Yooping

Some of you might not know that the great state of Michigan is actually broken up in to two sections. After having flown to many of the airports in lower Michigan as well as the Upper Peninsula (known to many as the U P pronounced "yoop") we decided that it was time to make a road trip! Our main goal was the Michigan shipwreck museum located in the far north at a place called Whitefish Point. For any of you that haven't listened to the song "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot, now would be a good time to do so. The Great Lakes, Lake Superior especially, are home to hundreds of shipwrecks. The most famous being the Edmund Fitzgerald. Whitefish Point is a mere 17 miles from where the freighter broke up and sank, killing all 29 crew members on board.

The museum itself had great information about the history of the lakes, the shipwrecks, the coast guard personnel who rescued sinking ships and all the history in between. We were able to tour the lighthouse on a day similar to one that would have been hated by the sailors of the great lakes. Windy and rainy for a September storm we were able to get a good idea of what the Lake could be like on a bad day.

Fortunately we weren't subject to bad weather the entire trip. We were able to see a lot more of Michigan in better weather, including many of the state's smaller lakes as well the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park. From some of these areas we were able to get a great view of the Great Lakes themselves. If I didn't know any better I would have thought it was an ocean. It is impressive how big the lakes really are.

The bell recovered from the wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald.

The Lighthouse at Whitefish Point seen from a distance.

A stormy day at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

Did you know Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state?

Tahquamenon Falls, rhymes with "phenomenon!" 

She rarely approves of my selfies.

Ocean or Lake Michigan?

Found on the shores near the great city of Petosky.

Another Petosky stone picture!

Making friends.

Torch Lake, not one of the great lakes.

We stay classy...

Lime Lake

Sunset.

Sunrise.

When Pilots Wish They Could Netherland

How to begin this story. We found ourselves with a handful of days off, what better to do than jaunt off to another country for a few days. No plans, no place to stay, just leaving on a wing and a prayer. A seven hour plane ride later and we were smack dab in the middle of Amsterdam. Having done almost no research and without a clue of where to go or what to do we began to wander the streets like a couple of explorers in search of bounty. In the short time we were there we did so many things and I was terrible about documenting them all. We saw the Anne Frank House, we went on the Heineken Brewery tour, we saw the Van Gogh museum, we had croissants, we met stray cats, we rode trains and trams, we saw windmills, we went to a town that smelled like chocolate all the time, we walked in the rain, we saw ladies dancing in windows, we tried crepes and doughnuts, we learned how a wooden clog is made, we ate fancy cheeses, but mostly we had an amazing time and we can't wait to go back.

One of the many Canals

A houseboat cat sanctuary!

A playground nestled between buildings

These tiny cars were everywhere!

One of the entire reasons we came here was to see the "I Am(sterdam) sign! We were so upset.

Bikes bikes bikes

Welcome to the Red Light District

A wide selection of wooden shoes

Who did it better?

Them or us?

Goats and Windmills

Rainy days

Country Canal

I met a cute girl on the train

There was a sign at the Airport all along!!

Five Years Down the Road...

The above picture was taken by me five years ago. Almost exactly five years ago I was spending around twelve hours a day driving a red and yellow cement truck all over North Dakota. If someone had told me five years ago, "Ronnie, in five years time you'll be at the controls of a jet aeroplane" I would have called them a kook! But Father Time makes fools of us all... and I have never claimed to be anything but foolish.

This picture was taken just the other day, also by me. Those same red and yellow cement trucks are still working away in North Dakota. This time they are building a new runway in Bismark, but instead of sitting in the cab of one of those trucks I am sitting in the front of an airplane. Five years ago I had never flown a plane, or wanted to fly planes for that matter. The events that lead from the cab of a cement truck to the cockpit of a jet are baffling to me. I hate to be a lazy writer but I am going to use the phrase, "and then one thing lead to another." I had some extra cash in my pocket and some free time to kill and then one thing lead to another and I was flying a jet.

I'm gonna go off on a bit of a tangent for a moment, but please stay with me. Time is a funny thing. To some people five years can seem like an eternity, to others it can be looked back on as though it were yesterday. I happened upon a very interesting idea the other day that I subscribe to, but didn't know how to put into words until the other day. In all good science fiction where time travel is happening, the time travelers are warned that they MUST NOT CHANGE THE PAST! Everything must be exactly so or the consequences could be dire, even the smallest actions could change the course of the future... so, I ask you, why can't our actions in our real lives have a huge impact on our future? Five years ago I had barely even considered flying as a career, but when opportunity came knocking I went for it. I guess what I am trying to say, if anyone feels like things are impossible or that they don't know what they are going to do with their lives, the smallest things can have a huge impact on the future...

Cheesy AK Goodness

A good travel companion is a rare find. Someone who compliments your sense of adventure as well as your taste in locale, while being open to new experiences is an unique individual. I count myself quite fortunate to have such a companion. One willing to leave the pleasant summer temps and go to Alaska, where it was fifty degrees and raining every day! So this post will have a number of pictures of that said human. So forgive me, I'm about to gush about this wonderful woman.

Brooke and I have been together for a little while now, but since we are both pilots spending consecutive days together has never been possible for us. So we decided to stress this relationship with 9 days straight, starting with a flight to Ketchikan, Alaska. My old home, salmon capital of the world, nestled into the Tongass National Forest, a place that rains almost every day of the year. We were lucky enough to spend our time with the King family and were essentially given free reign over the entirety of the island. We hiked, we ziplined, saw some lumberjacks and even did some touristy things. I tried my best to remember all my worst jokes, and they came one at a time much to Brooke's chagrin. We saw eagles, orcas, a bear, totem poles, waterfalls and lots and lots of green trees. While the trip was a huge success, it's always hard leaving Ketchikan, but such is life. 

Our next adventure was a bit more challenging. Brooke and I were lucky enough to work together for three days, continuing our streak of "longest time spent together." Fortunately for me, she is a graceful and knowledgable captain, so I can see why so many people enjoy flying as her copilot. We spent three days dodging thunderstorms and flying into sunsets, three of the best days of my aviation career. So, if any of you are as fortunate as me, to find a travel companion that you can work AND play with, I would highly recommend holding on to them.

A Moose take photo op

Just as rainy as I remember

XTRA Tuffs so we look like locals (also cuz the rain)

A rare ray of sunshine

Tour guide mode, engaged

150 feet above the ground, good thing pilots aren't scared of heights, right?

Last day and Brooke spotted a bear!

Gah! 

We work hard so we can play hard

What a Woman

Toto, I have the feeling we're not in Kansas anymore... (actually, we are)

What a few months it has been! Learning, studying, training, practicing all in the anticipation of flying a new airplane. It turns out that I am not half bad at flying and thanks to some great instructing, and a lot of help along the way, I am flying folks around at 36,000 feet. When I started this pilot journey a few years ago, flying a jet for an airline was the goal. A goal that seemed so far away it might as well have been invisible. But after 3 years of hard work I am here, and on one of my first trips I got to go to one of the most unique places I have ever been. Liberal, Kansas.

To help set the scene I've decided to relay this story as best I can word for word how it happened to us. We pick up the conversation right after we have landed and turned off the runway.

Captain: Alright, will you call up center and tell them we're on the ground?
Me: Sure thing (relay to center we are on the ground)
Captain: Cool, well... I've never been here, so we will just take it slow. Do you see a terminal anywhere?
Me: Ummmm... all these buildings off to our right look abandoned. ooooh! Theres a museum!
Captain: I don't think we are supposed to park at a museum, we'll just keep going.
Me: Alright, it says theres supposed to be a terminal up a little ways on the right, I guess it's between the older buildings.
Captain: Theres one person in an orange vest, I guess we are in the right place. I was starting to wonder for a minute there.
Me: Same here, let's park this thing and find out if we made it to the right airport.

So we shut down and this is one of the smallest terminals I have ever seen. Like, I can see through the door to the other side where people park. Just tiny. But our adventures only got stranger from there. We cross to the other side of the terminal where a white SUV is parked. The lady waves us over and says that she will take us to the hotel. She is a tanned heavy set woman with such a soft spoken voice it's hard to tell if she is talking to us or mumbling to herself, but it becomes apparent that she's asking us questions when she repeats herself, slightly louder... "yoos have a good flight?" I replied, "yeah, it was a little bumpy coming in, but not too bad." She just nods along for a while as we make our way towards the hotel. As we come to a stop at a light, the street sign hanging above us reads "Pancake Blvd." I turn to our driver, "Pancake boulevard? Why is it named that?" "For the pancake races!" The look on my face must have been one of utter confusion, because without any prompting she continued, "yoos never heard of pancake races? They are famous around here, people run while constantly flipping a pancake, if you drop it you lose." Before I can muster any kind of response to such an interesting sporting event Linda (I assume is her name from an old business card in the center console which reads Linda's Taxi) has found her tempo, she is telling us all about the town, how it is famous for the beef packing plant and the worlds largest hairball "bigger than a basketball! Found it in a cow's stomach" Next she starts pointing out the Dorothy statues. Yes, plural. There are multiple Dorothy statues from the Wizard of Oz. Apparently after filming they moved the house to Liberal and they built a museum out of it, with daily tours from Dorothy herself. By the time we arrive at the hotel, a short ride from the airport, it seems we have crossed the entire town and Linda has told us about every point between here and there.

Not one to miss out, I decided to walk to get my dinner. Most small town USA places have some kind of greasy spoon that everyone loves, a diner of some sort, so in my infinite wisdom I googled "hamburgers" to find a place for dinner. The first result, not too far down the street is literally named, "The Hamburger Place" with reviews that claim "best hamburgers in town!" Good enough for me, I start walking, when I get to the address the store front is that of a mexican restaurant. Thinking perhaps it's gone out of business or that perhaps it serves hamburgers as well as burritos I walk in. There was not one hamburger in sight, so I ask the man behind the counter, "I'm looking for the Hamburger Place?" He doesn't say a word, he just nods and jerks his thumb towards an open door through the back of the kitchen. "Through there?" I said. Again, nothing but a nod... so I walked behind the counter, through the kitchen and out the back door and low and behold, a small trailer is parked out back with a sign that read "The Hamburger Place." So five dollars and one double cheeseburger later I am sitting fat and happy. Whether or not it's the best hamburger in Liberal is still to be determined, but it was well worth the adventure to get there.

New Office Views

Just one of SEVEN Dorothy statues I saw

Best Hamburgers in town!

Coming back to SLC

Stats of 2017

Well we've wrapped on another year and the stats are in! I know this year had some turmoil, there were plenty of ups and downs. This year was the year of flight. It's essentially all I did in 2017 but boy was it fun. So! Here we go with the stats of 2017!

In 2017 I traveled...
9,440 miles between two cars and the motorcycle. Down from last year.
7,061 miles in my newly acquired Chili Bean (little red Geo)
1,232 miles with Olive Bike
1,147 miles in the BGT (Big Green Truck) before it was sold
Not one single mile in a bus this year! Hopefully this will change in 2018.

In 2017 I flew...
972 hours in three different kinds of aircraft.
169 hours all alone in the air.
Took a couple of helicopter rides with friends!
Had more hours of fun than is quantifiable.

In 2017 I lived...
In one place the entire year... surely a first for me in years and years.
In the air mostly.

In 2017 I...
Read 20 books, most of them new, but I look to increase this number in the coming year!
Pooped only 313 times! Also down from last year...
Got to see hundreds of thunderstorms from the air, some of them a little too close for comfort.
Got to go down to the Colorado River in a helicopter.
Made lots of new friends and never managed to take quite enough pictures...

So Happy New Year one and all! Let us all see what 2018 will bring. Now let's look back on some of my favorite pictures of 2017.

January 2017 over the Canyon 

Echo Cliffs near sunset

Waves of clouds washing over the Canyon

Taking old friends on adventures!

Making new friends while on adventures

Hands down my favorite picture in all of 2017

Hopefully 2018 means I will get to spend more time with this beautiful lady

Helicopter pilots aren't all bad

Saw a lot of sunsets this year

Made a trip down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

Sunsets over Lake Powell are especially nice

I even had the time to pick up my college degree from 6 years ago...

Overall this year totally kicked ass! (but I only petted this one)