Did I forget something?

Did I forget something?

Some of us have shorter memories than others. When I wrote my earlier blog about attending the MoAAA spray clinic, just when I was thanking Charlie Adams for the fried fish, it dawned me that Graham and I had attended the GAAA Operation SAFE spray clinic in Americus, Georgia the week before last. Duh!

Just like in Missouri, we enjoyed great hospitality, visiting with really old friends, ones made long before AgAir Update came along, during my early crop spraying years. And, fried fish was the fare cooked by J.D. Scarborough and company. His secret treat was fried mullet backbones, which are a favorite of mine.

Souther Field Aviation (I don’t care what the politicians want to call it, Americus airport (KACJ) will always be Souther Field for me, where Charles Lindbergh soloed) was a great host. Along with lunch, Graham and I even received a couple of really nice GAAA tee shirts. 

There weren’t as many, if any, new ag-planes at Americus, except for the GE Thrush that Jody Bays flew up from Albany. I love those LED lights on it, not to mention its fantastic GE engine that holds a promise of great things to come for this industry. However, unlike the really early spray clinics in the late 70s and early 80s, there were mostly turbine-powered airplanes in attendance, plus one R44 helicopter. The turbine ag-plane back then was a rarity, but now commonplace. Times do change. 

At this clinic, like the one a year ago, I was able to visit with the gentleman (tongue in cheek) that started me out in 1973 in a Hutch Pawnee, Bob Day of Dawson, Georgia. Thirty-seven years later, we’re still good friends. 

On the other end of my career, that I flew with for the last 15 years was my boss and good friend, Frank Bledsoe. Do the math. I had a flying service in Marshallville, Georgia between 1976 and 1985. Frank and I were competitors during those years. As destiny would have it, I “sold” out to Frank, flew with him until I hung up my moneymaking helmet in 2000.  If I’d been working for the Post Office, or the FAA, probably could have retired twice and be off somewhere fishing today! What a miserable life that would have been. I prefer the course God led me.