Run that Road Block, A Memory Trigger

Copyright 2018, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

A friend was relating how she had to take her hubs to the ER at 1:00AM and she might be testy today.

Reminded me of my doing the same, in Moab a few years back. Man was sick, I had no idea where the hospital was. I did the GPS thing and at 3:00 AM or there abouts, said GPS delivered me to a ROAD BLOCK!

I called the hospital ER, nice man there calmed me down and told me, just run by that ole road block, the road is fine, and you won't fall off a bridge or anything nearly as sinister.

SO, this prude, did just that, I ran the road block. Yes, I did. You should be proud of me! LOL

And, within 36 hours, Man graciously shared a horrific flu thingy with me. Loads of fun.




* Story first posted on my Facebook wall.

** GIF Clipart, courtesy of http://www.clipartpanda.com/

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Memory Triggers, Flying Into Mackinaw Island

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Map courtesy of GoogleMaps
Mackinaw Island.  To the left is the Upper
Peninsula.  I-75 indicates the Mackinaw
Bridge which takes you approximately
5 miles from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City.

The other day while preparing a three day series I titled, "The Horses of Mackinaw", over at Reflection's Flora and Fauna, I set off another memory trigger, "arriving on the island via airplane".  (There are basically two ways to arrive on the island, by water ferry, or by air.)

I have arrived at Mackinaw via air on two occasions, once with my mother as the pilot and another time several years later with a friend of Man's as the pilot.

My mother had done her homework, she knew the runway, how there is not a lot of distance between one end and, mmmm, the water (looking at maps I am guessing it is about 2000 feet).  She knew because of prevailing winds we would be landing and taking off in the same direction, with that water in our view.  (AKA, taking off to the west.)

Map courtesy of GoogleMaps
I left the scale on the bottom left, using
it, it sure looks like a little less than
2000 feet from end of runway to water,
flying west (actually, slightly south-west).

(By the way, there is a web page from AirNav on Mackinaw Airport, with oodles and oodles of techy and other information.  I am still amazed at what I can find on the net in just seconds.  Of course, there is a Wikipedia page as well, with a photo of the airport taken from the air.  You can see from the photo that if you take off towards the water you better be air born and stay that way, or you will be swimming.)

But, I digress, another little tidbit my mother was aware of was that there are prevailing winds that hit your plane as you land from the side.  She also knew that we would feel the affect of this side wind very close to the ground and she would need to do on approach, which, was to do what pilots call "crabbing".

On our landing my mother did her approach, crabbed the landing, and just like she wanted, we landed in the middle of the runway, not off to one side, which is one of the things that can happen when you do not crab during the landing.

The next time Man and I flew to the island for the day with a friend of his from work.  While chatting on the way up, we discussed my mother and the crabbing landing.  I got the feeling our pilot friend did not fully buy into my story or hints. 

And, so, we make our approach, coming in just right, down the middle of the runway, when, OOOPS!  that cross wind snagged us, and nope, our pilot friend was not crabbing (or not enough).  He had underestimated, he corrected.  I don't remember if we landed in the middle of the runway, what I do remember is his apparent shock, if I remember, his remark was something akin to, "WOW, Who knew?"

MMMMMM, I knew, and, snicker, I tried to warn ya!

*Graphic courtesy of horton-szar.net  (Link no longer functions, April, 2019)

Memory Triggers - - Dogs and Deer

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

You know how it goes, your mind is wandering (no smarty remarks from my readers about how my mind is ALWAYS wandering!  LOL)

You think one thing, and in a minute or two that memory has led you down a strange path,

to a memory past - -

The yorks are out in the yard, doing what they do out there, and I happen to see a deer, not just ANY deer, but a buck.  In the more than 15 years we have lived here, I have seen less than a handful of bucks.  Lots of mommas and babies, but, not many daddies.

My memory immediately flips to a trip many years ago, in fact, I shared a couple of photos of it with you, but only some of the memories. Here is another.

As we started up the trail on our "little" walk, I was concentrating on not stepping on some of the sharp stones that protruded out of the trail surface, I was wearing thin plastic sandals, not much protection.  Every few steps I would glance up to be sure I was still headed in the correct direction and to check for trees standing in my way.

Not far up the trail when I looked up, I saw deer, a small herd.  No bucks, but deer.  Standing EXTREMELY still.  Almost frozen in time, and my first thought was - -

"Wasn't it nice of the park officials to have these statues of deer out here on the trail, to add some authenticity - - -"

Then, I realized, these were NO statues. They were real!

I giggle at myself every time my memory triggers lead me to this long ago memory, of deer, statues, and hikes with my family.

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