Not much to report just knocking down hours till my break which should be 1 week from today.  The other day we landed to get fuel and the fuel pump at Hummel airfield was out of service so I had to knock on hanger doors until i could find enough 100LL to get us back to our car.  Redneck of the sky.  Before that though I decided to take a nap under a tree in Virginia, it was lovely.

Also found this photo while sitting in my room while it rained all day, hotels are boring.

Guy flying this thing was so old he might of been the test pilot when it rolled off the factory floor.

Flew through the blue ridge of West Virginia and stopped off in Logan.  Not much to say about Logan but damn did I love being in the Mountains for a bit.  Now we are in the northern neck of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay.  It is disconcerting flying around a ton of military airspace, restricted airspace and D.C. I keep waiting to get intercepted by F-16s but hasn't happened yet and if I see a submarine I think I am obligated to try and land on it.  50 more hours on the helicopter till we get our two week break and I am counting down the hours.

Finished up in Michigan today so got two days to get to the northern neck of Virginia on the coast.  short flight tomorrow maybe to West Virginia then Virginia on Wednesday.  Happy to be back in the south and closer to home.  Happy early birthday dad!

"let me share my version of your Blog post: Flew 4.3 hours. <insert weather comment> I'm hot and sweaty and I hate my passenger.  The Midwest is tired.  Now I'm tired and need to do laundry and find beer.  Something something about where I landed and a farmer."
via text from Jon Long followed by:
"it's like the fine journal of quiet desperation.  I haven't seen a more pure account of existentialism since our !@#& bartender days."
god I love my man Jon!

As predicted winds picked up to 25 knots in the first fuel run so we had to cancel the day.  So I decided to mark something off the bucket list, surfing a Great Lake.  Went to Third Coast Surf shop in South Benton, MI to get a board but they were all out.  But fear not because surfers take care of each other and Cam a 21 year old kid drove me to his bands practice area where they stored their toys and let me borrow a 6'8" old lady board called the RED SCARE (you will get it when you scroll down to the photo)!  I'm not going to lie it wasn't the best surf session, not even close but I did catch a handful of short lefts to make it a day.  Damn board was like turning a school bus!  
Not matter how nasty and unreasonable things get you can always find some good in a day, place, person, event, blade of grass, eccentric cloud formation, breeze, etc...  I seem to forget that from time to time but it happens less and less with days like this.  Thanks Cam.  FOR THE MOTHERLAND COMRADE!!!

We got a day off so Michael and I took a day trip into Chicago.  Went to the Natural History Museum, ate good food and drank to much.  was a good day and night.  Back in Kalamazoo to finish up where we left off then off to god knows where.  Days are blurring into weeks and the job is grinding away.  Although the Midwest has been nice to see I am ready to get out of it.  I don't even know if Michigan counts as the Midwest but it is flat so I am going to count it.  Might be windy tomorrow so I might try and surf lake Michigan, that should break up the monotony.

We only flew 4.3 hours yesterday to work off the remaining hours before the 100 hour maintenance but before we were done we decided to land on Blarney Island.  Its a bar on a island in a lake with a helipad.  I got to say I did feel like a rock star when all the drunk folk started cheering but I couldn't accept free drinks... that sucked.

flew 39.7 hours last week and now I have a few days off while little gorda gets tuned up.  Going into Chicago today with Michael to see the city so expecting to eat some good food and have a few well deserved drinks and then sleep with no alarm clock.

7 hours today and exhausted.  Being near Chicago Michael insisted that we eat some local cuisine so we went to Rockys for dinner and had a traditional Chicago hotdog, some sort of roast beef sandwich and polish sausage with mustard and sauteed onions.  I have to give it to him, it was a great idea and it was freaking delicious.  Guess he is not completely full of it.  
Found out that after our break in August Air Photo will potentially ship Michael and I out west to shoot Washington and Oregon for a month or longer!  Packing my wet suit and cannot wait to be back in the west! Of course this is Air Photos plan and they are not to good at plans so we will just have to wait and see.
Side note I'm really not the guy to take photos of food but just had no choice.

And below the most amazing photo I have seen in a FBO bathroom.

Today marks one month of flying for Air Photo Inc. 9 states, 5 oil changes, 5 spark plug cleanings, a whole lot of sunscreen, a few arguments while in the air and 117.7 hours flying.  It has been a strange month but I am lucky to be doing something of this nature.  Looking forward to the next 4 months and really looking forward to my August break.  Thanks to everyone who has been with me along the way.  Love you all!

7.8.13

6.6 today.  Should finish up Nebraska in the morning then heading to Wisconsin, I am ready to leave Nebraska, you can't find I.P.A here! ridiculous.  Will stay the night in some small town in Iowa and the FBO owner sounds friendly as hell, should be another amazing person to meet on this strange road. 

7.7.13

5.8 today.  We had to wait out some strong winds this morning and a storm cell passing south of the airport.  The winds calmed down so we ran up and took off only to run into stronger winds 30 miles south.  So, in good fashion I put the bird down on a dead end next to an orchard.  20 minutes into waiting for the winds to die the farmer pulled up.  Ted was 65 and didn't realize that the end of his road was a heliport, he seemed to enjoy the surprise. 
Ted showed me around his pecan orchard (i thought they were apples) which was 5 years old and needed another 5 to mature and produce.  I asked him if he was planning on selling the orchard once they matured and his answer was amazing.  
"maybe, could make good money but I still enjoy digging in the dirt."  I think Ted has things figured out.

7.6.13

I haven't written anything lately well because there hasn't been anything to write about.  Still in Nebraska flying when we can but the wind, which never ends here, keeps us on the ground a lot.  I do enjoy the new beauty of the Midwest but if you don't like shopping and coffee shops then I have realized there is not much to do... Except drive to Missouri to buy fireworks.  
Micheal was very excited to have a day trip and so we went to Rockport, MO to go to the largest firework store in the U.S.  He spent $140 on pyrotechnics.
Basically it ended with a six pack of Miller Highlife and under a bridge on the Missouri/Nebraska border.  It strangely felt like the right thing to do while in this part of the country.

7.2.13

4.5 today.  Gave the Shaka to a f16 fighter pilot today and got one in return.  That's a first.

7.2.13

went to the grocery store last night to buy something healthy like some fruit and veg.  I ended up buying a six pack and a frozen lasagna.  Looks like another 8 hour day of flying.

!

7.7 yesterday and 7.8 today.  Hours are racking up and I am getting a fantastic tank top tan. ladies look out!  My coworker and I had a chat yesterday and it seemed to have help because today was much easier and smoother for both of us.  I am sure we will still have words in the air but we seem to have reached an understanding and can't ask for more then that.