i'm writing a book - right here!

[AAC Cadet Leader]

thanks, mc narff!
wayne edsall was my 88th pilot. many of the pilots provided multiple legs of my journey, so that flight in wayne edsall's 1932 fleet was actually the 138th flight of the journey.

my pilot logbook contains all the numbers, aeroplanes, models, license numbers, years, dates, take-off and landing times, # of landings i performed (not many), engines, aerodromes, altitudes, airspeeds, etc.

i'm using it along with my mother's telephone log and the three journals i filled to bring the story together. in the back of the book, i plan to have a listing of the pilots, aeroplanes, leg #s, etc.

frankie,
really? so you like my little corny poem, huh? good, because there are a couple-few more of those to come. thanks.

[AAC Cadet Leader]

Mom's Log
Day 80 still continued...
Larry then flew Martha to Ritzville, Washington, then onto Pasco Tri City Airport where she camped out in an abandoned control tower on a hard floor in a sleeping bag.

[It was dusk at the time we landed at this quiet little airport. Larry opened up an old shed and scooped up a handful of fine, gray dust from the back corner of the floor. He poured it into my hand and explained that this was ash from the Mount St. Helen volcano that darkened the sky all the way to Ritzville Airport and beyond, eight years ago. I got a film canister and a little plastic bag and filled them with the ash. Then he found an old coffee cup on the ground in the shed and added some nice words to it to make an even better souvenir. He wrote, "The Cup of Kindness, Friendship & Adventure - May 'this' Always be Yours."



Next, Larry showed me the small, old abandoned control tower, and we hiked up its rotted out wooden steps, some of which were missing. In the top was an empty control room, encased in glass and on its ceiling, someone had beautifully painted a spectacular large compass rose.



This magical little airfield with no one around looked as if it had been frozen in time from about thirty years ago and I was even more convinced of this thought when we walked into its quiet old town for dinner at a huge coffee shop style restaurant. The wide, empty streets and old town looked like a scene from an old west movie mixed with some 1960's grooviness.]

[AAC Cadet Leader]

Mom's Log
Day 81
Tuesday, August 16
Washington
Martha stayed at Jennifer and Herb Brayton’s house this night. 2 sons, Drew, age 8; Tyler, age 9; and 1 daughter Auna, age 4. Herb has a Cessna 175 but it is not in flying condition.

[Larry Larson had come to the farthest point southwest along his bi-monthly pipeline run at Pasco, Washington and was about to turn eastward on the second half of his loop, back home to Molt, Montana. He generously offered to let me fly with him for his entire pipeline run and I would’ve dearly loved to. However, David Waterman, down in Chino, California offered to take me in his Stinson Voyager to the Antique Airplane Association fly-in Bartlesville, Oklahoma coming up at the end of August and I figured I could find enough rides to get to Chino by then. Also, I could visit my other buddies in L.A. if I could make it down there again.

When we got to Pasco, Washington, Larry gave me the phone number for his friends, the Brayton’s and I called to ask them if they could fly me to the next point. They couldn't because Herb's plane was down for repairs but they offered to be my hosts while I looked for a ride out.



The Brayton's were a really fun family and I had a blast with their kids. Little nine year-old Tyler called the news stations for me and got them all excited to come out and interview me - he told them my frozen Barnstormer story and had them convinced I was 87 years old - what a kick that was! His poor mom, Jennifer maintained a great sense of humor while being laid up from a bad accident she had on a waterslide at an amusement park. Despite her set back, she managed to run her bakery in Richland, Washington by telephone while she recuperated at home. I was happy I could help a bit by running a few errands for her with her car. I stayed at their home for three days.]

[AAC Cadet Leader]

Mom's Log
Day 82
Wednesday, August 17
Washington
M took Tyler in the Brayton’s car to a shoe repair store to leave her antique boots to be re-soled as she’s worn a hole through them. Newspaper reporter met them there. Two TV stations will interview also.


Ken Rinear flew Martha from Pasco to Prosser Airport 25 miles north to attend an EAA meeting where Herb Brayton is the Chapter President. Martha spoke to the group of approximately 35 members and left early with Ken to fly to the home of Richard Mc Whortor who has a grass strip and a hangar of antique planes he is restoring. Ken has a Tri-Pacer.

[Herb, my host in Pasco couldn’t attend his EAA meeting, but urged Ken Rinear and me to go to it and tell his members what I was in the process of accomplishing. The guy running the meeting invited me up to the podium. I spoke into the microphone, giving them a five minute synopsis of my journey so far. The whole lot of them sat there silently and looked at me like I was from outer space. When I came to the end of my little speech I asked if anyone had any questions. No one did. One woman sitting up front, who gave me the impression she was in charge, had a disapproving look on her face the whole time I spoke. It was all very uncomfortable. So, I said thank you for letting me tell you about my journey and I excused Ken and myself, saying we couldn’t stay because we had to go fly somewhere else. We left and when we were out of earshot on our walk out to his plane, we laughed about it. Ken said if there had been one person in the group who had expressed interest in my journey, the rest would have followed and applauded or asked questions with interest. Instead, he said, they didn’t dare ask me anything because they might have been afraid to also be the recipient of that lady’s disapproving looks. Maybe yes, maybe no. Lesson learned: Sheep follow sheep.]

[AAC Cadet Leader]

Mom's Log
Day 83
Thursday, August 18
Washington
No report this day.
[I was still at the Brayton’s home in Pasco, Washington, phoning pilots for a ride out.]

[AAC Cadet Leader]

[saving this space to add more photos and text at a later date]

[AAC Cadet Leader]

saving this space for adding text and photos

[Kilian]

Ok i catched up a bit now. Post #170 was really funny I cant wait to buy my new scanner after Christmas and scan my own Mt Rushmore stuff.
Still 2 pages behind. Ill save it for the days in between until New Year when i have nothing else to do besides eating some


merry Christmas,
Kilian

[FliegerJG1]

Mmmmm....Kilian, those cookies look delicious! Have you visited Mt Rushmore? Just curious since I live in the state.

Merry Christmas!

FliegerJG1

[AAC Cadet Leader]

today and yesterday i scanned and posted @18 more photos to previous posts. (including one i took from luverne kraemer's cub in south dakota... see post #176 for that one, fliegerjg1 and killian.)

am trying hard to catch up my photos to match the text, but am finding many more photos i want to post to previous pages, so my text postings have been a little bit in the light side and will for a few more days.

each photo takes me @ 20 - 40 mins to scan, adjust, caption, link and post.

this post will eventually be replaced with text and photos for the book.

and a merry christmas to you, too!