Well, now.
After having the gas leak shut down the gas at the house, and no repair on Friday (hopefully, Monday...), we headed on down to Fredericksburg, TX (T82), where we have a getaway shack, and at which airport we keep an "airport car."
With all that was going on, we got off late, and had 40-45 knot headwinds
hairraise most of the way, which is bad enough in a Bo, but positively atrocious in a Cardinal. We got down there about 9:15 pm or so, and when I went to grab the car, for reasons which just don't bear repeating, the battery was dead... as in, "no glimmer or glow from the interior lights" dead.
Well, now, indeed!
So, Fredericksburg's a nice place, but no a heckuva lot happens after dark. I walked into the Hangar Hotel and asked a skeptical desk clerk if there was anyone there with jumper cables or the like. She, in turn, went onto the bar (the "Officers' Club,") and emerged with (well, heck, why not?) an Officer. To be specific, a Captain, USAF, who with his wife and 2-year-old son, was visiting from San Antonio, where he trains the trainers in T-6 Texan-IIs at Randolph.
He pulled his car around, got jumper cables out , and got me going, which was no small thing when a battery is deader'n'dead, but he acted as if it was a whole lot of nothing.
He refused compensation of any kind, but I was able to extract an agreement that he and his wife and son would meet us for supper in town Saturday night. I realized too late that you never make, or accept, such invitations without first securing the concurrence of SWMBO, but when we all got together, it was more fun than the law allows, with Tommy playing with and entertaining their 2-year-old (so Momma actually got to *enjoy* her supper), and much great conversation. Oh yeah, and Celia and Mrs. Captain got along great, so we (the two husbands) were off the hook for our precipitous planning.
Always nice to be reminded how lucky we are to have folks like this watching our backs; the good Cpt had a couple of tours in the sandbox in KC10s, before accepting this training billet.
No names yet, not without his permission, but I hope to meet up with these nice people again, one day soon, and again, I am reminded, everything happens for a reason, and no force on earth will stand between a good person, and a good deed.
Oh yeah, when we got home to Addison today, the left brake on the Cardinal failed, forcing a delayed exit from the runway and a jet had to go around. So--rry!
After having the gas leak shut down the gas at the house, and no repair on Friday (hopefully, Monday...), we headed on down to Fredericksburg, TX (T82), where we have a getaway shack, and at which airport we keep an "airport car."
With all that was going on, we got off late, and had 40-45 knot headwinds
hairraise most of the way, which is bad enough in a Bo, but positively atrocious in a Cardinal. We got down there about 9:15 pm or so, and when I went to grab the car, for reasons which just don't bear repeating, the battery was dead... as in, "no glimmer or glow from the interior lights" dead.Well, now, indeed!
So, Fredericksburg's a nice place, but no a heckuva lot happens after dark. I walked into the Hangar Hotel and asked a skeptical desk clerk if there was anyone there with jumper cables or the like. She, in turn, went onto the bar (the "Officers' Club,") and emerged with (well, heck, why not?) an Officer. To be specific, a Captain, USAF, who with his wife and 2-year-old son, was visiting from San Antonio, where he trains the trainers in T-6 Texan-IIs at Randolph.
He pulled his car around, got jumper cables out , and got me going, which was no small thing when a battery is deader'n'dead, but he acted as if it was a whole lot of nothing.
He refused compensation of any kind, but I was able to extract an agreement that he and his wife and son would meet us for supper in town Saturday night. I realized too late that you never make, or accept, such invitations without first securing the concurrence of SWMBO, but when we all got together, it was more fun than the law allows, with Tommy playing with and entertaining their 2-year-old (so Momma actually got to *enjoy* her supper), and much great conversation. Oh yeah, and Celia and Mrs. Captain got along great, so we (the two husbands) were off the hook for our precipitous planning.
Always nice to be reminded how lucky we are to have folks like this watching our backs; the good Cpt had a couple of tours in the sandbox in KC10s, before accepting this training billet.
No names yet, not without his permission, but I hope to meet up with these nice people again, one day soon, and again, I am reminded, everything happens for a reason, and no force on earth will stand between a good person, and a good deed.
Oh yeah, when we got home to Addison today, the left brake on the Cardinal failed, forcing a delayed exit from the runway and a jet had to go around. So--rry!
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