Well, I was a man of my word...just a day late!
Sandy came over this morning, and I was able to take her up. It was actually almost afternoon before she finally got here, but we were moving slooooooooooooow today. The clouds were really low anyway, so we knew we wouldn't be able to map. But we had to at least "scout" from the sky. Rain was pretty much everywhere south of the field...all the way down to Miami. But we tried it out anyway.
And I had my worst experience on the ground so far!!! I called up Clearance and was asked to "standby." I obliged. The frequency was lit up this afternoon...jets trying to push out...the guy never stopped talking. Well, after 10 minutes (literally), some foreign-accent voice came on the the middle of all of the mumbo-jumbo, requesting some type of pattern work.
"Skyhawk 151, I asked you to STAND-BY! I will get to you when I get to you!!!!" His voice was less than pleasant...
I keyed up the mike. "Actually, Skyhawk 151 has NOT said a word." And I just sat there.
The only guys laughed at me. But c'mon?! What was that all about?! I was yelled at, and I didn't even do anything!!!
Five minutes later he came on and asked if I was still wanting to do the pattern work. "No, sir, I am flying northwest at 2500 feet." He QUICKLY passed me off to ground. Couldn't that have been easier 15 minutes ago?! What a pain. Oh, well. Kenton had logged 0.3 before he even taxied.
Sandy and I flew out west over the Everglades...I took her up over and between the clouds...so fun! Then we cut back over Pompano Beach and flew down the coast, then back in. It was a pretty quick flight (3o minutes), but I was glad I could take her up.
The rest of the day involved reading outside (before the rain pushed me in), eating out at the Moonlight Diner (a new favorite of mine!), picking up Matt in the pouring rain, and then visiting Sandy at her house. I watched "Fracture" with her...a decent flick. Ended up getting back at 4:00 A.M. yikes!
Oh, and on the way to her house, I stopped to help a couple in the rain. They were standing outside their car waving for help...in the pouring rain. I initially passed by, but I stopped and backed up. I was told they were out of gas. "Oh boy, another money request." But I listened. They wanted a ride to the gas station. I asked how they would get gas in the car. She had no idea. Hmm. Well, I told them I would be back...but I didn't feel comfortable giving them a ride (the guy said he would go along with me...I said nope). I called Sandy and told her I would be late. I went to the gas station, bought a gas can, filled it up, and took it back. They were nothing short of surprised when I pulled up. Before I had left, she asked where I was from, and I told her Illinois. She said NOBODY down here would stop, so she knew I wasn't from here. The guy told me he knew I wouldn't be back. I told him in no uncertain terms. "I live to be a man of my word. If I say I'll something, I'm going to do it. Even if I couldn't find a gas can, I would have returned and told you that simply because I said I would be back." I really believe that. It was kind of a pain, but integrity comes at a price. They poured in the gas, started up, and headed off...but not before she gave me a number. She wanted to repay me with a haircut...ha. I took the number, told her I would call tomorrow...but didn't feel too good about that because it just showed me that they thought they HAD to repay me. My gesture was no longer generosity. I hated that. I even refused money on the scene because of that. I didn't do it to be repaid.
Anyway. I'll call her tomorrow.
But tomorrow is definitely going to be crappy. Thunderstorm and rain everywhere.
Oh, our parking lot literally has 6-8 inches of water in the entire thing. It's unbelievable. Even the restaurants had the same thing going on. I have never seen anything like it. It's a mess!
Sleep, sleep, sleep!!!
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