TRAVELS WITH COCO PART II--SAN DIEGO OR BUST
This week's Question and answer about rainbows Rainbows
Please notice the link at the top of the page
which goes to this week's question in "Ask Cap'n
Meryl" at www.fromthecockpit.com. We'll be
posting a new question and answer to this page
each Tuesday morning. If you have an aviation
question of your own, please submit it to me at
support@fromthecockpit.com along with your first
and last name and city/state.
The radio interview scheduled for July 24th did
take place, but with Al The Web Guy, also known
as Cap'n Al, instead of me, Cap'n Meryl. Why?
Because I am recovering from laryngitis and felt
that an hour of squeaking, croaking, coughing and
throat clearing might not be all that attractive
to the audience and host.
Cap'n Al is no novice on the radio and has done
an interview or two with me previously. The
link to listen to it is not yet available but
I'll let you know when it is. The show's host
said he was excellent and that comes as no
surprise.
Now, where were we in terms of getting to San
Diego? Oh, yes, still on Day One of our road
trip to San Diego and overnighting in Cortez,
Colorado. After we left Cortez, we altered our
planned route just slightly in order to drive as
closely to Ship Rock as possible. Ship Rock is
not only the name of a town on the Navajo Indian
Reservation, but also the name of a huge rock
said to resemble a 19th century clipper ship. It
rises almost 1800 feet from the floor of the New
Mexico desert, and many pilots, including yours
truly, think it's impressive enough from the air
to point out to our passengers when we fly over.
Although I saw it years ago from the ground, I
wanted to pass near it again for a look. It was
worth the half hour or so reroute we took.
You'll find a photo of Ship Rock in our San Diego
Road Trip album, which you can get to here:
Road Trip
Ship Rock and another large rock formation just
outside Cortez are on Page 2 of the Album.
Another detour of about half an hour or so took
us to the Four Corners Monument where Utah, New
Mexico, Arizona and Colorado all meet. Al The
Web Guy and I have both been there before, but we
decided it was part of Coco The Pomeranian's
education to see it as well. These photos are
also on Page 2 of the San Diego Road Trip album.
There are several Indian booths selling Indian
merchandise and Indian fry bread at Four Corners.
We sampled the Indian fry bread with powdered
sugar, which went very nicely with my blue pants.
The white sugar on my pants reminded me of the
beignets you used to be able to get near the
United gates at the airport in New Orleans. A
beignet is a delicious, deep fried pastry dipped
in powdered sugar, and I use to stifle my smile
as I walked around our terminal, observing very
dignified businessmen wearing black or blue
suits, oblivious to the fact that there were
smudges of powdered sugar all over them. After I
finished laughing silently at the sight, it would
occur to me to look down, only to find similar
smudges of white on my own dark blue uniform.
All in the line of duty, of course.
But I digress (who, me?). After Four Corners it
was our intent to swing by the Grand Canyon for a
quick peek, if there is such a thing as a quick
peek at the Grand Canyon. Al The Web Guy had been
there years before, and I used to fly tours
through the Grand Canyon in a Navajo (light twin
engine aircraft) and later in a Metroliner, which
is an 18 seat, rather long turboprop and not the
first airplane which springs to mind to fly tours
below the rim. Flying below the rim is no longer
legal, by the way, but it still was in the late
seventies when I was doing the tours.
As a matter of fact, John Southmayd of Microsoft
and I flew through the Grand Canyon at the IFC
(International FlighSim Convention) in an F-4
Phantom simulator just a few weeks ago. That is,
John flew while I enjoyed the familiar scenery.
You'll find a photo of John and the F-4 simulator
in the Microsoft FlightSim Team album of our
Photo Gallery.
I said all that to say that we wound up not
stopping. It was actually a little farther out
of our way than we had thought, we were already
running a little late, and it was raining heavily
as we neared the turnoff, so we voted on whether
or not to stop. Al and I both opted to bypass it
and Coco yawned, so we just kept going all the
way to Prescott, Arizona, where we spent the
night.
There are photos all along our route in the San
Diego Road Trip album, in sequence as our trip
progressed. Be sure to check out the giant
cactus and the "Froggie in the Desert." He's on
Page 4 of this album. Apparently there is an
artist who enjoys making rocks look like animals.
The Froggie was the best of them.
The third day found us crossing over the Colorado
River and into California at Blythe where we
started our trek across the desert. It was
probably around 115 to 120 degrees and you'll see
in some of our photos this was pure desert, the
kind where nothing at all grows. A pair of
buzzards circled overhead the whole time we were
in eastern California. I imagined their
conversation went something like this:
The first one says, "Hey look, Harold, down
there, a couple of live ones. Can you believe
they're driving through the desert in the dead
(pardon the expression) of summer?"
The other responds, "Gee, Stanley, do you think
they might break down or something? My stomach's
growling. That road kill was hours ago."
"One can only hope, Harold, one can only hope.
Say, what's that white fluffy thing in the back
seat?"
Unfortunately for Harold and Stanley, who eyed us
wistfully our entire time in the desert, Al The
Web Guy, Coco the Pomeranian and I didn't break
down and die and eventually started our uphill
climb into the mountains of eastern California,
now on the home stretch to San Diego. We took
Interstate 8 all the way to its end just shy of
the Pacific Ocean and headed home to my parents'
house in Pt. Loma from there.
But first we stopped at an Indian restaurant.
Okay, we just drove for three days and we're
minutes away from our destination. Why, you ask,
would we stop at an Indian restaurant, of all
places?
If you'll just be patient, I'll tell you. Part
of the purpose of this trip was to help my Dad
celebrate his 89th birthday, and our gift to both
my parents was for Cap'n Al to do all the
cooking, while I would offer support in terms of
setting the table and cleaning up afterward,
normally a job my Dad does. We wanted to give
them a mini-vacation from ordinary chores and
both of them had expressed a desire for some home
cooking. My Mom is a terrific cook but these
days it's a treat for her when someone else does
the cooking.
We had the menu planned before we ever left
Colorado, brought some of the ingredients with us
and bought the rest there. The first night our
meal had an Indian flavor and we thought some
naan would be perfect with it, which it was.
For those of you interested in food (I am very
interested in food, especially if I'm not the one
preparing it), you can find some of the recipes
Cap'n Al used in our Recipes section. Oh, you
didn't know we have a Recipes section? Well, we
do, although the content is limited at the
moment. Feel free to send us your own favorites
for posting. Recipes
The first night we had Coconut Chicken with naan,
the second night meat loaf, the third night Prime
Rib, the fourth night (my Dad's birthday)
barbeque ribs and the fifth and last night we had
Chicken Kiev. There were lots of mashed
potatoes, salad, corn on the cob, homemade
chocolate birthday cake (my Mom and Cap'n Al made
it together), ice cream and just gazillions of
calories floating around. I think I may have
gained ten or seventy pounds. Maybe more.
San Diego, like so much of the country, was
having very hot weather and we ate dinner outside
every evening, which was very pleasant.
Well, you know what? This Update is getting
overly lengthy, so I will end it right here and
pick it up again next week for another
installment.
And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap'n Meryl
www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm(keynote speaker)
Please notice the link at the top of the page
which goes to this week's question in "Ask Cap'n
Meryl" at www.fromthecockpit.com. We'll be
posting a new question and answer to this page
each Tuesday morning. If you have an aviation
question of your own, please submit it to me at
support@fromthecockpit.com along with your first
and last name and city/state.
The radio interview scheduled for July 24th did
take place, but with Al The Web Guy, also known
as Cap'n Al, instead of me, Cap'n Meryl. Why?
Because I am recovering from laryngitis and felt
that an hour of squeaking, croaking, coughing and
throat clearing might not be all that attractive
to the audience and host.
Cap'n Al is no novice on the radio and has done
an interview or two with me previously. The
link to listen to it is not yet available but
I'll let you know when it is. The show's host
said he was excellent and that comes as no
surprise.
Now, where were we in terms of getting to San
Diego? Oh, yes, still on Day One of our road
trip to San Diego and overnighting in Cortez,
Colorado. After we left Cortez, we altered our
planned route just slightly in order to drive as
closely to Ship Rock as possible. Ship Rock is
not only the name of a town on the Navajo Indian
Reservation, but also the name of a huge rock
said to resemble a 19th century clipper ship. It
rises almost 1800 feet from the floor of the New
Mexico desert, and many pilots, including yours
truly, think it's impressive enough from the air
to point out to our passengers when we fly over.
Although I saw it years ago from the ground, I
wanted to pass near it again for a look. It was
worth the half hour or so reroute we took.
You'll find a photo of Ship Rock in our San Diego
Road Trip album, which you can get to here:
Road Trip
Ship Rock and another large rock formation just
outside Cortez are on Page 2 of the Album.
Another detour of about half an hour or so took
us to the Four Corners Monument where Utah, New
Mexico, Arizona and Colorado all meet. Al The
Web Guy and I have both been there before, but we
decided it was part of Coco The Pomeranian's
education to see it as well. These photos are
also on Page 2 of the San Diego Road Trip album.
There are several Indian booths selling Indian
merchandise and Indian fry bread at Four Corners.
We sampled the Indian fry bread with powdered
sugar, which went very nicely with my blue pants.
The white sugar on my pants reminded me of the
beignets you used to be able to get near the
United gates at the airport in New Orleans. A
beignet is a delicious, deep fried pastry dipped
in powdered sugar, and I use to stifle my smile
as I walked around our terminal, observing very
dignified businessmen wearing black or blue
suits, oblivious to the fact that there were
smudges of powdered sugar all over them. After I
finished laughing silently at the sight, it would
occur to me to look down, only to find similar
smudges of white on my own dark blue uniform.
All in the line of duty, of course.
But I digress (who, me?). After Four Corners it
was our intent to swing by the Grand Canyon for a
quick peek, if there is such a thing as a quick
peek at the Grand Canyon. Al The Web Guy had been
there years before, and I used to fly tours
through the Grand Canyon in a Navajo (light twin
engine aircraft) and later in a Metroliner, which
is an 18 seat, rather long turboprop and not the
first airplane which springs to mind to fly tours
below the rim. Flying below the rim is no longer
legal, by the way, but it still was in the late
seventies when I was doing the tours.
As a matter of fact, John Southmayd of Microsoft
and I flew through the Grand Canyon at the IFC
(International FlighSim Convention) in an F-4
Phantom simulator just a few weeks ago. That is,
John flew while I enjoyed the familiar scenery.
You'll find a photo of John and the F-4 simulator
in the Microsoft FlightSim Team album of our
Photo Gallery.
I said all that to say that we wound up not
stopping. It was actually a little farther out
of our way than we had thought, we were already
running a little late, and it was raining heavily
as we neared the turnoff, so we voted on whether
or not to stop. Al and I both opted to bypass it
and Coco yawned, so we just kept going all the
way to Prescott, Arizona, where we spent the
night.
There are photos all along our route in the San
Diego Road Trip album, in sequence as our trip
progressed. Be sure to check out the giant
cactus and the "Froggie in the Desert." He's on
Page 4 of this album. Apparently there is an
artist who enjoys making rocks look like animals.
The Froggie was the best of them.
The third day found us crossing over the Colorado
River and into California at Blythe where we
started our trek across the desert. It was
probably around 115 to 120 degrees and you'll see
in some of our photos this was pure desert, the
kind where nothing at all grows. A pair of
buzzards circled overhead the whole time we were
in eastern California. I imagined their
conversation went something like this:
The first one says, "Hey look, Harold, down
there, a couple of live ones. Can you believe
they're driving through the desert in the dead
(pardon the expression) of summer?"
The other responds, "Gee, Stanley, do you think
they might break down or something? My stomach's
growling. That road kill was hours ago."
"One can only hope, Harold, one can only hope.
Say, what's that white fluffy thing in the back
seat?"
Unfortunately for Harold and Stanley, who eyed us
wistfully our entire time in the desert, Al The
Web Guy, Coco the Pomeranian and I didn't break
down and die and eventually started our uphill
climb into the mountains of eastern California,
now on the home stretch to San Diego. We took
Interstate 8 all the way to its end just shy of
the Pacific Ocean and headed home to my parents'
house in Pt. Loma from there.
But first we stopped at an Indian restaurant.
Okay, we just drove for three days and we're
minutes away from our destination. Why, you ask,
would we stop at an Indian restaurant, of all
places?
If you'll just be patient, I'll tell you. Part
of the purpose of this trip was to help my Dad
celebrate his 89th birthday, and our gift to both
my parents was for Cap'n Al to do all the
cooking, while I would offer support in terms of
setting the table and cleaning up afterward,
normally a job my Dad does. We wanted to give
them a mini-vacation from ordinary chores and
both of them had expressed a desire for some home
cooking. My Mom is a terrific cook but these
days it's a treat for her when someone else does
the cooking.
We had the menu planned before we ever left
Colorado, brought some of the ingredients with us
and bought the rest there. The first night our
meal had an Indian flavor and we thought some
naan would be perfect with it, which it was.
For those of you interested in food (I am very
interested in food, especially if I'm not the one
preparing it), you can find some of the recipes
Cap'n Al used in our Recipes section. Oh, you
didn't know we have a Recipes section? Well, we
do, although the content is limited at the
moment. Feel free to send us your own favorites
for posting. Recipes
The first night we had Coconut Chicken with naan,
the second night meat loaf, the third night Prime
Rib, the fourth night (my Dad's birthday)
barbeque ribs and the fifth and last night we had
Chicken Kiev. There were lots of mashed
potatoes, salad, corn on the cob, homemade
chocolate birthday cake (my Mom and Cap'n Al made
it together), ice cream and just gazillions of
calories floating around. I think I may have
gained ten or seventy pounds. Maybe more.
San Diego, like so much of the country, was
having very hot weather and we ate dinner outside
every evening, which was very pleasant.
Well, you know what? This Update is getting
overly lengthy, so I will end it right here and
pick it up again next week for another
installment.
And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap'n Meryl
www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm(keynote speaker)
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