John & Anne Wiley

2010/08/15

Perspectives & Media

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 00:57

Today I had an eDialog with an eFriend, about the eXquisite nature of reality. OK, now that I’ve perhaps annoyed you, let me clarify a bit. By eDialog I mean conversation via email, as you probably guessed. eFriend is my way of describing a wonderful multi-year relationship I (and a few times Anne) have carried on with someone whom we’ve never met. I mangled “exquisite” just to playfully over extend the theme. 🙂

It’s such an increasingly strange and wonderful world we inhabit. Sure we’ve watched “You’ve Got Mail” with friends and talked at length about virtual friendships (including with our virtual friends). We’ve also enjoyed the great precursor films “Shop Around the Corner” and “Good Old Summertime” filmed back when it was all about exchanging physical snail mail with an unknown Dear Friend. But today I’m thinking for example about the greater depth I find in eDialog than back when I had physical pen pals.

Molly enjoys TXTing, and we’re doing more of that now but it’s declined precipitously now that she’s in France for the Summer. That medium and tweeting seem to me lacking in substance and capability, though TXTing can be very useful for some logistical stuff. To digress a moment, our cellphones often don’t ring so when we’re in Costco or some other big box store it can be frustrating to connect via voicemail, when a simple “Computer aisle” TXT does it instantly.

Email though, seems to beautifully mingle the dialog with our literary minds. Each participant can read and reply at will and whenever convenient, yet there’s instant delivery so topics don’t tend to stale as with snail mail. The fact it’s email rather than voice gives us the time and tools to easily edit and clarify our expressions via the literary part of our consciousness, rather than limiting our expressions to the vocal circuits (oh how many times I’ve left a truly stupid and incomprehensible voicemail!). I also like that my large amount of email dialog has improved (my opinion, but ask Anne) my verbal dialog.

So does any of this make sense? Do you have similar or contradictory opinions or experience?

Anyway, I’d like to also share another of yesterday’s aerial perspectives on this little bit of paradise we call home.

0852 SB Beneath Our Wing

0852 SB Beneath Our Wing

I’ve trimmed the highlights with a photo editor to better show something like what we saw, so the wing strut is reduced to the almost black angle bottom-left. I don’t know if you can make out the tread clamped on there, that I climb up on to check and add fuel. Some photos like this one (before I edited it) show that tread or one of our wheels, and remind me we’re in a vehicle. I mean, often while flying I’m in some special dual state. Part of me is flying, monitoring radio and all the instruments; and maintaining a 3D mental image of the airspace including nearest landing spots, other aircraft, obstacles, etc.

The “larger” part of my consciousness while flying though is in dream time. That special state so similar to my childhood flying dreams that I’ve written elsewhere might account for “prop advance.” This spacious awareness is more present and alive than my ordinary earthbound experience. This part of flying is why I most love it. Far beyond the many other joys of flying, this part resonates with infinity within me.

Noticing a tread I’ve recently stood on, or a strut, wheel or other part of the aircraft somehow yanks me into a sudden integration of ordinary reality with this “big” part of flying. Lots of words, but hopefully some glimmer of what I’m trying to express.

Do you get any inkling of what flying can be from the words and pictures?

Speaking of perspectives, occasionally we like to fly over Oprah’s mansion or some other playground (Neverland, for example) because it’s a glimpse of an entirely different reality.

0870 Part of Oprah's SB Estate

0870 Part of Oprah's SB Estate

There’s something really fascinating about seeing beyond the hedges and walls, because you get a dim and distant impression of what a person with basically unlimited resources will create as an expression of self. That of course, gets me noticing what our little place looks like and what we would do with limitless funds. O the possibilities. I like to imagine something small and modest, with the funds going to some sort of Grameen Bank effort and other contributions to our species and planet. What would you do with a billion dollars?

2010/08/14

Breathtaking!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Random,SB Region,Tripp — John @ 05:43

Well, we did fly and it was vastly more magnificent than I’d imagined. What a beautiful place to live! I confess to having actually wondered if it would seem pedestrian after flying through places like Jasper. Luckily I was wrong, because this is certainly an easier climate – especially for flying!

But to finish a thought, we did see some traffic of the vehicular kind and it did bring an evil smile. 🙂

0854 Traffic

0854 Traffic

Now for those less familiar with Santa Barbara, let me hasten to add some context. First, this is at the height of “rush hour” on a Friday afternoon in summer when our local traffic is burdened further by people trying to drive through on Hwy. 101 between LA and SF, and this is a major construction choke point where lanes being added are temporarily making things worse before they get better. Before the road work, this would have lasted perhaps 40 minutes, but now it sometimes goes well over an hour and on Sunday afternoons several hours. Even so, you can get a sense of how beautiful a place it is to sit in traffic. The bird refuge at the top, and the Andree Clark “cottage” at the top-right corner are perhaps the most obvious from this distance. If you’re ever passing through and encounter traffic, do yourself a favor and exit to stroll the beach or State Street.

0851 San Roque

0851 San Roque

Everything is within a few minutes’ drive here, and this scene is perhaps a mile from the freeway. The municipal golf course gives way to a small plaza with one of our largest independent bookstores. The line above that in the distance is what I call the Stevens Bridge over a park, where before going to the airport today we drove home from Trader Joe’s (locals can find it in this photo) doing our vote. That’s where we drive across looking left and right, and vote on our favorite view (which changes by the minute on most days). Usually the mountains win, though sometimes the harbor or less often the islands emerge victorious. In case you’re wondering, today was an islands day.

Speaking of Andree Clark, here’s another view (to complement those in the news lately, including some of mine) of her immaculate and unused estate, with the bird refuge on the right and the beach on the left. The lovely SB Zoo is just out of frame at the top.

0861 Andree Clark Estate

0861 Andree Clark Estate

I hope these few words and pix give some idea of why we so love living here, and found it so very refreshing to fly over Our Town again today. Maybe it’s just infatuation, but it seemed to me Tripp enjoyed it as much as we. 🙂

2010/08/13

Traffic

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Inner World,Random,SB Region,Tripp — John @ 22:55

Today was our first foray out into the world since our return. For a variety of reasons, we just stayed in for nearly a week! We’ve cataloged and put away most of the stuff from Tripp, and are about to go pet her a bit and maybe take her for a ride. Meanwhile tho, I wanted to share a realization from our drive into town.

Partly due to not having been out of the house much, and our only drive being from the airport home in the dark, driving in traffic was stimulating. We realized after a moment that during our NxNW Adventure it was rare that we rode in a car, and only a few times did we drive one. The last big city we were in was Edmonton about a week ago. Careening along a narrow lane at 65mph with cars a couple of feet away merging, passing and all that… Well, it was a bit overwhelming. I mean, if any of those drivers take their hands of the wheel for five seconds there’s going to be mayhem. Even though lots of them are on cellphones and a few are txting, most keep at least one hand on the wheel and glance at the road every couple of seconds.

Contrast this with flying, where the “marked” lanes are 500-1000′ apart and even without autopilot most airplanes will happily fly along on course for perhaps 15 seconds and then gradually drift a bit. Even in “crowded” airspace like SBA it’s not unusual to have great difficulty spotting another airplane even when it’s “close” enough that you’re carefully looking. Actually coming near another plane is very rare except of course landing and taking off, and collisions even more rare (though they get lots more media attention than the daily highway carnage). While flying, when a pilot says, “Traffic” it means there’s another aircraft visible somewhere, but I often say it when noting freeway congestion below with unabashed delight. Will today’s drive help me to feel more compassion for all those souls who aren’t flying? Am I an insufferable snob, who will get my due when our meager savings are all spent and we’re forced back to ground-based transport?

Well, enough spew. Hope we can safely reach the airport, and maybe get a glance at the freeway traffic from a safe distance. 🙂

2010/08/11

Houdini

Filed under: Aviation,by Anne,Flying,Has Photos,NxNW Adventure,Random — Anne @ 00:39

It’s funny how the (minor) traumas of a trip are what we remember with such amusement.  John’s description of our ONE hour of sleep in the plane is one of these.  After he set up the twin mat, I went in the plane first, without him, and got claustrophobic all by myself.  He stood with equanimity while I “ohm-ed” myself out of panic, and I opened the door so I could breathe more air than seemed available.  I thought “I’ve got to get hold of myself, he’s gonna think I’m loony.” After a bit I did get calm, he got in and we slept a comfortable hour – until his gasp.  I figure his distress came when he tried to shift position in his sleep and realized he couldn’t. Then I tried to turn and, like he said, could not without pointing my toes into the tail of the plane.  How then to un-point them in that tiny space for sleeping? John was now clear he wanted to get up and out of there.  As he contemplated how to do that, I realized he’d be moving around in his struggle to get out, thus I’d be partially covered by him and claustrophobic thoughts were likely to visit me again.  Without hesitation, I said “I can get out” and I lifted my legs up, turned them to the partially opened door, and slid out of the plane in one deft move.

Voila!  That gave John more room, which he needed with his longer height, to negotiate his exit.  Our musings about sleeping in the plane had been laid to rest in one short hour, and we resolved, never to return.  THIS is what we found preferable to the plane :)…  and maybe for both of these reasons, and it having been our third night in a row, it turned out to be our last night of camping on this trip!

0233 Collapsing Tent (better than us stuffed in the plane)

0233 Collapsing Tent (better than us stuffed in the plane)

2010/08/10

Counting

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,Random,Tripp — John @ 23:36

We had some fun in the wee hours last night, tallying up some stuff from our N by NW trip. Looks like about 9,600 miles covered in about 77 hours of flying. About 40 minutes of that flying was in darkness over familiar terrain. We flew in light to negligible rain four or five times, once in moderate rain, once in light hail, and nearly all of the trip in some amount of visible smoke or haze. Today on the smoke maps I notice that nearly all of our route is no longer shown with significant smoke, and once the fog cleared this morning our mountain view is deliciously crisp (we’re talking about taking an evening “homecoming” flight to enjoy the clear air!). We had ten nights in hotels and eight camping, including our little experiment: sleeping in Tripp.

That was at Terrace, when we decided to try out the cozy bed for two idea we’d heard from an expert SBA pilot. By rearranging stuff with the rear seat back removed, you can create a nice platform from the rear baggage area up to the front seat backs. I put bungees on to keep the front seat backs tilted forward, and inflated a twin-size airmat that was slightly squeezed where it entered the rear baggage area for four inches or so where the width tapers toward the tail. Looked pretty good. It wasn’t! The airmat took up too much of the small vertical space inside the tail baggage area, so it was impossible to roll over without pointing your toes. It was also too short for my 6’1″ without keeping my knees bent, and for two people the art of synchronized turning is also required. That was a very brief and troubled sleep, and it ended with an intense claustrophobic gasp that woke us both. It took a moment to realize it had come from me, and then I devoted a minute or two to meditation on transcending the illusion of inability to breathe, and after a very brief and groggy convo we decided to exit the aircraft. While I was struggling to invent a means of escape other than slithering face-first down the landing gear, Anne in one deft “Houdini” movement was standing outside wearing an especially broad smile as she danced and stretched. We then put up the tent and slept soundly for another two hours until the tent gradually collapsed onto my face, though that event was more quickly and easily resolved by just relocating on the luxurious padded queen-size airmat until the tent encroachment was avoided. As we’ve already written, the sleep ended a few hours later when airport security informed us in perfect Canadian etiquette that we needed to move everything back another 20 feet from the taxiway. In case you’re wondering, the tent collapse was due to the pockets that hold the poles having holes in them (thus the poles slip until the tent eventually stretches out flat on the ground with poles protruding through the pockets, though we woke before that happened).

Anyway! Here’s a map with our actual GPS track, except for a couple of small voids where I was futzing with the GPS and one short stretch hand-drawn where I’d forgotten to start a new track before the current one hit max and began deleting the end. The result of that was a long caterpillar shape moving across the continent with a growing gap behind it that no longer showed where it had been. Had I not remembered to do the two or three clicks to fix it, we’d have only the last 1/4 or so of our adventure from the GPS. I’ve added the airports we stopped at, for context.

GPS Tracks With Airports

GPS Tracks With Airports

Our longest flights were about 4-5 hours, and our longest day (with two flights) was probably from Medford home with the refreshing lunch stop at Sonoma. Most days were a leisurely 2-3 hours of flying, with lots of diversions here and there to look at stuff and some fun convos about where and when to take our next stop. Several times we planned a stop and then changed plans on a whim, based on the looks of our intended destination, or when weather (including smoke) invited us to reconsider.

You’ll recall that we landed at some of the airports (and some cities) more than once so here’s the complete list of our 29 landings since leaving SBA, in sequence:
Santa Ynez, CA *Night
Tonopah, NV
Jackson Hole, WY
Red Lodge, MT
Sheridan, WY
Pierre, SD
Ellendale, ND
Fond du Lac, WI
Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Thunder Bay, ON
Fort Frances, ON
Winnepeg, MB
Regina, SK
Unity, SK
Edmonton, AB (Municipal)
Jasper-Hinton, AB
Burns Lake, BC
Pr. Rupert, BC
Terrace, BC
Ketchikan, AK
Smithers, BC
Pr. George, BC
Jasper-Hinton, AB
Edmonton, AB (International)
Glacier Park, MT
Medford, OR
Sonoma, CA
SBA *Night

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