Amarillo by morning....Wednesday
What a great song...food ol George Straight. I've noticed that alot of country songs about the rodeo...the life described is very similar to that of aviation....I mean you have to replace a few words here and there...but it fits...having nothing...having it...the dream, cost you everything, girlfriends, family, health...long days...I love country music...I expect to catch a bunch of flack for that statement!
So G'day....I'm in Thunder Bay....it was funny, I dropped off a resume at a place called Wiskair....they have a tv there showing pics....and what do I see on there is some pics of Chinooks 206 GNC...turns out one of the low time drivers did his training there..so the gal that showed me around actually knew some of the same people I did...small world. We looked around the hangar and an engineer there.....we shook hands and he says...you look familiar....lol so we said where we worked and figured it was prob back in the Manitoba days...and he knew some of the same people I did....super small world.
So recap of the last few days. The last post was written monday before I met up with Joel. So I met up with him and his gf...we went for a drive around his neck of the woods, got some beverages for the night and went back to his place and made dinner. We had dinner, took the dog for a walk, drank and bs'd and watched a recorded UFC and crashed out. It was great to see him again...it's been a while.
I wanted to get up at 6 and get on the road...but the hangover had other ideas. We got up round 7, Joel made a yummy breaky and I was on the road for 8ish bound for Thunder Bay.
The weather round that area...Port Sydney was cold and snowy so the driving was not great. The Deli performed great as usual. The further north I went the better the weather got...there was a few kinda melty spots but once I hit Sudbury it was clear till later on in the evening.
I made a stop in Salut St Marie to drop off a res and have a meet and greet. It was with Ont Ministry of Natural Resources...nice guy...we had a great chat...talked about how it works with them...he gave me the number of a guy in Wawa...so I gave him a call and later on when I passed Wawa, I found the hangar and dropped off the res in a truck that was left open for me!
Went thru some windy and snowy sections after the but nothing to crazy. I made it to a town called Terrace Bay...it was 1200 by this time, I had been on the move for 16 hrs...with 230km to go...I was done. So I looked for a place to plug in to no avail, so I let the van run all night. It was -14 with the wind chill it was -21...if I shut the van down no way it was starting in the morning. So I shut off everything, hoped in the back and had a great warm sleep!
Woke up this morning and started up to here.....Thunder Bay.
So I grabbed a coffee...I don't need any food...I've still got tons left from what Uncle Geoff and Nicoletta loaded me up with in TO.
So the plan is right now, Winnipeg area tonight...like 8 hrs...nothing crazy...dump out 3 resumes tomorrow then make tracks for Calgary on Thursday. Friday morning sump out 2 more then Kelowna bound. These are realistic goals. I should be home Friday night. Then leave prob Monday for Calgary to hang with Morgan for a day, then zoo lights, the xmas extravaganza, then my Bday, then home to White Rock.
Ok....well that about covers it for now.....to recap, I love country music, the helicopter world is a small one and I've got lots of km's left but I'll be in my own bed Friday night :)
Cheers everyone.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday beginning of the last week
Well....once again I don't know when this will get up bit here is the fri, sat, Sunday update.
From my last post I was in the mall....more or less just wandered around Montreal till I met up with Steph later that night. We went to the Engineer pub....well it was a basement in a building in McGill! It was a great time! A bunch of first and second year kids, randomness, guys missing shirts, some drinking games, lab coats.....and 1.50$ Mooseheads!!!!! I had a few of those!
I met a couple of Steph's friends...one dude...I can't remember his name....but a cool dude!he ended up having with us the rest of the night....and he was impressed at the rate I consumed cheap beer!
We hung there for a bit then move back to the dorm, running half cut thru the cold Montreal streets trying not to get hit by cars! There was a floor Christmas party...well we get there and it was kinda quiet....prob about 10 people there just sitting and bs'ing....was actually kinda fun.
Then all of a sudden it was late....time for Pita pit! It's the go to place out there....because it's the only place that's open! We all hammered down some tasty late night fare and went back to the room and proceeded to crash out. I got up @ 6ish and was on the go by 630.....thank you Steph for letting me crash there....it was a great time!
so now it's Saturday and I'm on my way to Ottawa to check it out. From what some people have told me there is not much There except parliament....not so much...it's a beautiful town that I wish I would have budgeted more time for. I did randomly find the aviation museum and went for a looksee. Not quite the Smithsonian but refreshingly Canadian. I saw a some Canadian aviation history. I saw the first beaver....and what remains of the AVRO Arrow.....sad...I got the story of the nose section that survived total demolition. It was 'borrowed' by a teacher for metallurgic research....because at the time this was the most advanced aircraft ever with some exotic materials....so he borrowed it...and never returned it to the scrap yard. In the pictures you can see where it had been blow torched off of the rest of the plane....with a sharpie marker line that says....cut here. Sad.
I also took a tour of their storage/display/restoration hangar...had some neat stuff there. The guy who took us on the tour had great historical knowledge, but lacked technical knowledge. So him and the group asked some questions that I had long answers for lol! He said the museum could use a person with my knowledge base working there lol!
So after that off to the parliament buildings......at this point in the trip I'm giving priority and time to family and friends...parliament and Niagara falls will still be there for my next trip....so I drove by took some pics...very beautiful place....felt very Canadian at that point.
Inbound to Toronto, well Pickering to see my Uncle Geoff and his family whom I have not seen in 4+ years. His 2 sons were there for the weekend so my timing was great!
Alot has changed in that time, Sebastian and Liam have grown tremendously and turned into cool little dudes. And his little girl Bella....wow....she's 4 going on 14! She is just hilarious...a little personality that is full of life and energy. Wow! They are going to have problems with here later on! Lol!
So being the cousin they never see I was the object of alot of attention! Love it, we played Halo, NHL 2K8...we built forts, I drank wine when I had the chance, was a great night. After the kiddie went night I got to hang out with Geoff and Nicoletta abit until we fell asleep lol!
Sunday morning brought a typical wake up with Sebastian and Liam attacking me in my sleep! Lol! So I proceeded to get up and continue the beatings from the night previous! Lol!!! They loved that I could chuck them around! It was a pile of fun! Nicoletta and Geoff made a great breaky that evaporated quickly! Then Sebastian and I went ousted to play some street hockey...great times! Liam joined us later....then the snow started to fall.....and kept falling! Then all of us were playin hockey in a blizzard! Geoff had Bella on his team...she was not a god team mate....she would take a shot and then try to catch snow flakes on her tongue!
After that......we went to the back years to make a snow slide off the deck....we moved alot snow to make this! It went from the top of the deck down the stairs....and after it was packed down...it work not bad! No one took any mega spills on the plastic snowboard! Bella even went down on a sled! Then dinner, more video games and then the boys had to go back to their moms house...so we said good by....I'm gonna miss them.
Bella shows me her moated collection of Cars stuff....the movie Cars....wow...then it was story time for her and Nicoletta so Geoff and I went and sat downstairs and had a good chat...a long overdue chat. It was great to reconnect with him.
We all moved downstairs to watch some tv before bed...and we all fell asleep....3 kids will do that to ya lol!
Now it's Monday morning...shower, chuck everything in my suit case....Nicoletta makes me breaky and they give me a box, 2 soft coolers, and a ziploc bag of road food! Wow.....I'm not going to need to stop for food at all!
I'd like to thank Geoff and Nicoletta for everything. It was great to see everyone again...I just wish I ha more time...and I will make more time in the future. It was truly amazing to be out there and see you guys....thank you for everything.
So next stop is a friend of mine in Muskoka then the long....cold trek home....I have grossly underestimated the size of Ontario tho....there are some long cold days ahead...I'll be lucky to hit Kelowna by Friday...Saturday morning is prob more realistic.
Well that's the update for now. I have to pee...so I'm gonna go do that!
G'day everyone.
Well....once again I don't know when this will get up bit here is the fri, sat, Sunday update.
From my last post I was in the mall....more or less just wandered around Montreal till I met up with Steph later that night. We went to the Engineer pub....well it was a basement in a building in McGill! It was a great time! A bunch of first and second year kids, randomness, guys missing shirts, some drinking games, lab coats.....and 1.50$ Mooseheads!!!!! I had a few of those!
I met a couple of Steph's friends...one dude...I can't remember his name....but a cool dude!he ended up having with us the rest of the night....and he was impressed at the rate I consumed cheap beer!
We hung there for a bit then move back to the dorm, running half cut thru the cold Montreal streets trying not to get hit by cars! There was a floor Christmas party...well we get there and it was kinda quiet....prob about 10 people there just sitting and bs'ing....was actually kinda fun.
Then all of a sudden it was late....time for Pita pit! It's the go to place out there....because it's the only place that's open! We all hammered down some tasty late night fare and went back to the room and proceeded to crash out. I got up @ 6ish and was on the go by 630.....thank you Steph for letting me crash there....it was a great time!
so now it's Saturday and I'm on my way to Ottawa to check it out. From what some people have told me there is not much There except parliament....not so much...it's a beautiful town that I wish I would have budgeted more time for. I did randomly find the aviation museum and went for a looksee. Not quite the Smithsonian but refreshingly Canadian. I saw a some Canadian aviation history. I saw the first beaver....and what remains of the AVRO Arrow.....sad...I got the story of the nose section that survived total demolition. It was 'borrowed' by a teacher for metallurgic research....because at the time this was the most advanced aircraft ever with some exotic materials....so he borrowed it...and never returned it to the scrap yard. In the pictures you can see where it had been blow torched off of the rest of the plane....with a sharpie marker line that says....cut here. Sad.
I also took a tour of their storage/display/restoration hangar...had some neat stuff there. The guy who took us on the tour had great historical knowledge, but lacked technical knowledge. So him and the group asked some questions that I had long answers for lol! He said the museum could use a person with my knowledge base working there lol!
So after that off to the parliament buildings......at this point in the trip I'm giving priority and time to family and friends...parliament and Niagara falls will still be there for my next trip....so I drove by took some pics...very beautiful place....felt very Canadian at that point.
Inbound to Toronto, well Pickering to see my Uncle Geoff and his family whom I have not seen in 4+ years. His 2 sons were there for the weekend so my timing was great!
Alot has changed in that time, Sebastian and Liam have grown tremendously and turned into cool little dudes. And his little girl Bella....wow....she's 4 going on 14! She is just hilarious...a little personality that is full of life and energy. Wow! They are going to have problems with here later on! Lol!
So being the cousin they never see I was the object of alot of attention! Love it, we played Halo, NHL 2K8...we built forts, I drank wine when I had the chance, was a great night. After the kiddie went night I got to hang out with Geoff and Nicoletta abit until we fell asleep lol!
Sunday morning brought a typical wake up with Sebastian and Liam attacking me in my sleep! Lol! So I proceeded to get up and continue the beatings from the night previous! Lol!!! They loved that I could chuck them around! It was a pile of fun! Nicoletta and Geoff made a great breaky that evaporated quickly! Then Sebastian and I went ousted to play some street hockey...great times! Liam joined us later....then the snow started to fall.....and kept falling! Then all of us were playin hockey in a blizzard! Geoff had Bella on his team...she was not a god team mate....she would take a shot and then try to catch snow flakes on her tongue!
After that......we went to the back years to make a snow slide off the deck....we moved alot snow to make this! It went from the top of the deck down the stairs....and after it was packed down...it work not bad! No one took any mega spills on the plastic snowboard! Bella even went down on a sled! Then dinner, more video games and then the boys had to go back to their moms house...so we said good by....I'm gonna miss them.
Bella shows me her moated collection of Cars stuff....the movie Cars....wow...then it was story time for her and Nicoletta so Geoff and I went and sat downstairs and had a good chat...a long overdue chat. It was great to reconnect with him.
We all moved downstairs to watch some tv before bed...and we all fell asleep....3 kids will do that to ya lol!
Now it's Monday morning...shower, chuck everything in my suit case....Nicoletta makes me breaky and they give me a box, 2 soft coolers, and a ziploc bag of road food! Wow.....I'm not going to need to stop for food at all!
I'd like to thank Geoff and Nicoletta for everything. It was great to see everyone again...I just wish I ha more time...and I will make more time in the future. It was truly amazing to be out there and see you guys....thank you for everything.
So next stop is a friend of mine in Muskoka then the long....cold trek home....I have grossly underestimated the size of Ontario tho....there are some long cold days ahead...I'll be lucky to hit Kelowna by Friday...Saturday morning is prob more realistic.
Well that's the update for now. I have to pee...so I'm gonna go do that!
G'day everyone.
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