Home Sweet Home

After being gone for a week and a half from home it is really amazing how much you miss the loved ones in your life. I mean when you travel across the country and meet many new people that you have never met before is rather mentally exhausting. It is nice to see familiar faces like my mom, dad, and sister. Not to mention my girl friend who I love very much. It was so great to see her again as well. When I touched down in SMX or Santa Maria Airport I just had a huge sense of accomplishment. I felt like I had done something that most people have never done in there entire lives or ever will do in there lives. It is a feeling that I will never forget and a adventure I will never regret.

Sunrise in Arizona

I am sure anyone who has ever traveled across country has experienced jet lag before, whether it be commercially or privately. This is the sunrise in Arizona and the only reason I was able to witness the beauty of the sunrise was because of that jet lag. I know that most people think of it as a nuisance but this time it payed off. I have never seen such a gorgeous sun rise. Not to mention that the couple that we were staying with were the most interesting people I have ever met! Next to my grandfather that is. Both of them had flown around the world and have known some of the most marvelous people that have walked this earth. The gentleman's name was Mark Rehbolz and he was the pilot of the Vickers Vimy in the Vintage air rally that went from Europe to Australia. Not only was Mark Rehbolz the pilot but his copilot was Steve Fosset!

If you do not know who Steve Fosset held 115 world records! Some have been superseded but most still stand. You might ask why he "held" them. He was in a tragic airplane accident in the sierra Nevada mountains. This just shows that when you stop at a family friends house you should always ask about what they have done with there life if the right time shows itself to ask. You might just find out that they have done some amazing things with there lives and could help you with yours.

The First Leg

When you fly from one end of the country to the other you are bound to have problems. Well, when I flew I experienced just that! The Sab Safire, even though it is a beautiful aircraft, is still a vintage airplane and with any "vintage" vehicle it has problems. I myself just acquired a 2002, 1976 BMW which was given to me but cost 3,000 dollars to get it to pass California's smog requirements, but it was worth every penny. I digress, the Sab Safire had battery problems and could not hold a charge. So, we could jump the airplane but could not start it off of the battery power by itself. Not to mention that once you had touched down and the R.P.M. in the motor went down the battery charge dropped so low that the radio would not function! It makes it hard to talk to the tower when you have no radio.

These pictures displayed above are from our first stop at Perry Foley airport where we could not start the airplane. So we had to spend the night and let the battery charge before trying again in the morning. Luckily the airplane did start up again and we were able to continue out of Perry Foley, North Florida and into its neighboring state Alabama.

The Man Who Made it Possible

My Grandfather at eighty two years of age is still able to fly his two airplanes legally. He has his pilots license until it expires in 2012. He is the healthiest and most energetic person I know and he is older than all of them. He was the reason I wanted to go on this trip because if it had been with anybody else I wouldn't have trusted them. He was my guardian on this trip and he made it so I could experience something that most people don't get to experience in there entire lives. Along the way I also learned his life in how he came from Sweden, to Germany, to U.S.A., to India (Where he witnessed the birth of my Mother), back all the way to U.S.A. It is a fascinating story and he was more than happy to tell me about it as if it had just happened a few days ago. He is the reason I want to get my pilots license and he is the one who has inspired me to achieve my dreams and explore the world.