rough draft of my book, "Have Goggles, Will Travel"

AAC Cadet Leader · 6 August 2008, 07:33 AM

hi rory,
thanks for your well-wishes. oshkosh AirVenture 2008 was HUGE! i can't believe how much it has grown in size and scope since i was last there in 1992. it claims to be the world's largest fly-in and i have no doubt that's true.

the sheer acerage of vendors, merchandising every aviation-related product, tells a healthy story as to today's American economy - at least from outward appearances. the EAA staff really has it down to a science as to how to entertain, feed and shuttle around the thousands of people they bring through the admission gates each morning of the week. the coordination between hundreds of good-spirited EAA volunteers to accomodate all of the guests and vendors and presenters was outstanding.

the daily airshow was put on by the top aerobatic performers on the circuit(at their own expense), warbird formations (at their own expense), along with the state-of-the-art military performers (on the taxpayers' expense). the daily show stealer was "the Raptor!" wow, that plane was amazing!

the best part for me was that i got to show my presentations and meet up with five of my pilots from my 1988 journey: egon grothe, jim zazas, norma hellman, luverne kraemer, and colonel joe kittinger. what fun re-unions to see them again.

also was wonderful to spend time with aerodrome forum members, mike backustudio and my old friend, lloyd, who assisted me tremendously with the presentations.

rory, if your group can foot my airfare and accomodations, i'll gladly show my presentations to them without charge - i'd love to see ireland!

AAC Cadet Leader · 3 September 2008, 02:49 AM

it has been suggested by someone who has publishing experience that i should begin re-writing this book yet again - this time, into a series of separate volumes, focusing on the different subject matters and aspects within, as i have such a huge amount of information to share. the worry is that no publisher would be interested to publish a book that includes so much info, plus a fold-out map, and a huge amount of photos, expanded chapters, copies of logbook pages, mother's telephone log inserts, pilot and aircraft info, journey routing, etc.

i am seriously considering the advice. anyone want to talk me out of it?

AAC Cadet Leader · 20 October 2008, 10:51 PM

one year ago, today, i started this book thread. hope to get back to working on adding to this rough book draft soon, but don't know just when. too many irons in the fire right now. thanks to all of you who have read so far and have encouraged me to continue until it's ready for an editor and publisher.

total view count to date is 14,830. that's alright.

AAC Cadet Leader · 30 November 2008, 09:08 PM

hi mcnarff,
yes, i've been busy.

need to get back in the daily writing mode, but i'm just not ready yet. i think i experienced burn-out after the first three months of working on re-writing the tenth draft for 4-5 hours a day last year on this seemingly never-ending book project and posting to this thread. but, i know i must get back in the swing of it again and get it finished. sure would be easier if i had an interested publisher who could also assist with a lot of the details i need to research, as well as indexing, etc. a book advance would be helpful too, but don't think that's the norm these days, except for celebrities and famous authors.

no, i never did run into kevin and jim kimball at this year's oshkosh, darn. would've liked to seen them. they are super people!

hey, thanks for posting, ken! really appreciate that you took the time to read all the way through this thread again. i don't think i have even done that.

AAC Cadet Leader · 3 January 2009, 09:59 PM

... on december 26, 2008, a man and woman walked in my little gallery and i asked them where they were from (just as i ask many of the tourists who come in.) the man answered, "montana!" i paused for a moment, looking at him and then realised who he was!

he was my pipeline pilot, larry larson from molt, montana with his wonderful wife, lalonnie. what a thrill it was for me to see them again and spend the next few hours with them!

before they left i took this photo of them in my front parlor:

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...ec_26_2008.jpg

larry is still flying the pipeline in the same aeroplane, his piper super cruiser.

after flying with him twenty years ago, i changed my ambitions from wanting to be an airline pilot to wanting to be a pipeline pilot! it's still my ambition. perhaps someday in the future...

backusstudio · 3 January 2009, 11:04 PM

Way cool Martha. You touched a lot of lives with that trip. I hope you get your book published. You'll touch a lot more.

Happy New Year!

AAC Cadet Leader · 5 January 2009, 07:53 AM

mike,
thanks. yeah, getting back in touch with some of my pilots and hosts has been a way of continuing the adventure. in 2008, i met up with let's see...eight of them in person and a few more online and through letters.

rory,
thanks for the continued encouragement. my son, daughter and i did have a nice christmas here, too.

i have heard of that book. i'll look into it. thx.

AAC Cadet Leader · 2 February 2009, 05:36 PM

in 1960, twenty-eight years before i rode with him in the rosie o'grady's stearman on the last leg of my journey, my 199th pilot, col. joe kittinger broke three world records. here's an amazing video of him:

YouTube - First Man in Space - Skydiving From The Edge Of The World

backusstudio · 2 February 2009, 06:19 PM

Thanks for introducing me to Joe at Oshkosh, Martha. I wasn't familiar with his exploits prior to seeing him speak. I was blown away to think about a man having the guts to jump from a weather balloon at nearly 20 miles up! Some people are definitely made of stouter stuff.

AAC Cadet Leader · 2 February 2009, 06:27 PM

sure thing, mike. it was a blast for me, too. and i was thrilled that he knew who i was when we showed up backstage after his interview at theatre in the woods.