Saturday, March 4, 2017

Outbound...

(Source)
Up at the crack of dawn Friday for a flight down to DCA. Why the crack of dawn? Well, that "custom" started a while back when The Nuke invited us down for Thanksgiving. She figured that if we left real early, why then we'd have nearly the entire day to hang out. So rather than spend what feels like the entire day traveling, we're on the ground at Reagan round about 0730 local with most of the day stretched out before us.

Once that custom was established, I have rigorously adhered to it in subsequent trips. While I was sorely tempted, when booking this trip, to slide that departure time back to eleven-ish, or so, I stuck with the 0600-ish departure. To get the whole day down there. So to speak.

Not to mention that when embarking on a trip to see the progeny, I don't sleep very well the night before, what with the excitement and all. Remember that while Your Humble Scribe is 63 calendrically speaking, deep down inside I'm still hovering around 12-years of age. Point being is that if I'm not going to get much sleep anyway, we might as well leave as early as possible and skip all that tossing and turning.

Is it painful?

Why yes, yes it is. By noon it feels like I've been awake for days already. As soon as the sun goes down I'm ready to hit the sack. In the winter that's kind of embarrassing...

"Wow, look how dark it is. Guess I should be getting to bed."

"Dad, it's five o'clock. No one is going to bed yet. Besides, don't you want to watch The Lawrence Welk Show first?"

Okay, that's something my maternal grandmother always did. Watch The Lawrence Welk Show then hit the sack early. The Nuke and The WSO have never forgotten their sleepovers at great-grandma's and love to compare me to her. Which, as time goes by, gets to be a more and more accurate comparison.

But I digress.

We're off to DC and its environs for to spend the weekend with family and friends who really are family except for the DNA bits. Which if you go back far enough, we probably share a bit o' DNA via Lucy. I reckon if you go back far enough, we're all related.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling a bit feisty, when folks ask me where my ancestors are from, I tell 'em, "Olduvai Gorge, certainly you've heard of it?" Those who get it will get a chuckle out of that statement. Those who don't probably couldn't find Tanzania on a map, so there's no point explaining myself.

Not that I ever do.

There will be an AAR to follow tonight's get together and to regale you with (whine about) the trip down to DC. I hope you enjoyed Juvat's offering on Friday and...

Oh damn, that's right! Juvat is on vacation next week and I'm on the hook for Monday's post. (Who signed that man's leave chit? I want to know. Oh, it was me? Never mind...)

Tower: Aircraft in holding pattern, say fuel state?
Aircraft: Fuel state
Tower: Say again?
Aircraft: Again....
After this the tower controller switches off his radio and climbs down the stairs to drink coffee the rest of the afternoon. (Source)

And that probably explains why I never got my pilot's license.

Have a nice weekend!




16 comments:

  1. Ha! -- that last bit makes for a good start to the day! :)

    Enjoy yourself. Judging by the pictures over on the koobecaf you're having an awesome time.

    As you quaff a few tonight, remember the immortal words of Chesty Puller, "I may get so drunk I have to crawl home, but by God I'll crawl like a Marine!"

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    Replies
    1. It's been great so far.

      I shall endeavor to keep Chesty in mind. 😊

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  2. Hahaha.. I didn't know your were kin to Lucy!!! That's too funny!! "You got a lot of 'splainin to do!" I looked for Tanzania.... is that close to Miami?? I found Hialeah....

    I liked that show off and on....

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  3. Enjoy your family time.

    I always like to travel early in the day for 2 reasons: 1) I'm a morning person, and 2) if there is going to be s storm/rain/nasty weather, it always seems to hit in the afternoon, by which time I hope to be where I was going.
    Just not a fan of turbulence, what can I say...

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  4. Thanks for the great post cuz. That tower bit sounds like something I'd do.

    Paul L. Quandt

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    Replies
    1. I liked it. I've been known to do such things.
      😉

      Delete
  5. Reminds me of the old Hope and Crosby bit:
    "C'est la vie"
    "La vie!"

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  6. By the by, the photo at the top of your post, we get those going over our house almost every day. The sound of Freedom.

    Paul

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  7. When I was in highschool in the 1990s, I made a couple tourist/instruction flights with a guy I knew, out of the local airport. "Tower" was his ex-wife. Tower never responded to any of his requests for info.

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  8. "63 calendrically speaking, deep down inside I'm still hovering around 12-years of age." Yep, same here. I may have mentioned that years ago one of my nieces said, "Uncle John you're acting weird," and I answered truthfully, "It's not an act."

    We live below one of the air roadways (flight path?, I don't really speak Air Force) leading to Willow Grove. And as the commenter said above, The Sound of Freedom. And so far my wife is the only one in our family to have see a B-2 in flight.

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    Replies
    1. Flight path works.

      The B-2 in flight is ominous looking. I have seen one in the air. It was awesome.

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