I’m Flying!

The title of this post reminds me of Bill Murray’s character in What About Bob, when he is tied to the mast of a sailboat, yet yells, “I’m sailing!”

One of my goals was to fly an airplane – not take off or land, mind you - just fly.  I’m kind of cheap, so it wasn’t likely that I was actually going to give money to someone with a plane to take me up just so I could take over the controls, so this goal seemed a bit unreachable.  I was fortunate, however, to be principal of a middle school when we were selected to be a NASA Explorer School.  This was a huge honor and proved to be a great partnership between our school and NASA. 

One summer, our faculty went to a NASA facility to attend a science summer camp for teachers.  While there, we were able to tour through most of their aircraft, including the one that travels through storms to gather data and the one that shuttles the Space Shuttle between California and Florida (I sat in the cockpit of both).  We were also able to have our photo taken in the cockpit of a jet – quite a trip.  We were also taken to the flight simulators and allowed to fly all kinds of aircraft – even taking off and landing.  I was somehow able to land a jet in a vertical position on it’s tail – not easy, practical, necessary, repeatable (according to the flight instructors), or anything but humiliating.  Anyway, the next day we were driven to a local airport and were taken up in a smaller prop plane and given the controls so that we could experience and understand flight.  We had a flight instructor in the seat right next to us (who took care of take off and landing duties), but were in control for most of the actual flight.  The instructor gave us directions and kept us on our toes.  It was one of the most fun, yet slightly terrifying, experiences in which I have been engaged.

It was the best of all worlds… I was able to fly an airplane, meet a life goal, engage in an enjoyable experience, do something memorable, and not pay a cent to do so.  It just doesn’t get any better than that.

World Traveler

I’m trying not to begin with “as mentioned previously,” since that is how I’ve started the last two posts – and yet…  At any rate, I’m continuing to describe my life goals, or the “bucket list,” I developed when I turned 30.

I wanted to be a traveler, but not the kind that comes to your home and rips you off with unnecessary or unfinished repairs – I wanted to see the world.  My goal, however, was not necessarily to see the pretty parts of the world, but to gain understanding of how the rest of the world lives – the real world, and not just the capital cities.  So I set a goal to visit Africa, the Middle East, South America, and China.  I threw in Europe because America is so Eurocentric that I thought it wouldn’t hurt to see how life was lived there as well.  I have enjoyed traveling and have been fortunate to travel to Cape Verde (Africa – a series of islands, but technically Africa), Israel and Jordan (Middle East), Costa Rica (almost South America, but not really), Portugal, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.  I’ve also been able to travel to Mexico and Canada several times.  I hope to next visit China (maybe this winter), then maybe Peru.

Of all these, I may have enjoyed Cape Verde the most.  Briefly, I went with a group from our church to live and work alongside the people while constructing a church building on one of the smaller islands.  It looked kind of like Gilligan’s Island, but without as many trees.  At the time I was there (1991), they were suffering from their twenty-third year of drought.  Most of these volcanic islands had been denuded and the government was in the process of trying to revive plant life.  The people there were wonderful, friendly, beautiful, and hard working.  They are a mixture of Portuguese and African and speak a creole language.  They knew a little English – mostly, “I love you America!  Give me monies.”  They were also very poor.  Back then, if they could find work, they would earn the equivalent of about five dollars a day.  The cost of living was high, so most people lived in cinderblock homes without running water or electricity.  They depended on the well in the nearest town and on Kerosene lamps.  It really almost seemed like biblical days.  They did wear western style clothing, and I’m assuming the clothing was sent from America, because one day I saw a young man wearing a shirt that said, “Baby on Board” with an arrow pointing at his stomache.  He was very proud of the shirt and seemed to believe it proclaimed his prowess as a fertility expert, so I smiled and nodded dumbly since I didn’t really want to be an ugly American by speaking loudly and slowly and trying to burst his bubble.  I say most people lived this way, because the only people who enjoyed electricity and running water were the ones who worked for the government.  Each town had a generator that ensured the government offices had electricity.  The streets of each town were also paved with cobblestone – which was a joy when you are riding in a taxi (seven passenger minivan) with the seats taken out and 2×6 wood planks inserted to increase the amount of seating available.  I have many stories and fond memories of Cape Verde, and encourage you to visit.  If you go, be sure to travel to Tarrafal, on the island of Santiago.  I’ve included some photos below (not mine, I took them from a travel site – traveljournals.net):