Yawn

It was a long, hot, windy day, but a decent one.  I was up early getting the WASP T-6 out to Ft. Wayne, IN for my first official stop in the Air Power History Tour. It was a slow day there.  I had two rides, one at 2 pm, one at 3 pm.  By then the winds kicked up to about 20 knots, a direct crosswind for the ONE runway Ft. Wayne International has open. They have their main runway closed with no visible idea why. Nothing’s wrong with it that we can see.  What the poo??  Anyway.  So the rest of the time I cleaned the plane, and talked to all the people there. The desk people, the ramp people, the B-24 crew, all of them. I socialized, yes I did.  The B-29 didn’t make it yet because they had a cylinder problem.  They’re supposed to make it Saturday.  Then Jordan B. flew in with Matt in the P-51, Gunfighter at the end of the day.  I had Nick B., Glenn O, and Rick B there that I knew too, so that helped me be less awkward.  I had dinner tonight with Lumpy, like the main guy in Mustangs, head of several things.  He and his wife, me and Jordan and Matt went off on our own for dinner instead of Applebees with the rest of them.  I think I was accidentally at the cool kid table.

I did get sunburnt today.  I even put stuff on.  But it was hot.  I also only have one CAF shirt and since I’m not busy on rides, I needed to wear it and not my WTC shirts.  Except I already sweated in it and I have three more days here.  Oops.

My first rider was an older lady who was just super excited. I let her fly it a little, and did the usual rides, and she had a blast.  Second was a 15 year old kid. He also had fun.  I talked to quite a few people. One Vietnam Vet who had a shadowbox with him of his dad in uniform during WWII, his pilot wings, and a picture of the WASP T-6. His dad didn’t necessarily fly THIS one, but he flew as an IP for the military in T-6s for many years, and that meant a lot to this man.  He sat in the plane, took photos, and talked forever. A photographer stopped by with a manual and black and white camera, and he took several photos as well, including two of me in front of the plane.  He was there all day and there were only two planes there. But he was enamored. When he went to leave I’d just heard that Jordan was coming in, and I told him, and he waited around for another hour in his car just to take photos of the Mustang, too.

Twice in a row I was on final in the T-6 on a gusty day when Jordan tried to call me, and it rang through to my bluetooth headset in the plane.  Talking to Ft. Wayne, coming down final, my phone goes off.  I hit “decline” on my watch, and landed, got the next rider, and it happened again, on final. Finally Jordan texts me and says “You mad at me these days? lol”. I told him to quit calling me when I’m trying to land.  :D

I burnt my nose and parts of my arms and I now have a farmer tan on my legs too. Like I said, it was hot, it was windy, and it was sunny, but it wasn’t a bad day all in all.  Tomorrow begins again.

OH.  And I remembered to send an email with the weight and balance for my two rides both times!  I get some big brownie points for that.

Oh, and two people in a row said I didn’t look nearly old enough to have flown for as long as I have.  So they get brownie points.

Oh, and my former examiner, Marquez, showed up at the plane before one of my rides, but he didn’t stick around afterwards so I could talk to him.  That was weird, though! He didn’t say who he was and I didn’t recognize him at first, and then I did but it was too late to be graceful, because I’m bad at that anyway.  lol

So far three different pilots have tried to tell me how they like things done when they do the T-6. I got tired of that after the 2nd. I don’t mind tips on the Tour stuff, but I can handle my own T-6 stuff, thank you.  They also say in a judgy voice “But you can do it however you want”.  Yes, I get your opinion of what you’ll think if I don’t do it your way, thank you.

I’m beat, it’s been a ragged several days in a row here.  So I’m going to go read in bed, take my melatonin, and hit the hay, ready for a reasonable but still early tomorrow. Pics will have to come later, I can’t get the hotel wifi to work.