We
went to Louisiana
to visit my mom and daughter. It was an
awesome trip! We flew in my good
friend’s airplane. My wife tends to get
airsick and she did not. I had to bribe
her $100 to fly with me the first time.
After just a short time she said she wanted to return to the airport so
we did. She told me “you go ahead fly
some more have fun.” Later that day the
other dudes at the Kadena Aero Club said she was puking in the bushes as soon
as I taxied off. It was a few years
later that I was able to convince her to fly again. We took the kids to another island in the Ryukyu
island chain. She did well on the trip
to, but lots of food and a day at the beach took its toll and she was airsick
even though we tried Dramamine. Several
years later one of my students was singing the praises of the “relief band” say
that he was formerly queasy every flight but was rock solid now. This device applies electric shock your
medial nerve utilizing an acupuncture point.
We took off and made it about twenty miles before she was filling up a
Wal-Mart bag again. I wanted to ask her
if she was sure it was working but it was making her arm twitch so I could tell
she had it on high. In one of my few
moments of discretion I kept my mouth shut, since I imagine she wanted to dump
the bag on my head.
During
my cancer treatment I was able to experience severe nausea. This gave me empathy. I used to have sympathy but since I never
felt that way I could not really understand how much my wife loves me to get in
an airplane when she knows that she will feel sick. As a kid I used to fill up milk jugs with
water and hold them in my arms as I spun around until I was too dizzy to stand
up. This, of course, was before video
games. I think I broke that part of my
brain. One of my best aerobatic buddies
loves to loop and roll all day but is only good for about 30 turns of spinning
before he wants to puke. My wife used a
Scopolamine patch, Sea Bands, and Adivan to good effect. It will be wonderful if she can start
enjoying flying.
The
flight was very educational. I was able
to become familiar with the G1000 avionics suite. This particular avionics package has
synthetic vision with a flight path marker.
This is definitely space age technology.
The presentation of information is amazing. The primary flight display shows you the path
to follow as small boxes, you manipulate the controls to put the green dot in
the middle of the boxes and you are on course and glide path. The terrain is displayed along with weather
and traffic. It is simply amazing how
easy it makes instrument flight. The
integrated autopilot has robust capabilities that provide the pilot tools to
manage workload. With over fifty mode
dependent buttons and knobs it takes some time to learn how to manipulate the
avionics. With a little over thirteen
hours round trip flight time I was able to become comfortable with the
system. I look forward to more glass but
I still love putting around in a Cub.
The travel was fun but the real joy was seeing family.
My
mom loves me and I was showered with affection.
She fed us delicious home cooked meals.
We also visited my uncle who whooped up some vittles. My ethnic background includes Mexican,
Southern, Slavic, German, Welsh, Irish, Vampire and puppy so we likes to
eat. Food is love and we like it both
spicy and sweet. My lovely daughter has
been visiting the family in Louisiana
and you could see the positive effects on her entire persona. I was able to meet my mother’s fiancé and I
am very happy to see he is a God fearing gentleman. They seem very happy. I was only able to visit for a short time but
I got to see my dear cousins, childhood friend and some of my extended
family. It was beautiful but short. I look forward to talking my wife into flying
again. I have always wanted to share the
joy of flight punctuated with amazing destinations and marvelous people with my
best friend. Thank God for all my
blessings. Thank y’all for the prayers
and support.
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