You Can't get There from Here

As Sun n Fun approached I just figured that I would not go. I havn't been since I retired. While I was working for the airline (my former suffering is fading from mind), I would simply jump on a flight to Tampa from Detroit, instead of coming home that week. I planned it every year with vacation days. Another nice option was "jump seat" on Southwest from BWI to Tampa and back. Sometimes it was down out of Detroit and back to BWI on Southwest. My "jump seat" days are over. I've discovered that in getting older, not having jump seat privileges is the least of my problems! I really don't want to go anywhere. Anyway, I am no stranger to Sun n Fun. I had been toying with the idea of going of course. My wife kept suggesting that I go. "You should go" she said. "You really ought to go"....."Just go!". She remembers the years when I worked three trips a month and was gone and she could relax with the animals in her house by herself. She always welcomed me back. But was ready in a day or two for me to go back out. So if wife wants me to go to Sun n Fun......well. There was another factor. My mentors Steve and Malcolm ( the Pep Boys) were driving down to Lakeland from Frederick! 1000 miles. While I was pulling up flight information on Thursday, and making listings of possible city pairs so that I could travel stand by, there came yet another factor. A storm ripped through the LAL airport. A Micro Burst with 85mph winds and a tornado swath 60 feet wide. 70 aircraft damaged or destroyed. The parking lots under water. The jiffy johns tossed over like lawn chairs. So I had finally decided to go and now I wasn't going? Late Thursday night it's back on. The weather for Friday, Saturday and Sunday is to be excellent. The Fly-in will re open on Friday. I pass ride to Memphis. But the flights to Orlando and Tampa are oversold. I sneak on the Jacksonville flight with just about the last seat. I rent a car and head for Orlando. I am 4 hours ahead of the Pep Boys on I95. My mission is to get us a cheap hotel with enough bed space for the three of us. I get settled into the room but I am too tired and excited to sleep. So I kill some time in touristy Orlando. I go to a "Gentleman's" bar. I spend my Airshow budget in the first 30 minutes. My beers are $10. Soon I head back to the hotel with my $120 T shirt smelling of stale tobacco and beer. The Pep boys arrive and we get 4 hours sleep. In the morning we pick up the Pep boys friend, the attractive, acclaimed, world traveled, lady doctor with the CFII and titles. honors, and degrees. I felt honored to ride in the same car with her from Orlando to Lakeland. She would breeze through the fly-in and be on her way back to her dynamic life. The weather was pristine for the show Saturday and Sunday. Twice we saw the Blue Angels. Twice we saw "Heavy Metal" the L-39 team. Twice we saw the amazing F-22 Raptor. And we saw the standards. All the Airshow circuit stars. And Sunday the Fly-in was not crowded. I got to talk to venders in the big buildings for the first time ever. It's usually too crowded. And it's usually too hot. I ate the famous obligatory Strawberry Shortcake. I bought cups of diet Coke at $3 a pop. I wanted to see everything and I wanted to buy everything. Instead of a T shirt (my friend Steve, Pep boy 1, has over 400 T- shirts- each with a real story) I bought a Gizmo. I want to panel mount my portable GPS and this thing is a dock for my little G196. A poor man's glass cockpit! Sunday night the big Carnival was all over. And my chances of pass riding on a Sunday night back to BWI were slim to none. I did what I figured I would have to do. I crawled into the Pep Boys' roller skate 35mpg car for the fourteen hour drive to Frederick. That was OK because these guys are my mentors and just like older brothers. I have known them since I was 13 years old. I never thought I could even do Lakeland again. Let alone a road trip like that. Back at Rosewind on Tuesday, I unpacked my satchel and threw the clothes in the wash. I picked up the nasty T shirt from the sleazy Cabaret and smelled it before I tossed it in the soapy machine. I smiled. Sun n Fun 2011 will be remembered as an eventful fly-in due to the big storm. I'm gonna remember it too. :::::+::::: Gen Av Informal PS............A special thanks to Ken and Donna for putting me up. Or should I say putting up with me. On Saturday night. Love you guys. See you next year? :::::+::::: GAI