Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the Suicide cliffs of Okinawa. At the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. They jumped off the cliffs at the souther end of the main island. If you have seen theoriginal color footage taken at the time. I am sure you were moved with mothers holding their babies jumping to th...
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I have flown about 200,000 commercial miles in the last year. There is a pic below that shows what 200k miles of of boarding passes looks like. Now that the paper boarding passes are being replaced with electric ones on smart phones that image will get more rare.

DJ and I did some exploring in Atlanta. There still is quite a bit to explore. One thing is for sure the people are nicer (less rude) in Atlanta than anywhere in NY. That grows on you. I have a few stories about that. That is the Olympic torch from a more local angle. We went to the Varsity, the local burger place.

We went to Stone Mountain park for Memorial day and hiked the 5 mile Cherokee trail around and over part of the giant chunk of granite. It was an appropriate place for a Yankee to spend Memorial day. Stone mountain park is really a giant memorial of confederates. There is no secret about that and there are no memorials for other folks of the civil war. The sermon at church in the morning was about memorializing victims of all sides in a war. It was a very applicable message. I hadn't considered that there was so much memorialization of the confederacy.

Today was aviation day in Northern Atlanta. We went and heard Shuttle Command Pilot, Colonel Eric Boe at my monthly Pancake breakfast event at LZU. After that it was to the monthly BBQ and seminar at American Flyers at PDQ and the "Good Neighbors" airshow. All the events were excellent.

Later this month I am in Kansas for 3 days and then off to Prague Czechoslovakia for a big meeting of the team. I really like my job. We are making a big difference.

Comments

Todd Sheehan said…
I have fond memories of the Varsity. Isn't it really a 'hot dog' place? 2 chili dogs with the works please!!

How's that car of yours working out? What's the status of the Bakery??

Now... go get some air time in that plane of yours.

Todd
12:10 PM
Charles said…
Yeah...Hot dog place, slaw dogs. I ma not sure of what the local equivalent is to a Nick Tahoo's Garbage Plate.

We shut the bakery down. We are figuring out what is next. Business is that way.
4:12 PM
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