[gbeck]

Well Jim, there is always a 1/2 pint of ole Jack Daniels, by the time you get over the hangover, you are over the jetlag as well, but it definitely gets your mind off of the time factor.

GBeck

[Folgore]

Welcome back, Jim! We missed ya. You'll have to tell us about your vacation when you've gotten over your jetlag / sobered up. Don't listen to these guys telling you to go straight to sleep: Stay up until your normal bedtime in your local time zone. When you wake up, enjoy a civilized brunch. With a Bloody Mary. Or two. That'll do it.

(Hmmm... I might have to try that this weekend. Just to stay in practice.)

[jim]

Many thanks for the welcome back and all your best wishes, I sure missed you guys.

Well I dont know how to begin to tell you all what a great trip Lorraine and I had (and little Jimmy was with us the first 2 weeks all 6 foot 5 of him).
It was a remarkable experience from start to finish.

We had a good flight to Chicago only to find that our connection to Colombus had been cancelled!
So they shipped us over to Dullas and then to Colombus (both of these flights were delayed).
Total travel time was 25 hours.
The taxi driver at Colombus airport then took us to the wrong hotel!
Anyway eventually we arrived at the correct hotel, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a nearby all night sandwich place and hit the sack totally wrecked and slept until the middle of the following day.

That day we had the pleasure of meeting one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet, Captain Eddie.
He very graciously invited us to his home for dinner and to meet his wonderful family.
Mrs Eddie made us most welcome and had cooked a superb dinner, and guess what the Captain had gone and done?
He went out special and bought us some Krispy Kream doughnuts. (he saw on the Hanger that I had said they are my favourites).
However compared to Mrs Eddies chocolate Brownies they were nothing, Lorraine is now hooked on Brownies and will be contacting Mrs E for the recipe).
The Capt showed me around his beautiful home and I got to see his very impressive diecast collection.
The next day we went to the Mustang show, and YEEEhaw the first thing I spotted was Two yes Two P40s. "AWESOME".
Yup I know it was a Mustang show but those two birds were the icing on the cake.
In front of those birds we met some of you guys from the Hanger, great stuff, great people, and great T shirt Parsig, you made a good job of that.

The Captain helped showed us around and gave us all kinds of good info. WHAT A SHOW ,outstanding, and so many beautiful Mustangs to look at and drool over and boy did I drool.
We had three days at the show and loved every minute,(yet more kindness from Captain, he drove us back to the hotel every night and his family took my son out around town ). The F22 display was awesome. I know one thing for sure, I would want to draw swords with that bird its an outstanding achievement of American technology.

Yet again we had another wonderful experience thanks to the Captain and a friend of his in the Fire Service, we got to play with a real live American fire truck and ladder. One of those huge steerable ladder thingys with the second driver position on the back.
Lorraine drool at those hunky firemen while James (my son) and me crawled all over the fire engines and took lots of photos.
We cannot thank Captain Eddie , his family and friends enough for all the effort they put in to make us welcome so welcome.
Lorraine and me were very sad to leave them and the parting was a touch emotional I must say.
I am sure we have made a life long friendship with those wonderful people.

Well now came the culture shock when we went to Vegas. I am sure you all know about Vegas so that part of the trip I can skip through.
Lorraine hated the place the first day ,but you know Vegas and it wasnt too long before she was putting a few dollars in the machines.
By the end of the stay there she had changed her mind and realy enjoyed seeing all the amazing stuff like the fountains and the Volcano etc.
I enjoyed the Fremont Street experience the most, that light show is spectacular.

Well back on our travels again and off to Skunky land in Maine. I forgot about the time difference and we arrived at night.
I had a car waiting at the airport.
Now you guys insist on driving on the wrong side of the road plus the car was new to me and an auto shift and it was dark all added to my fears for the safety of myself and the people of Maine.
However after a few close calls I sort of got the hang of things and with the aid of a Sat Nav made it safely to our hotel.
The next week was spent touring some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. Lorraine said it was her kind of place.
Lots of good land ready for the plough as soon as she ripped out a few trees.

At the end of the week we drove back down the coast for the great meeting of minds, yes folks me n the skunk met up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"What a guy".
Yet again on this trip we met up with another bunch of wonderful people. Good old Skunky and his family.
Skunky and Mrs Skunky whisked us off to their lair in the woods ( this house is way to good for a Skunk and beautifully kept by Mrs S). coffee and a good old chin wag followed. (you know, diecast and serious stuff like that).
That evening we went down to town and had some great food and more deep conversation and much laughter resounded around the place.
I dont want to spoil Skunkys image so I wont tell you all that he is a really nice guy and a very thoughtful sincere and caring person under all that fur.
Oh and bye the way he doesn't smell at all, not in the least though I suspect Mrs S gave him a good clean up before we met.
The lucky fella has some great diecast too, and his modeling skills are outstanding.
Sadly we only had that day together and all too soon it was toime to be off again down to Cape Cod.

Would you believe it? That Skunky fella has relatives down there and he tipped them off we were coming down ,well what can I say, yet again we were treated like royalty and ol Skunkys kin (note I am getting the American speak into my vocalberry) took us all over the Cape so that we didnt miss out on anything.
Oh we stayed in Boston a couple of nights and the cab driver took us to the wrong hotel from the airport).
There is lots more I could write but this tome is way too long already.

Folks our most lasting memories of this trip is not the places we visited but the people we met.
At every turn we were made so welcome by everyone, it was a most humbling experience and one that we will never ever forget.

On a serious note , if all those people around the world that constantly try to put America down would visit the place and meet the people then they might just realise that America really is a great nation and a good friend in a troubled world.
The one thing I noticed as an outsider is that there is a deep core believe in American society that believes in doing the right thing. Family values and civic pride are alive and well in the US.
I know that America has its problems and I am not blind to that but it also has this deep belief in itself that I am certain will see it through the difficult times ahead.
KEEP FLYING THE FLAG BUDDIES AND GOD BLESS AMERICA.

And on a funnier note, MO MO stuff global warming I want one of those gas guzzling 4x4s, wonderful motors, gimme gimme.

I have just been informed that it is 3 oclock in the morning and I should be in bed!!! Ooops jetlag again , bye for now folks.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Good to see you had a great Time in the USA Jim.....
By the way now that your back the Warhawk will lift off on Friday..
JP

[SKUNKY]

Jim, that really wasn't me at all...I was actually out in Southern California that weekend hiking thru the woods smoking cigarettes and carelessly tossing the butts here and there. That unbelievably handsome and incredibly charismatic fellow you were talking with was actually Mrs "S"s boy toy. He just enjoys pretending to be me (and who could blame him?)...Hopefully I'll catch you on your next USA visit and we'll "do Vegas" together.

Sorry I missed you and Lorraine.. I heard she's really nice....

[Captain Eddie]

Jim, thanks for the kind words, and for sharing how your trip went. Don't believe a word Mrs. Eddie says, however. The brownies were store bought! She just put them in one of our unused pans!

But seriously, it was a great time, a great Airshow at Rickenbacker. And yes, it was an emotional time saying goodby. It's great to meet again here, however.

Well, now I gotta go, time to leave for work.

[Rush104]

Jim, I'm glad to hear you and your family had a great time over here. I do have a couple more questions for you about your trip, though. I was wondering- when you had dinner with Mr. Skunky and his family, did you eat at any of these fine dining establishments?
McDonalds - Windham,Maine

Burger King - Windham,Maine

Wendy's - Windham,Maine

Pizza Hut - Windham,Maine

KFC - Windham,Maine

Also, did the good folks of Maine teach you how to say 'Ayuh!"?

[SKUNKY]

Jim was unable to meet the stringent dress code for the above listed establishments so we were forced to go elsewhere.............ayuh.....

[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by SKUNKY

Jim, that really wasn't me at all...I was actually out in Southern California that weekend hiking thru the woods smoking cigarettes and carelessly tossing the butts here and there. ....

Thanks for the tip, Skunky. I've been hoping to collect that $150,000 reward put out by the FBI last night.

[SKUNKY]

Originally Posted by flyXwire

Thanks for the tip, Skunky. I've been hoping to collect that $150,000 reward put out by the FBI last night.

Why?....Did something happen?...