Bagels and Bi Planes

I got up extra early because Tom was coming over to work on the bathroom - again.I don't do well with the dirt and ado of construction, so I took myself out to go to the farmer's market, and then for my second bagel of the month. F--- no gluten, dairy and caffeine. I had myself a fat everything bagel with cream cheese AND butter and a coffee.

I read the local paper as I settled in with my little feast, and my eyes caught a small ad. Free day at the Rhinebeck Aerodrone. The mechanics were tuning up and test flying the planes before the season opened next week.

Was it the lure of the memory of my father taking us as kids, my fascination for flying and airplanes, the trip to back to another time that the Aerodrome provides, or the movie The English Patient, that made me call Larry and say: "GET READY AS WE ARE GOING ON AN ADVENTURE".

I had not been to the aerodrome since my father took us as little kids. I was the oldest, and guess that I was about 12 when we went to see an air show there. Fokkers chased one another in the sky, shooting fake guns, doing tailspins, and cutting up rolls of toilet paper tossed from higher above.

We arrived at the aerodrome, and felt the thrill of an adventure. Music from the early 1900's blared on the loudspeakers. There was an old car taking folks for rides around the grounds. A man on a unicyle with a HUGE front wheel wobbled down the runway.

I watched the goings-on of the arena, and took photos of the planes taking off and landing, with the glee of a child. And like a child, I wanted a ride. Badly.
As I walked around the grounds, I found myself at a booth, and a young girl says to me: "do you want to go up?".

Now my intention/desire before I left was one of "I am going to get myself in one of those planes" but I wasn't sure how I would pull that off. So I said to her: "Really? I need more details. Let's talk".

"65.00 for 15 minutes, keep your hands in the plane during take off and landing as the pilot is behind you and can't see if you hang any body parts over the side. Hold onto your cameras, keep on your hat and goggles. It is windy up there. In order to get into the plane, only grab hold of or step onto anything black. Orange is dangerous and you could break the plane".

I looked at Larry, and said, "you game?" and the rest is history.

I was not scared, and it was one of the most incredible things I have ever done. It was like a ride at the carnival, and the 1929 New Standard D25 open cockpit bi-plane was designed specifically to take people for rides, like the scene in the Ya Ya Sisterhood movie.

I have many photos for memories, and will forever have the force of the wind pushing on my goggles, and the Hudson River like a snake below me etched into my memory. And again I am amazed at how sychronicity, the law of attraction, visualization etc. work together to give us exactly what we desire.

Pattio O Airplane