This has been my busiest flying week so far here.  I flew twice everyday except Wednesday, which I only flew once.  My whole flight is done with T-6s except for two of us.  I have my final checkride on Monday morning.  I can't wait.  I feel well prepared for it so I'm not nervous.  It's actually really sad.  I'll miss this plane.  It was awesome!  I mean..., I'm not sure if I'll ever fly a plane where I can fly inverted and pull 7 G's ever again.  It has been a really fun ride so far.

Tuesday at 1830 (6:30pm for you non-military type) is when I'll find out what plane I am going to next.  And if it is a T-1 or T-38 I'll start the very next day here on base.  If it's a T-44 or a UH-1 we'll have to move first and then start that training.  No matter what I get I'll be happy with it so no worries.

This is not me.

Today we had a party thrown by our class sponsors.  We have a liquor store as our sponsor as well as a few other businesses of none of which I can remember right now.  I mean come on..., the liquor store sponsor is the only one that really matters anyway.

 This is me.... not my hat though.

 This is a funny dude in my class.  He brought his Rambo belt....., and his MASSIVE earmuffs......., and of course his murdered out shotgun with an attatched flashlight.... Haha.!

Today they invited us to their ranch to shoot clay discs and then eat BBQ.  Kristen and I went there with Dallas.....but it was pretty boring.  Only one person could shoot at a time and there are like 30 of us, plus wives and girlfriends.  Kristen or I are not that big on guns so it didn't seem to appealing to "get in line".  But it was kinda cool watching others shoot.  Dallas was sooooo scared the whole time.  It was cute.  We were hungry but there was no sign of food around so we decided to leave and head over the the marina at the lake and tan.  We got a bag of Cheetos and a couple cans of Coke to hold us over. Haha.

 Can you see me in Kristen's sunglasses...?

 The lake was so awesome.  The water was still a little to cold to go for a comfortable dip and it was really windy there so we just sat out and tanned.....and of course took pictures.  Dallas was scared of the water at first.

PS. Kristen's dad let us use his old camera a couple of months ago.  And we just started to figure it out so these pictures are from that camera....it takes some clear pictures!

Oh.  Here is a link to a video of our peanut butter and duct tape prank on one of my flightmates from last week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1bX8kuXI2A  .  We put peanut butter and duct tape around his wallet to teach him a lesson not to leave it out.  Haha.

Track select night pushed back

Let me start off with the biggest news I guess..., My track select date has been moved back from this Friday 23 April, to Tuesday 27 April due to bad weather this past week.  I have 10 flights left in the T-6!  All of them are formation so that's fun.  Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers.

In the military we use our ID cards to get on base and sign into computers.  You pretty much need them on your person all the time.  A joke that always gets played out is when someone leaves their CAC (Common Access Card) in a computer or on a desk.  That person is screwed.  If you forget it as you are walking out of the door to go fly thats really bad news because now your CAC is left alone for at least two hours! A lot of bad things can happen to your CAC in two hours.  Usually we just put clear a perfectly cut piece of clear tape over the computer chip that way the next time they go to use it the computer won't read it.  Or we tape it to the ceiling, freeze it in a cup of water, or just hide it.  Its always fun and games if you forget your CAC.  This week one of my flightmates forgot his CAC and wallet.......it was bad!  We wrapped his wallet in duct tape, then covered that in peanut butter, and then covered it in more duct tape.  It was pretty funny watching his undo our mess. Haha.

 We soaked and planted our puzzle.  Yes you read that correctly.  We soaked our puzzle pieces for 24 hours and then planted them in a pot.  Hopefully soon we'll see some flowers or something.  Maybe it'll grow another puzzle.

We love Blue Monster in our flight room.  It's all the energy with none of the sugar......Amazing!

  I bought a frame this week and put some velcro on it so I have somewhere to put all my patches.  I saw someone else with this idea and I liked it.  It came out pretty nice.  I have a few more patches but ran out of velcro.

Last night was another drop night.  Those are always fun.  We went with our neighbors.

 Today I was cutting the grass and I cut a snakes head off.  Yea, a snake was in our backyard!  I HATE snakes! I thought that we just had to worry about wild deer, skunks and scorpions.....not SNAKES!  Damn!

Today we drove to Uvadle, TX (1hr 15min away) just to go to a Taco Bell.  Is that ridiculous?  apparently we don't think so.  Haha.  It was pretty good.  It's funny, we live right next to Mexico, we have great local authentic Mexican food, yet we drive over an hour for Mexican fast food. We have problems.

Pray for good weather.

BTW. 16 Apr was this blogs one year anniversary!!!  Yaayyyy!!!!  I have made 56 posts to date.  So that's a little better than one a week.  Not too shabby.  I can't believe that I even have enough to say every week.  Thanks to everyone that reads the blog every week.  A a special thanks to everyone that posts comments.  I check everyday for comments on here.  Some weeks I feel like I'm having a conversation with myself if there are no comments down here.  So thanks for everyone for the comments.  Ans now I'm just rambling on and on so I'll stop typing. 


OK...., now I will.

Del Rio ain't so bad

Just two weeks left of T-6s!!!  On 23 Apr is my track select.  I filled out my "dream sheet" sheet this week.  In order, I put T-1, T-44, T-38 and finally UH-1's.  I'm 90% sure I'll get T-1s, so no worries here.

This week I had both of my low level flights.  They were soooooo awesome!!!  Basically the military has published low level routes where we fly 500 above the ground and make our way to a "target".  And they just go random places.....some in the middle of no where (over drug lord houses) and some in really cool places (valleys/populated places).  One of mine this week took me over I-10.  And it just so happened that there was a turn in the low level route there.  I hammed it up for the traffic on I-10 for that turn.  I banked it up to 90 degrees and pulled till I felt the blood rushing out of my head.  It was awesome!  I'm sure just a few 18 wheeler drivers saw me but who cares.... it was my own little "buzz the tower" moment.

I have 10 flying days left in T-6's and I have 11 more flights.  They don't like you to finish "on time"...., they like for the students to finish to finish with a few days for a fudge factor so I fully expect to be double turning (flying twice a day) to the max extent possible for the remainder of T-6s.  The first guy in my class finished up on Friday.....lucky bastard.

 This weekend Kristen and I volunteered at Laughlin's adventure race.  We should have done it.........but we didn't. No excuses.  It was a 7 mile run, 25 mile bike and 2 mile raft kind of race.  Teams of 4-8 people.  We were stationed at the raft exit.  Our job was to make sure no one drowned or dragged their rafts on the rocks while running to the finish line (you had to carry your raft with you to the finish).  Everyone was so tired...it was funny.  Peoples ores were braking.  Haha.  They were paddling with their hands!  Then we picked up a lot of trash...ate free BBQ from Applebee's.  The lake was so beautiful.  And where we were stationed was a nice little spot located on our base's private marina.  Kristen and I are going back there next week for some much needed sun!  If you squint your eyes and drink a lot of beer.....it kinda looks like your are on a vacation in Hawaii!

Kristen already signed up to sub this week...so stories they are a coming.

PS. Also, I've added another video to youtube.  This is a tour of our house here on base.  I've been meaning to do this for some time.  I know everyone can't come and visit, but now at least you can see what it's kinda like over here.  Not bad I promise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QabK3otxkZQ

Solo Party/ Formation/ Visitors

 It's been a few weeks for me so let me back up a little bit.

A couple of weeks ago Kristen wanted to send Dallas to the groomer for a bath and a "nice" brush.  Ya see..., Kristen gives Dallas a bath every two weeks but she just can't seem to get all of Dallas's hair out.  And she's starting to shed her winter coat and that means hair everywhere!!!  I agreed that Dallas needs to be sent to the groomer with the emphasis of a really good brushing to get out all of that hair.  Kristen brought her one day......and $50 later..... Dallas was washed and well brushed.  She smelled nice and seemed to be brushed thoroughly.   See, Kristen can brush Dallas, but Dallas hates it, and I think that Kristen just didn't want to be the bad guy again.  Haha.  Any way, that bath lasted for about three days.

One night we let Dallas out to pee before we went to bed.  She usually stays outside for about 10 minutes and then she'll wait by the door for someone to open it up and let her in.  I saw her waiting so I opened the door.  Not only did Dallas come in but this horrid smell followed her!  It smelled like burnt copper!  We quickly realized that she had just been sprayed by a skunk.  We locked her in the bathroom and google'd what to do.....As it turns out you are supposed to wash your dog in tomato sauce....so.............that was a fun night.

I'm officially finished with my T-6 simulator rides!!!  Yaaaayyyyy!!!!  I also took my Instrument checkride..., and passed!  Yaaaayyyy!!!!  I only have one more checkride in this plane (formation), and then I track select to my next plane (23 Apr).  Formation is a kick in the pants!  We are supposed to fly 10 feet apart.  They give us + or - four feet..., so you can really fly at 14 feet wingtip separation and still get a GOOD.  I usually hang out in the 13 to 14 wingspan area....Haha.  It is so much fun though!  I don't have any pictures for it though.  I usually have my hands full in the airplane so I have no extra hand to snap pictures.  But trust me...... it's freekin sweet!

My class finally had our solo party.  Traditionally, all of the IP's are invited and it's where we find out that they are just regular people and they basically let their walls down.  It was a blast.  I drank and played Rockband all night (I suck).

 We had A LOT of beer.., and of course...What would our class do without shots?.....they were there too!

Ever since that night the mood in the flight room had been a lot different.  It's been nice being treated like a real person and half of a pilot too!

Kristen subbed for three days in a row!!!  Don't get too excited..., it was not on purpose.  Haha.  No, actually she wanted two days that week, but no jobs were available.  Then on Tuesday night she signed up for  a job on Thursday and Friday.  And then on Wednesday morning they called her and asked if she could come in on a moments notice....and she did!  Haha.  So she ended up working three days in a row.  She was so exhausted.  Haha.

 My mom, her husband Bill, my sister and my grandfather came to visit us last weekend.  It was to many people for our house so we had to get some hotel rooms (The one bathroom that we have in our house really sucks when we have company!).

 Kristen and I went and picked up my mom at the San Antonio airport (The rest of the crew drove here).  As always, it's nice to get to civilization over there so Kristen, my mom and I ate and hung out in the mall for a couple of hours before driving back to Del Rio.  That was nice.   On our way home we stopped at a Taco Bell.  There's no Taco Bell here so we always have to hit one up before we get back home.  And check out these sauces!  They're all standing at attention!  Sweet!

The next day we all went to church and then looked around the base.  We ate lunch at our favorite local spot, Poncho's.  We are always the only gringos in there so you know its good.  It's cheap and the portions are pretty big.

On Monday I had to go to work.  I had the first take off of the day on the base and I thought that it would be perfect (if anyone was interested) to watch me take off in the morning.  I was taking off on the wing (#2) for a formation sortie.  As I said before... formation flights rock.  I feel like I'm giving myself and wingman an airshow at 12,000 feet!  So Kristen, my mom, Bill, Mia, and Paw all came out to watch me take off from the campground area on base.  On the right side of this page is my youtube links. I have a video they took of me taking off for your viewing pleasure. Or just click on the link below....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGmcheKf-cM

Later that day I had a "Red Carpet" sim ride scheduled for everyone.  The sims are a blast!  And I am usually in there doing work and working hard for a grade.  So this would be my first time also being in there for pleasure.  I was pumped too!  My mom could only hang for about two minutes till she got motion sickness.  I could relate.  When I first started I got like that too.  Then my sister jumped in.  She did pretty good.  She took off, flew around for a few minutes and then landed.  I was impressed.  Then Bill took over.  He had a great time!  He took off, flew around a bit, got good at it, then he flew in formation!!!  Haha.  He did pretty well.  His landing were a bit rough though.  Then I asked to jump in for the last 10 minutes.  It was awesome!  I got to do some of the stuff in the plane that is considered "illegal"!  I flew 10 feet off the ground, under bridges, between buildings...it was sweet!  There are also a few youtube videos of some of us flying in the simulator on the right side of the page.  Or just click below on the link.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXmE42vN_tY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qo01b7yXk8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6phufHdziE

We all came back home..., hung out for a bit and then the girls went shopping in town.  the guys hung back at the house.  Later that night we all went to Rudy's BBQ for dinner.  I love that place.

 On Tuesday everyone left to go back home.  Come back whenever yall like. And anyone else is welcome to come and visit whenever.  Just ask us if the weekend is available.

Funny story while we had visitors.  Kristen asked me to hang up her pants on the fan in our bedroom to dry.  She handed me two pairs of wet pants.  I brought them into the room like a good husband and hung them up on the fan just as I was told.  I was laughed at a few hours later when Kristen found out what I did.  I didn't understand.  What was so funny?  I did EXACTLY as I was told.  Comes to find out she didn't explain it to me well enough..... What she meant to say (and she said every other person in the world would have understood) was to hang the pants on hangers..., and THEN hang them on the fan.  Haha.  I had no idea.  I just hung them up on the fan blades.... OK..., that may have been a little dumb.....but I videoed it and put it on youtube to immortalize it forever.  Check it out...it's pretty funny.  Or just click on the link below.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfVguWDSrWI

Last Christmas one of the presents that we got from Kristen parents was a 500 piece puzzle.  Wha?  A puzzle?  That's what we thought at first.  But this is no ordinary puzzle.  Nope.  This puzzle can also be buried and grow flowers!  Yeah funny huh?  So we have been saying that we were going to put it together and then bury it.  It took us about five days total to finish it.  It was really fun.  We'll keep the blog updated once we bury it and hopefully we'll get some flowers from it.

Today I cut, edged and blew grass.  Then I washed Kristen's car and then my truck.  Dug up some bushes and laid some dirt in holes in the backyard.  All the while Kristen went shopping for plants, came home, dug up the garden and planted new stuff.  Long day.  We treated ourselves to Chili's tonight.

Till next time...........

BTW, make sue that you check out the videos if you got time.... There are five total!
If they are not linked correctly on the right (it looks like they're not)you'll have to just click on the links I provided.  Sorry about that.