Saturday morning arrived a bit too early for me, even though I went to sleep at 10:15 the night before, which is practically still the afternoon as far as I'm concerned. ;) And that was also after I'd slept for several hours during the day, too. When I got up, I felt my status carefully, and other than a few stomach issues, I thought I was doing pretty well. I still felt a little weak, but nothing serious. So we were off like a herd of turtles for the airport.
We decided to try another way to the airport, since yesterday it took us forever to get through the traffic. Let's just say that Way #1 was better than Way #2. It took us just as long driving, but the parking was much, much worse. We ended up with the truck in a field a VERY long way from the airport. We had to walk for almost 45 minutes, no lie. It took us so long that by the time we got to the airport, they were serving LUNCH at McDonalds on the field. Chuck went racing up there, and he and Nathan got the last two sausage egg and cheese biscuits. I ordered a hash brown and so did Kaylee, but they only had one left. We spent hours in lines driving here and walking up. Ugh.
Mostly how we spend a lot of these days is sitting in chairs under the Mustang wings, answering questions of people that stop by. A lot of times the "legends" themselves would stop by and talk about missions they flew, including Art Fiedler, a man who actually flew THAT airplane and got a kill in it during the war. (Well, the plane this one was painted to represent, not this literal plane). The Tuskegee Airmen were here. An older gentleman stopped by who talked about how the Mustangs repeatedly saved his hind end over in Korea. We had old and new friends stop by, and lot of people who just wanted to learn more about Mustangs and were happy to find a couple of people sitting there by the plane to answer questions. It's really an interesting way to spend a day. You meet some amazing folks, hear some incredible stories, and see the lights on some of these gentlemen's faces as they see all these beautiful airplanes in one place at one time.
I wandered around some today, since I felt better, and was just amazed at the size of the ramp (over 2 miles long), everything they had on it, and the sheer number of people in attendance. It was quite impressive. They also had a Mustang set up where they'd put people in it and take their photo for like $15 a shot. There was always a line.
We hit the "Legends" tent for lunch, and I watched the "Horsemen" routine from there (Two
Mustangs in formation aerobatic flight-a very impressive routine). The rest of the day was spent wandering around and/or walking around the Mustang talking to people. Some Glenndale folks stopped by, Duane and crew stopped by, lots of folks. :) Chuck and Steve most frequently were asked "Are you the pilot?" but I did get asked it a few times too. Oh, and several people got autographs from all the pilots they could find, so I snapped a shot of Nathan signing somebody's program. I didn't take many air show shots this time, as I think I covered that at Mt. Comfort and Sheridan. :)
One little bugger was a pre-teen grandson of a man who flew with Art Fiedler in the war. This kid banged his chin around on the plane, banged his hips against the elevator, all sorts of inappropriate stuff that he should have known better than to do. My final straw was when he grabbed the nav light on the wing and squeezed and turned it, trying to yank it off or make it turn. I was sitting right under it. I looked up at him, smiled and shook my head "No", and he smiled and left and went to the other side of the plane where he proceeded to do the chin banging thing. I doubt his grandfather would have been too pleased if we'd have told him what this young man was doing. Another guy asked me if he could get up in the Mustang and get a photo, and I said (nicely), no. He then waited about five minutes, then came back and went up to Nathan and asked him if he could climb up in the Mustang and get a photo. Nathan's "no" wasn't as gentle as mine. lol
Sometime around 7 pm, the police came rolling through pushing all the remaining folks out towards the gate. Sirens and lights going, bullhorn saying "The Airshow Has Ended. Please Exit to the Nearest Gate." We of course ignored them. We ended up going back to the hotel for dinner, and then it was time to hang it up. Tomorrow is our last day here already! I guess we're leaving early to go out to the airport to try to avoid some of this traffic mess, so I'll head off here and try to get to sleep early...
We decided to try another way to the airport, since yesterday it took us forever to get through the traffic. Let's just say that Way #1 was better than Way #2. It took us just as long driving, but the parking was much, much worse. We ended up with the truck in a field a VERY long way from the airport. We had to walk for almost 45 minutes, no lie. It took us so long that by the time we got to the airport, they were serving LUNCH at McDonalds on the field. Chuck went racing up there, and he and Nathan got the last two sausage egg and cheese biscuits. I ordered a hash brown and so did Kaylee, but they only had one left. We spent hours in lines driving here and walking up. Ugh.
Mostly how we spend a lot of these days is sitting in chairs under the Mustang wings, answering questions of people that stop by. A lot of times the "legends" themselves would stop by and talk about missions they flew, including Art Fiedler, a man who actually flew THAT airplane and got a kill in it during the war. (Well, the plane this one was painted to represent, not this literal plane). The Tuskegee Airmen were here. An older gentleman stopped by who talked about how the Mustangs repeatedly saved his hind end over in Korea. We had old and new friends stop by, and lot of people who just wanted to learn more about Mustangs and were happy to find a couple of people sitting there by the plane to answer questions. It's really an interesting way to spend a day. You meet some amazing folks, hear some incredible stories, and see the lights on some of these gentlemen's faces as they see all these beautiful airplanes in one place at one time.
I wandered around some today, since I felt better, and was just amazed at the size of the ramp (over 2 miles long), everything they had on it, and the sheer number of people in attendance. It was quite impressive. They also had a Mustang set up where they'd put people in it and take their photo for like $15 a shot. There was always a line.
We hit the "Legends" tent for lunch, and I watched the "Horsemen" routine from there (Two
Mustangs in formation aerobatic flight-a very impressive routine). The rest of the day was spent wandering around and/or walking around the Mustang talking to people. Some Glenndale folks stopped by, Duane and crew stopped by, lots of folks. :) Chuck and Steve most frequently were asked "Are you the pilot?" but I did get asked it a few times too. Oh, and several people got autographs from all the pilots they could find, so I snapped a shot of Nathan signing somebody's program. I didn't take many air show shots this time, as I think I covered that at Mt. Comfort and Sheridan. :)One little bugger was a pre-teen grandson of a man who flew with Art Fiedler in the war. This kid banged his chin around on the plane, banged his hips against the elevator, all sorts of inappropriate stuff that he should have known better than to do. My final straw was when he grabbed the nav light on the wing and squeezed and turned it, trying to yank it off or make it turn. I was sitting right under it. I looked up at him, smiled and shook my head "No", and he smiled and left and went to the other side of the plane where he proceeded to do the chin banging thing. I doubt his grandfather would have been too pleased if we'd have told him what this young man was doing. Another guy asked me if he could get up in the Mustang and get a photo, and I said (nicely), no. He then waited about five minutes, then came back and went up to Nathan and asked him if he could climb up in the Mustang and get a photo. Nathan's "no" wasn't as gentle as mine. lol
Sometime around 7 pm, the police came rolling through pushing all the remaining folks out towards the gate. Sirens and lights going, bullhorn saying "The Airshow Has Ended. Please Exit to the Nearest Gate." We of course ignored them. We ended up going back to the hotel for dinner, and then it was time to hang it up. Tomorrow is our last day here already! I guess we're leaving early to go out to the airport to try to avoid some of this traffic mess, so I'll head off here and try to get to sleep early...
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