Saturday, August 19, 2017

Blogging in Formation My Favorite Destination

Blogging in Formation My Favorite Destination


#blogformation #blog #avgeek #aviation



Its Blogging in Formation Week—
Posts all week by your favorite Pilot-Bloggers!

This months theme:

My Favorite Destination
—  —  —  —  —  —


But First . . .
Ladies and Gentlemen, from the Flight Blog, by popular demand,
Im proud to announce the upcoming world premier of my new video vlog, 
"Livin the Dream: Another Day in the Life of an Airline Pilot"
Premiering February 6th at 0900 PHX time, right here on Capnaux.com!


Until then, please enjoy this 20 second trailer!


Trailer to Livin the Dream! from Capnaux on Vimeo.

Direct link: http://vimeo.com/capnaux/dreamtrailer

And now . . .

My Favorite Destination

I know I dont get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
Its a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe

Glacier Bay; on Final approach into JNU

But theres this one particular harbor
So far but yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear

"One Particular Harbour"—Jimmy Buffet

Theres been a vision in my head all my adult life. A very vivid dream, I think. But it may very well be a real memory. A vague picture of a secret destination that I stumbled upon while flight training in a small college nearby.

To this day, I havent figured it out.

Nestled in the rugged Chiricahua mountains in southeastern Arizona is a tiny dirt strip that only the most intrepid, determined pilots can find, let alone slip into.
You must take the base-to-final turn on faith that somethings actually there. It takes all of your skills to safely land. But once you do, the camaraderie you find there is magical. You are part of a family.

Theres picnic tables, fireplaces, a beautiful mountain stream, all covered by a lush canopy of Ponderosa pines. Indeed, the strip itself is surrounded by pines, all the more tough to spot and land.
_______________
Lakes below the mountains
Flow into the sea
Like oils applied to canvas
How they permeate through me
_______________
You roll to a stop, kill the engine, hop out. The warm sun greets you from a cloudless blue sky. Children laugh and play. Barbecue wafts on the dusty breeze. Somewhere, somebody plays a guitar. And of course, the sound of prop planes buzzing in and out fill the air like dozens of magical fairies.

Its the warmest, coziest, most peaceful feeling my mind can conjure.

And perhaps conjure it has. As I said, I cant be sure if its a dream or an actual memory. It may even be mixed with my most cherished childhood memories, of backpacking with my family deep in the wilds of the Ansel Adams Wilderness, south of Yosemite.
Dad fishes at Frank Lake (named after my grandfather.)
The epicenter of my familys most cherished spot on earth.
_______________
And theres that one particular harbour
Sheltered from the wind
Where the children play on the shore each day
And all are safe within
_______________
In my travels, Ive racked up many particular harbors: Juneau Alaska, St. Croix USVI, Interlaaken Switzerland, Telluride Colorado, and St. Barts, Antilles (rumored to be Jimmy Buffetts famed "Cheesburger in Paradise.")


Playin hookie in Paradise!
(Thats me on the left, with Capns Brian & Kevin, & Randy.)
These 3 may know the answer to my riddle; Im afraid to ask.
And perhaps my favorite, a sleepy little coastal fishing village tucked way back in the wilds of Venezula, with no paved roads, no phones, and not a soul who speaks English. My commuter pilot buddies and I went there for a weekend, and stayed for a week. (We hitchhiked 30 miles to the next town to call in sick. Crew scheduler Paula, God rest her soul, covered our a$$es for the price of a 5th of rum.)


_______________
Ive seen enough to feel the world spin
Mixin different oceans meetin cousins
Listen to the drummers and the night sounds
Listen to the singers make the world go round
_______________


St. Barts. I could land my Aztec here in half the runway...
but I always rolled out to the end to check out
the nude beach!


But today, decades later, if I detect a slight dust in the air, Im instantly transported back.

Back to that magical land, that One, True, Particular Harbor.




And I am  completely  at peace.


_______________
A most mysterious calling harbour
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hairs full gray
And finally disappear
_______________

In some ways, it doesnt matter whether my destination is real or imagined. Because it exists in my head, its real. As real as the oatmeal I had for breakfast.

And the world is a better place, knowing it exists.

One Particular Harbor, by Jimmy Buffett
(accompanied by some random, Islandy pics)

Direct Link: http://youtu.be/f0fj-UevS0s

Have you found your particular harbor? Share it with us if you have. If not . . . find it! Its out there. Out there waiting for you to discover.

Remember, Capn Aux always sez:
The world is a Disneyland made just for you!
—  —  —  —  —  —  —
                        POST-FLIGHT CHECKLIST
  1.  JOIN THIS SITE....................VERIFY.............................JOINED
  2.  COMMENT............................VERIFY.............................MADE
  3.  FACEBOOK...........................VERIFY.............................LIKED
  4.  TWITTER...............................VERIFY.............................TWEETED
  5.  EMAIL....................................VERIFY.............................MAILED
  6.  OTHER NETWORKS............VERIFY.............................SHARED 
          POST-FLIGHT CHECKLIST.......................COMPLETE!      
    — — — — — — —


    Feb. 1: House of Rapp - Ron Rapp
    Adventures of Cap’n Aux - Eric Auxier
    Feb. 2: iFLYblog - Brent Owens
            Aviation Author - Mark L. Berry
    Feb. 3 Smart Flight Training - Andrew Hartley
    Feb. 4: Flight to Success - Karlene Petitt

    And Introducing our new fighter pilot team!

    Available link for download

    Go to link Download


    Posted by at
    Labels: , , , , ,

    No comments:

    Post a Comment

    Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)