More Junkmail from Bob!

Monday, April 23, 2001
Important Stuff.



Hi! I've been out flying the aircam for the past couple of weeks, and I've been a little delinquent getting out Junkmail.


Last year in April James Sandusky and I went to Sun-n-Fun, an airplane show in Lakeland Florida. While we were there we were looking at the aircams. He got in trouble for traveling with me, since I was persona non grata at Learn2 where he worked. Since then some things have changed. James ended up at Upperspace, Mike, James and I built and aircam, and Learn2 is selling out to E-Stamps, a dot-com with enough money to bail them out.

This year I decided I'd fly the aircam to Sun-n-Fun, or at least start in that direction. I was a little unsure about making it all the way since I had never taken the aircam more than 50 miles from home. No, I was a lot unsure. I thought there was a fair chance I'd get somewhere and have to wait for repairs and then come home.

In Pryor there is a park pond. It's in the park. That might be why it's called the park pond.

       Img_7863.jpg

There is a small creek that runs into and out of the park pond. When I was in grade school I was told that if you followed it far enough, the water in that creek ran all the way into the Atlantic Ocean. I'll admit I used to be a little gullible, but not enough to believe a story like that. But I decided to check it out, since I was heading in that direction anyway.

I started out over the city park, then followed the creek across highway 69, past Wal-Mart, across 69 again, and behind my house. Then it merged into Pryor Creek. From there I followed Pryor Creek past Nipak, across 69a, finally to Grand River. Then I followed Grand River to the Arkansas River.

From there I had a pretty good idea that it would end up in the ocean, because Mike, Serge, and I took a yacht down the Arkansas and Mississippi once, and we made it to salt water. Being the purist I am, though, I flew down the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the time I flew below 500 feet over the water. And the story they told me in grade school is correct -- the creek in the park does flow into the ocean.

       IMG_8075.JPG

You might think that nobody else from Pryor, Oklahoma would ever be fool enough to follow a river that far, but in fact the first citizen of Pryor followed the Missouri River all the way past its source, down the Columbia, to the Pacific. He was Sergeant Nathaniel Pryor, on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I know of a few others from Pryor who made the trip down the Arkansas and Mississippi, but I don't think they were lucky enough to have the luxury accommodations of the red boat.

After I hit the ocean I flew along the coast to Florida and sun-n-fun. This took a few days. From there I decided to take the short cut home, and headed south to Key West and then farther west around Ft. Jefferson. Ft. Jefferson is a fort built in the mid-1800's about 60 miles out in the ocean. It is famous for protecting the Dry Tortugas from Alien Invaders.

       Img_8362.jpg

Then, after leaving my cell phone in Key West and stopping by the aircam plant in Sebring, I headed up the east coast to Washington DC. I stopped at Titusville but they threw me out before the space shuttle launch. Then I stopped at Charleston SC where my parents, Mike, and Traci were goofing off. Then I went to Kill Devil Hill near Kitty Hawk, where the Wright Brothers also flew a plane they built.

       Img_8697.jpg


Finally I stopped at Washington National airport. I don't think they're used to seeing aircams at this airport.

       Img_8739.jpg

I followed the Potomac up to Harper's Ferry. I thought this might be related to Harper's Bizarre or Harper's Bazaar or the Harper Valley PTA, but it's just a bridge with some history. From there I headed here, to Blytheville, Arkansas so I could wait out some thunderstorms at a former SAC B-52 base. It seems like some thunderstorms blocked me on my last trip to Sebring too.

Here's where I've been so far:

Aircam Trip

There are a whole bunch of pictures on my web site, if you're interested. In fact, they're on my web site even if you're not interested. I haven't taken the time to weed these out very much, so there are a lot of them.

        http://xpda.com/lakeland01


(@) 1932, no rites observed. Any unauthorized duplication, distribution, transmission, observation, or pontification of this fine collection of zeros and ones is authorized. If you would like to sign up for Junkmail, go to

        http://xpda.com/junkmail

If you'd like to stop getting Junkmail, which is certainly understandable, please email me $32,767 or contact the Peruvian Air Force for detailed instructions.

I'm Bob Webster and I reside at bob@xpda.com. However, I'm a bit behind on my email at the moment.