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Showing posts from June 12, 2011

100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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The sad news yesterday was that the Liberty Belle B-17 burned up. I toured the plane a few months ago. I took the pics, but not the one on flames. Thank god they had a good place to land and everybody got out. Gasoline! and lots of it.
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The past week has been a blur. DJ has been in Atlanta for a few weeks. We went and saw Loretta Lynn in concert. What a trip. She won't be doing a whole bunch more concerts, I suspect. The weather up in NY continues to be difficult. If it isn't bridges washed out, it is high winds ripping barn roofs off like mine. The neighbors barn roof got wrapped around the wires. OK, already, I understand about the destructive aspects of weather and time. I cropped one of the photos from last weeks air show. It is pretty unbelievable what some of these guys do especially when I find myself a bit to the left or right of the center-line all to often on landing. I expect to be in the air pretty much every few days for the rest of the summer. The high temps certainly affect aircraft performance. Just because an airplane has four seats doesn't mean it can carry four people. When it is 95 degrees out the newer 172s can only carry 2 people my size, full fuel and a sandwich or two. ...