salad sandwich, one of my favorites. When they got back to the airplane, we took off to Baltimore so Joe could attend some meetings near Washington D.C.. I love this place but have never had time to really give it the attention it deserves! Someday, I will get to visit the Smithsonian and the Air and Space Museum! After a few hours in Baltimore, we took off towards Teterboro, New Jersey. I love this place! And the weather was an improvement from two weeks ago when we got stuck for three hours! Joe decided he wanted to go to Florida, leaving at 9:30 PM. Everything was closed and made it impossible to get a rental car! Luckily, as he was stepping onto the airplane, he changed his mind to fly to Nashville instead. I have killer toe muscles now because I am always on them with Joe. He never knows for sure where or when he wants to fly. We just have to be ready and flexible for changes, because they happen several times a day. We arrived at Signature Flight Support in Nashville at 11:00 PM.

Friday was an odd day. We were at the airport by 9:30 AM in case he showed up to leave that morning. After three hours of waiting, he arrived at the airport and requested a peek at his road atlas to decide where to fly next. They needed to get to Meeker, Oklahoma, but the closest airport was 15 miles away in Shawnee. Joe and Darrell were only going to be gone a short while and were on a time limit of when they wanted to arrive in Phoenix. The fuel truck ran out of fuel while filling us up! So I got to wait another half hour while they put more fuel in the truck so they could finish fueling us. We took off at 5:00 PM local time for a two-hour flight back to Clifton Airport in southern Arizona. The airport is tiny and doesn't have any instrument approaches...all visual. It took me back a few years! After dodging some thunderstorms from Clifton to Phoenix, we finally landed around 6:00 PM (a record to land that early with Joe).

In addition to flying nineteen cities, I didn't sleep well all week. By the time I got home, I was dead! It was a Killer Week!

Phoenix - Clifton - Denver Centennial - Provo - Ogden - Renton - Greybull - Oshkosh - Milwaukee - St. Louis - Cincinnati - Hartford - Millville - Baltimore - Teterboro - Nashville - Shawnee - Clifton - Phoenix