HIGH FLYING LIFE

Here is an unusual photo of Scoopy, huh? Kind of hard to figure it out? That's because I took it out the window of a little plane in our neighbor's "driveway" (or whatever you call the area where you "drive" your plane).

I had lots of photos in the queue to post today, from our hike over near the coast yesterday and Just Stuff that has come up in our stay in Canby... but yesterday evening our neighbor, Bob Johnson, invited us to FLY to breakfast this morning.


Richard Dopp, our host here in Canby, had invited both Odel and me to go for a flight with him - one at a time, because he has a two seater plane - in our first few days here. I declined, since I have a touch of claustrophobia and I was concerned that it might be a not-so-comfortable experience.

Still, I had been thinking about it since then. When Bob suggested a ride, Odel and I looked at each other and said "Why not?" (Gulp!)


When I saw Bob roll the plane out of the hanger this morning, I walked over and explained my concern. I must not be the first to express fear of flying, because Bob had many thoughtful ways to set me at ease.

So, with breakfast awaiting us in Independence, Oregon, we got ready to roll.


I got the front seat, where all the dials, bells, and whistles would take my mind off of the close quarters. Bob got us buckled in, headsets on, explained a bit of the instrumentation, and off we went.

What fun! We taxied past the neighborhood homes, rolled out onto the grass airstrip, and ZOOOOOMMMM. We we off, bumping along the grass and then... we were airborne!

It was a beautiful morning, and we flew low enough that we could see everything: cars, RV parks, the river and boats, the patterns of the plow in the fields, bales of hay sitting in recently harvested hayfields. Lakes. Swimming pools. Homes and estates. Little grassy airstrips.

Before long, we were landing in Independence, where we had a big (and delicious) breakfast at a tiny restaurant on the fringe of the airfield there (paved). Then we were off again, with a little sightseeing before we headed home.

It was so relaxing in the air, maybe because I had absolutely NO responsibilities and NO multi-tasking to be done. I sat, looked, photographed and enjoyed.

Thank you, Bob. It was a delight.