A SAD DAY

This week's question and answer for "Ask Cap'n
Meryl" has to do with circling approaches Circling Approaches

First a couple of notes:

Those of you who are interested in home flight
simulators, don't forget tomorrow morning's
interview with the manufacturers of the TrackIR,
a device I wouldn't be without when flying from
home. Here once again are the details of the
call and Al The Web Guy will post a link to that
interview afterwards if you can't make it.

Date: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (adjust for your own time zone)
Number to call: 1-620-782-2200 Access Code: 69728

Link to the Product with discount:
http://trackir.naturalpoint.com/fromthecockpit
How to submit questions: Submit to me at
support@fromthecockpit.com and put TrackIR in the
subject OR you may have a chance to ask questions
during the call. If you already know you have a
question, best to do it in advance to make sure
it gets covered.

Also, for those of you interested in the
children's series Violet the Pilot, I just
received my copy of "Violet the Pilot in the
Arctic," fourth in the series, by my friend and
author Bettina Jenkins Bathe, a Canadian pilot.
Her site is www.violetthepilot.com for purchasing
and other information.

One more item, and that is I'd like to thank the
dozens of people who wrote after last week's
Update entitled "The Burger King Connection." A
Burger King manager, higher up than the two
managers I dealt with getting hospital meals
delivered for my friend Myrna, called and we
spoke for quite awhile about the integrity and
good-heartedness of the two girls involved--Trudy
and Annie.

His tone when he called was so serious that my
initial thought was, "Uh-oh! I got them in
trouble." That wasn't the case at all, however.
He just called to tell me how proud he was of
them as employees and as people. If anyone lives
nearby, it's the Burger King in Elgin, Illinois
at 1150 N. Mclean. I hope you'll stop by and be
sure to tell Annie and/or Trudy Cap'n Meryl sends
her regards. I'm still hoping to get a photo of
both of them for my photo gallery.

Another meal or two has found its way to my
friend Myrna's room at the convalescent facility,
and she's scheduled to return home at last later
this week. She went into the hospital July 5th
and sounds so relieved to be finally going home.
If you missed my previous Updates, Myrna is a
retired crew scheduler for United I've known for
over twenty years, going through her second war
with cancer.

I'm going to keep this Update reasonably short,
but I do want to at least acknowledge the Comair
crash in Lexington as I'm being deluged with
questions and comments about it.

Even a crash like this which seems to have an
obvious cause warrants a full investigation. I'm
in no position to judge why this crash happened
and it's inappropriate to jump to conclusions.
There always seems to be facts uncovered which
color the initial rush to judgment. Fatigue is
often a factor when accidents just don't make
sense, and it's a fact that accidents are almost
always the result of several things going wrong
and not just one big thing going wrong. The
investigative system needs time to do its job.

I have two young female pilot friends, one who
just passed her regional jet checkride at her
airline, and another one heading off to the Delta
Connection Academy in Florida to start her
education toward an airline career. I know this
crash will heighten their own awareness as to
just how critical in nature a pilot's job is.
Flying is so much fun, yet our own lives and the
lives of our passengers are still on the line
every time we take the controls of an airplane
and a crash such as this is such a sobering
event.

I hope we find out the truth about all the
contributing factors to this crash, although
investigations typically take months. Whatever
is found, it won't bring back the many lives lost
but can only serve to prevent related accident
causes in the future. My thoughts and deepest
sympathy, surely along with my readers, go out to
all involved and I hope the investigation helps
prevent anything similar from happening ever
again.

There have been many sad days in aviation, along
with so many miracles associated with flight.
With the very good comes the very bad, although
the ratio of safe flying to dangerous flying
remains extraordinarily high.

THE BURGER KING CONNECTION

This week's question and answer for "Ask Cap'n
Meryl" has to do with ETOPS (Extended Twin Engine
Operations) http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Engine_Failure.html


Our computer troubles are finally over, at least
for now. Faulty wiring in the video card of Al
The Web Guy's main computer, the one used to
update my site, caused an overheat and the
destruction of the card, which incapacitated his
computer.

The repair guy has brought the wrong part three
times now, and Al finally gave up and went back
to Circuit City, where he had bought the
computer. They sold him a new card at a
discount, and Al will return the part on order
should it ever actually arrive, and receive a
refund when he does. I have my doubts, but in
the meantime www.fromthecockpit.com is updated
once again. Don't forget to submit your own
aviation-related questions to me at
support@fromthecockpit.com and put Question in
the subject line.

Be sure to visit the last uploads to the Photo
Gallery here, where I've added some new friends
to the Cap'n Meryl & Friends Album, and created a
new album called Microsoft Simulator Screen
Shots. There are six new additions, all with
August dates:
Cap'n Meryl & Friends
You'll find my friend and fellow pilot Jim
Hayward, a helicopter instructor for Army pilots,
some screen shots by Microsoft's John Southmayd,
a photo of my cousin Michael, whose photos appear
in the Animals & Fish album, with a reef shark,
and Melinda with husband Dave and Joe the llama.
Melinda is the daughter of my 1980 DC-10 United
Airlines flight instructor Jerry Warnke. You can
find him in the San Diego Road Trip album on page
6, or just click here:
Captain Warnke


For those of you interested in tuning in to my
telephone interview with the manufacturers of the
TrackIR, please note the following:

Date: August 29th, 2006

Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (adjust for your own time zone)

Number to call: 1-620-782-2200
Access Code: 69728

Link to the Product with discount:
TrackIR

How to submit questions: Submit to me at
support@fromthecockpit.com and put TrackIR in the
subject OR you may have a chance to ask questions
during the call. If you already know you have a
question, best to do it in advance to make sure
it gets covered.

Last week I mentioned the above call would last
"30 minutes to half an hour." I just wanted to
see if you were paying attention, and apparently
some of you were. The error was corrected before
it went out onto my Blog at
www.fromthecockpit.com/Blogg. That's what
happens when you write stuff at 3:00 AM. The
conference call will last 30 minutes to an hour.

Now, on to this week's title. At the end of my
last Update you may remember this sentence:
"Next week I'll tell you about something I
consider extraordinary having to do with my
friend Myrna--something that gives me hope with
regard to the basic generosity of the human
spirit." If you missed that Update you can find
it here in the Blog See "Dancing With Pilots" August 16, 2006


Myrna is a very upbeat person. She's been
through the wringer twice now with cancer and is
still weak from surgery from this last episode of
brain cancer. She doesn't complain much, with
one exception, and that is about the deplorable
food served in both the hospital and the
convalescent facility she's in now.

She'd mentioned to me that one of the hospital
receptionists brought her a meal one day from
Burger King consisiting of a Jr. Whopper and
vanilla milk shake. Myrna, an excellent cook (I
know because she once cooked for me in her home)
raved about how good it tasted and how it was the
first time she hadn't felt absoltuely nauseated
after eating. She's lost at least 20 pounds
during this ordeal and I think everyone can
relate to cravings for certain things when one is
sick. She went on quite a bit about how
delicious it tasted to her.

So I probed a little bit, found out what she
likes and doesn't like, pickles or no pickles,
mustard or no mustard, etc., and then proceeded
to call the first of three Burger Kings I located
in the area. I asked to speak to the manager,
who referred me to a second location he said was
closer.

This manager referred me to a third one in the
area which was even closer, and I found myself
talking to a manager named Annie. It was close
to the dinner hour the day I decided to do this,
which was several days after the receptionist had
brought Myrna her hamburger.

As busy as this harried fast-food manager was,
she listened to my story and didn't hesitate.
She said something like, "I get off in half an
hour and I'll be happy to deliver it for you."
It absolutely caught me off guard because even
though I felt it would be a wonderful surprise
for Myrna, it was just too easy and I had been
expecting an argument like, "What, are you
kidding me? This is Burger King and we DON'T
deliver!"

I couldn't believe my good fortune and gave her
my credit card number over the phone, forgot to
ask for the milkshake until after the card had
gone through, and Annie simply added it with no
extra charge. She took it right to Myrna's
hospital bed and when I spoke with Myrna the next
day, she was ecstatic. She swore it was the first
time she'd kept anything down in days, first
decent night's sleep she'd had, and on and on.
It's as if she were stranded on a desert island
and all she could think about was what she'd have
as soon as she was rescued.

A few days later, after having spent weeks in the
hospital, she transferred to a conveslescent
facility pretty much next door, and I hoped she'd
report to me the food was better. Unfortunatley,
she told me it was as bad or worse.

So I once again picked up the phone and called
the same Burger King again. This time the
manager on duty was Trudy, and to my surprise, as
soon as I started to explain my story she said,
"Oh, is this Meryl? Did you want another
delivery? I'll take off a little early and I'll
be happy to take it over for you."

I almost fell off my chair. Annie, the first
manager, had told Trudy, another manager, all
about it and they said they were both happy to do
it. It's so un-typical in this day and age I
just stopped suddenly and said, "Trudy, let me
ask you--WHY are you and Annie so willing to go
out of your way like this?"

And she said, "Because life is short and we
should do what we can to help each other, and
Annie feels the same way."

After that, I sent a package to both managers at
Burger King with a signed set of my books for
each of them, plus a little something extra.
Trudy called me from her home with her husband on
the line to thank me for the package, but it's I
who am truly grateful to her and Annie for
helping me out. Not only that, but they're each
going to deliver another meal or two each to
Myrna while she's still laid up, but Myrna
doesn't know it yet and has no Internet access
for the moment.

It's such a small thing, but in Myrna's place if
I had to choose between getting flowers or a
hamburger, I'd take the hamburger (with cheese,
of course) every time.

But you know me.

DANCING WITH PILOTS

Note: On August 29th, a Tuesday, I will be
hosting a telephone interview with my friends
Kevin and Warren of Natural Point Inc., based in
Oregon. The call will start at 11:00 AM West
Coast Time (adjust for your time zone) and a link
will be posted on my site later if you can't make
it. Details including the number to call and how
to submit your questions will be sent out in next
week's Update. The call will last from 30
minutes to an hour.

We'll be talking about their fantastic and
innovative product, called the Trackir
(pronounced "tracker”) which I had the fun of
trying out at the recent International Flight
Simulator Convention recently here in Denver.
The device, which clips onto a cap or visor,
allows the pilot to see not only straight ahead,
but out the side windows with only a slight turn
of the head and keeping the eyes focused on the
computer screen.

The reason I like it so much is that in addition
to the side views, I can also tilt my head just
slightly to see my overhead panel or look down
slightly and see my center pedestal. Everything
is displayed ahead of me on the screen, but the
view changes with just slight inclinations of my
head while keeping my eyes straight ahead.

Anyone who is interested in flight simming should
tune in to this call, and you'll hear how to get
a nice discount on the product as well. This is
the first of my planned series of interviews with
the makers of add-on products for home flight
simulators. If you're at all familiar with
TrackIR already and have questions, submit them
to me at support@fromthecockpit.com and put
TrackIR in the subject, please.

Now, on to this week's Update. I received an
email out of the wild blue yonder from an old
friend of mine, a former crew scheduler for
United Airlines named Myrna. She wrote to tell
me she was hospitalized, having just had some
cancerous brain tumors removed. This is her
second bout with cancer, the first one having
caused her to retire from United several years
ago. Another lousy break for someone who
certainly deserves better.

I immediately called her in the hospital. We've
kept in sporadic touch over the years and I even
bumped into her a few years ago at the terminal
in Chicago. She was arriving on a flight and I
was picking up the airplane to fly out. She is
the only crew scheduler I ever visited at home
and certainly one of the all-time pilot favorites
to work with.

Let me tell you a little something about airline
crew scheduling. Line pilots, meaning pilots
holding a regular schedule because their
seniority is good enough, deal with crew
scheduling at times, but reserve pilots are on
call and in almost constant communication with an
airline's crew desk. This is less true than it
used to be due to advances in computerized pilot
scheduling, but it's still the reserve pilots who
work most closely with an airline's crew desk.

A pilot can choose to be junior in a senior rank
and fleet, or senior in a junior rank and fleet.
For instance, at the end of my career, I could
have been an extremely senior captain on a
smaller airplane, like the B-737. Or I could
have been a very senior copilot on a big airplane
like the B-777 or B-747. By choosing to be a
captain on the biggest airplane I could hold with
my seniority, I was a very junior captain on a
very senior airplane, and that meant being a
reserve or on-call pilot.

Lots of pilots (as well as flight attendants)
live in cities other than their home bases. I
live in Denver but flew out of Chicago as a B-777
captain, and being on reserve in other than your
own city can be a frustrating challenge. I felt
it was worth the aggravation of commuting in
order to fly the airplane I wanted to fly on the
routes, some international, that I wanted to fly.

International flights are often assigned or
picked up by pilots through a computer system a
day or so in advance, but domestic trips can be
assigned as little as just a few hours prior to
departure. That means if a pilot is on reserve
and nothing is already assigned, it's necessary
to travel to the home base and just hang out at a
hotel or crash pad hoping to be assigned a trip.

There is an old joke about a pilot union meeting,
where the guy running the meeting says something
like, "Gentlemen, you'll be pleased to know that
according to the new contract we just negotiated,
we will now fly only on Wednesdays."

There is dead silence in the room while the
pilots mull this over. Finally, one crusty old
captain at the back of the room stands up and
says, "Is that EVERY Wednesday?"

No matter how good a schedule a pilot might have,
there seem to always be some changes desired, and
that means rather extensive interaction with the
crew desk. Some advanced programs have picked up
some of the load now, but there is still plenty
of interaction directly between pilots and
schedulers.

I call it "The Pilot Dance" and here is how it
goes:

A pilot calls up the crew desk to ask for some
vacation time, which can be taken a few days at a
time, and drop a trip if there are enough reserve
pilots. The crew scheduler answers but it's not
one of the ones with whom there is a reasonable
chance of getting what is asked for. Pilots
typically know their schedulers in terms of which
ones can be hit up for various requests with a
reasonable chance of success. The pilot asks
half-heartedly if he might drop his next trip for
vacation and the crew scheduler says, "No, I'm
sorry but we're over max usage right now." Just
as expected.

The pilot hangs up and waits for the next shift
change, and this time Myrna answers, or another
one of the Santa Claus variety of schedulers.
This time when the pilot asks, she answers, "No
problem." Schedulers like Myrna didn't look at
the schedule and then say "no." They invariably
said "yes" and then worked out afterward how they
would manage it. They gave the pilots what they
wanted and needed and in return got very
cooperative pilots when they got into a squeeze
and needed someone in a hurry.

The pilot-crew scheduler interaction is
representative of a lot of dealings in life, I've
discovered, and that is, "If you don't get the
answer you want the first time, just keep asking
until you do get the answer you want." This
seems to be common knowledge among
pilots--especially reserve pilots.

Now, having said that, being a crew scheduler is
a really, really challenging affair at times and
I’m not being critical. It's a position I could
never handle myself. I always felt empathetic
toward the schedulers, realizing their
challenges, and had a good relationship with them
as a pilot, as do the majority (hopefully) of
pilots.

For instance, once when I was living just about
fifteen minutes away from Denver International,
where I was based at the time, I got a frantic
call from a crew scheduler who informed me a
captain had just called in sick after he had
already checked in for a flight to Miami. There
was a plane-full of passengers sitting at the
gate with a copilot but no captain. Normal
call-out time was four hours but they asked me if
I could go immediately, which I could and did.

The scheduler informed me I would spend the night
in Miami and come back on the first flight
available at 6:00 AM the next morning, but this
was a beach layover, and if my readers know
anything about me they know I love the beach.
The scheduler also knew this and offered me an
extra day at the beach if I wanted, which of
course I did. The scheduler got her trip
covered, the passengers got their captain and I
got to scare everyone off the beach in Miami.
Perfect.

Next week I'll tell you about something I
consider extraordinary having to do with my
friend Myrna, something that gives me hope with
regard to the basic generosity of the human
spirit.

Now you can go wonder about that for the next
week.

BACK TO CALIFORNIA

As I write this on Monday evening (August 8th), Al The Web Guy is still waiting for his computer to be fixed. His video card had some faulty wiring in it and self-destructed. A new part showed up this evening but, for the second time, it's the wrong part.

In the meantime, we're able to put out this newsletter but once again we can't add a new Q &A in the Ask Cap'n Meryl section at www.fromthecockpit.com. Please bear with us as I feel a full recovery for Al The Web Guy's computer must be near. I hope so. He's pacing like an expectant father, muttering things incomprehensible and presumably unprintable
If you've been reading my newsletter lately, you know I'm in talks with Microsoft about becoming involved with their home flight simulators. I'd like to do a very informal survey by asking that anyone who has a Microsoft flight simulator, has considered buying one, or is just interested in the subject let me know with an email to support@fromthecockpit.com. Please let me know your status as an experienced simmer, new user, etc. Put "simmer" in the subject, please.

I am planning on conducting a series of telephone interviews with various companies who make some of the flight simulator add-on products and am curious how many of my current readers would be interested in hearing such interviews. The only cost would be the cost of the call and I anticipate special discounts for at least some of the products discussed. Questions by email will be submitted in advance and possibly even during the interviews. I plan on interviewing some of the Microsoft Flight Simulator Team as well.

The first interview I'm likely to do is with acompany in Oregon which manufactures a device, called TrackIR, that attaches to a cap or visor. When you wear it, instead of being limited to the view straight ahead, if you swing your head a little left, for instance, but still keep your eyes on the screen, the view shifts just as it would if you turned your head all the way to the left to look out the left-hand window of a real airplane. You can even look around the metal strut in the window frame that may block part ofyour view.

As a pilot in the real world, I especially like the TrackIR because I can tilt my head slightly back and see my overhead panel, or slightly forward and see my center pedestal. It's difficult to describe here, but I'm guessing the people who make this product are better at conveying what it's like. The story of how and why the device was invented is in itself very interesting.
I got to try the TrackIR at the recent International FlightSim Convention held right here in Denver a couple of months ago. Convention photos are in the Microsoft FlightSimTeam album here if you haven't had a chance tosee them yet: http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gallery/index.php?cat=0&page=3

Some of my readers have already let me know they're interested in flying from home and I'd like an idea of how many more there are. I'm very surprised at just how many have already expressed an interest, especially since I've only known about home flight simming myself for a few months now.

Regarding this week's title, "Back toCalifornia," my last few newsletters had to do with the road trip I took to San Diego from Denver with Al The Web Guy (also known as Chef Aland Cap'n Al) and Coco the Pomeranian.

We went out to help my Dad celebrate his 89thbirthday in July, driving instead of flying so we could keep our pooch with us and not subject him(or Cap'n Al, who is a lousy passenger) to flying. My Mom's birthday is only a month later than my Dad's, though, so I decided to fly back out on my own to help celebrate hers as well. If you missed the road trip photos or are new to this newsletter, click here and look for the SanDiego Road Trip Album:http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gallery/index.php?cat=0&page=3

Chef Al's cooking was such a big hit with my parents when we were in San Diego for my Dad's birthday, we decided an encore was in order. This time around he made a couple of their favorite dishes--Coconut Chicken and SwedishMeatballs. The recipes for both are in our Recipes section and can be found by clicking on Appetizers and Main Dishes here: http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Recipes_Cap_n_Meryl_and_Friends.html
Chef Al cooked the dinners at our home near Denver and froze everything, and I schlepped it all out to San Diego for reheating. My parents don't get around all that easily and it's a treat for them to be able to stay home and enjoy someone else's cooking. I am Chef Al's #1admirer--I've never had better cooking in my life(other than my Mom's and grandmother's, that is), and in fact I have to ask him to knock it off sometimes for fear of both of us gaining too much weight. It does no good, though. He cooks it,we eat it. That's just the way it works.

The weather for both my flight out and my flight back was crystal clear and I was able to see a good part of the route we had just driven a few weeks ago. Flight time was an hour and fifty-six minutes westbound and a little shorter coming the other way. This as opposed to three days of driving to get there and two longer days of driving to get back. Even though I've flown this route a million (approximately) times, it gave me a completely different perspective to gaze down and see the route we took in our car.

Coming back, I sat on the right-hand side of the plane and although it's often hazy in the southeastern corner of California, it was so clear I could see almost a hundred miles down the Gulf of California. We flew within several miles of Mexicali, Mexico, where I often cleared customs while flying commuter routes from theU.S. to Mexico and Baja California. Some of this flying is discussed in "The World At My Feet" and in fact one of my favorite chapters, called"Buzzard? What Buzzard?" takes place during this time in my flying career. If you'd like to read the book and haven't yet, you'll find a link at the bottom and can order a signed copy if you'd like.

Right now my life is very much in a holding pattern while I transition from an active international airline pilot to other endeavors. Talks with Microsoft are continuing as I mentioned and I've had some other offers I'm considering as well. I thank my readers as always for sticking with me to see what's behind that next cloud up ahead.

TRAVELS WITH COCO PART THREE - SPEECHLESS IN SANDIEGO

First a note, and that is next time you visitwww.fromthecockpit.com please notice the international flag icons at the top. We receiveso many international emails we thought it wastime to branch out into other languages. Just click on any flag and the website will convert itself into the language of that flag's country. At least, I hope it does. I'm not up on my Chinese and some of the other languages, so unless and until we get some feedback, we'll have to go on the assumption the translation is close.

Okay, now where were we at the close of my lastUpdate? I believe I was talking once again about food at the end of Part Two of the Travels With Coco series. Time to move on.
We had a couple of appointments to keep in San Diego. The first was with Mark Burgess, CEO of www.SanDiego.com . These are the folks that hostthat takeoff and landing video into and out of San Diego Airport that you see on the home pageof my site www.fromthecockpit.com . I wrote a piece for San Diego.com some time ago, and we're working with Mark on some future business deals which I'll explain to my readers when we start putting our plans into effect. There are two photos of Mark on page 5 of our San Diego RoadTrip album at www.fromthecockpit.com/Gallery, or just click here:http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gallery/thumbnails.php?album=36&page=5

Tuesday, July 11th was my Dad's 89th birthday,and Al The Chef whipped up some of his famous BBQribs. You'll find the recipe he uses in our recipes section here:http://fromthecockpit.com/B_B_Q_Ribs.html Outof this world delicious.
My Dad likes single malt Scotch so Al and I gave him a bottle for his birthday. You can see my Dad's reaction here:http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gallery/displayimage.php?album=36&pos=54

Tuesday afternoon, while Al The Chef was slaving away in the kitchen with Coco The Pomeranian looking on, I went to nearby Ocean Beach for a swim. The Pacific Ocean, no matter how warm it gets, is frigid when compared with the water in Hawaii, Florida or the Caribbean. But this is where I grew up and I plunged right in for some serious body-surfing. Well, not that serious, but definitely fun. At about 71 degrees the water felt icy at first, but after a few minutes it was very, pleasant.

The next day, Wednesday, we visited Jerry Warnke, a United pilot who retired in 1984, just before I was hired. If you've read "The World At My Feet"then you may recall Jerry was my flight instructor when I obtained my DC-10 type(captain's) rating along with my turbojet flight engineer rating. I did this before I was eventually hired by United in order to give my qualifications a good boost. Although I had some solid, multi-engine time under my belt by then, women were still not regarded as desirable by the airlines. I wrote about this in some detail in my book. (Be sure to visit the gift area of mysite for the best deal on both my books if youhaven't yet and wish to do so. There will soon be a charge for international shipping so if you're overseas and want the books, ordering sooner will be less expensive than ordering later. You'll see a link at the very bottom ofthis Update.)

I couldn't believe I hadn't seen my friend and mentor for 26 years (I attended United Airlines training in 1980) and didn't know what to expect. Jerry has had some close calls health-wise but his smiling face looked exactly the way I remembered it.

Al The Web Guy and I visited Jerry and his lovely wife Jean in their Pacific Beach home, were treated to lunch at a nearby Greek café, then visited Mt. Soledad, originally dedicated as a Korean War memorial, just a few minutes' drive from their house. We saw Jerry's picture on the memorial wall. His daughters and grandchildren had surprised him with a plaque and he posed by his photo and inscription. To see Jerry and Jean along with some other photos, including the ones taken at Mt. Soledad, click on the link below. This will take you directly to page 6 of our San Diego Road Tripalbum:http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gallery/thumbnails.php?album=36&page=6

Here's a question for you, and it has to do with this week's title "Speechless in San Diego." When's a pilot not a pilot? When she's a little hoarse. Okay, I apologize for that. Old joke, somewhat modified but not improved.

My Dad had been coughing off and on since even before we arrived but seemed okay otherwise. My brother Lorin had just gotten over laryngitis and apparently his wife Maria had it, too. I wasn't there nearly long enough to actually catch it from anyone there, but Monday evening, the night before my Dad's birthday, I felt a sore throat coming on. I decided to ignore it, but got more and more hoarse as time when on. The day we visited the Warnke's it was pretty bad and by the time we left San Diego on Thursday, my voice was pretty much gone.

Driving from Denver to San Diego we took the southern route through Cortez, Colorado, New Mexico, Prescott, Arizona and Blythe, California, and took three days to do it.
We took a more northerly route on the drive home and overnighted just once, in St. George, Utah. Although I have relatives in Las Vegas, we had such a long drive to accomplish in just two days we drove right past it without stopping. You can see photos taken along our route home in the San Diego Road Trip album. It was a long drive, and a very quiet one, as it turns out.
So, it was a good trip, uneventful, and I took so long to tell you about it that I'm already on my way back to San Diego on Wednesday of this week to help celebrate my Mom's birthday. Al's cooking was such a hit that he's made some dishes that we've frozen and I'll carry out with me to serve. It's that good. This time I'll fly, however, and Al The Chef and Coco The Pomeranian will have to hold down the fort until I get back in a few days.

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl

www.flyingfearless.com