In my experience, airports fall into two categories. There are those that are all business, a sterile environment where pilots and passengers pass through for a time, leaving none of themselves or their experiences behind. These are efficient patches of asphalt that are necessary in modern times, and it is not the function or responsibility […]
Looking for Clint Eastwood
Folks haven’t seen us around the airport much for the past few weeks. An early and long spring has put the Old Man into a planting and building fervor. You name the vegetable and it’s probably planted in our garden. It’s really nice to have fresh produce, but many of the vegetables he planted in […]
Visiting family
It’s no exaggeration — Atlanta traffic is bad. Even though we live 60 miles north of the city, my family lives three hours south. There’s no way around it. If I want to visit them, I must travel through a sprawling congested mess. The interstate straight through the city is often snarled and the loop […]
These are the days
It’s that time of year when I get to whine. Weather wise, December through March is typically dreary, often with gray skies and cold temperatures. We even have a snow shower or two here in north Georgia that gets the news media all in a tizzy. However, this year has been exceptionally warm, although we’ve […]
A story that should have been told years ago
David Joseph Rushlow was an extraordinarily kind man. I never saw him without a smile on his face, and I never heard him say an unkind word to or about anyone. He often flew around with candy and a bag of toys for the airport kids in his Stinson 108, his Citabria, or the Stinson […]
Lesson learned
“Albert” was 25 and cocky back in 1975 when he got his license. Well, perhaps he was a tad nervous on his check ride, but thankfully he did well and would never have to do that again. Albert thought life was good. He and his Cessna 140 were temporary based at a sleepy, little airport […]
Perspectives
It has been a beautiful fall; one of the best for color in recent memory. We haven’t been able to appreciate it from the air as often as we would like, but those days devoted to finding the best corn mazes or that perfect red have been spectacular and truly appreciated. It seems that all […]
Blakesburg: A field of family
A couple of months ago I was in a particularly optimistic mood and booked us a couple of days at the world’s biggest fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Almost immediately, I realized that trip wasn’t going to work. Even if we drove and weather was no issue, Keely had band camp one week, there was a […]
When life hands you lemons…
When life hands you lemons, the most popular response is to make lemonade. This month, my glass runneth over. So do my refrigerator, kitchen counter, and oven. I have made the proverbial lemonade, along with sweet tea with lemon, unsweetened tea with lemon, lemon icebox pie, lemon bars, lemon-pepper chicken, and lemon curd. As it […]