It's one of those you couldn't even plan if ya tried...

Woke up at 9:52 A.M.  And several times before from the med guys re-arranging their supplies...they are right outside my door.  I woke up with a nasty sore throat, too.  It even hurt to swallow.

Not much shakin' this mornin'.  The Cherokee is still in Emporia, and the Cessna was goin' to be used to go get it.  Jyri and I were itchin' to fly somewhere, and we were given the green light to have the Cessna but only for an hour, so we jumped on the opportunity.  We flew just up the road to Allen County...I think it took all of 12 minutes to get there...taxiing included.  Now this airport is in the middle of nowhere.  No, for real.  Chanute is actually close to town.  Allen County on the other hand...you get out and look at fields for as far as you can see.  I felt like I was in Kansas or somethin'...

Stopped by the FBO, then headed back.  Another 10 or so minutes to get back.  And we were done.  On the left downwind back into Runway 36 at Chanute, I got a call from Jarryd...

I called him when I got back on the ground, and he asked if I wanted to play some basketball.  It was crazy cold outside (50, maybe?), and I really didn't want to play in the cold, but I couldn't pass up on the offer.  Besides, I didn't have much else to do!  So Jarryd, Jyri, and I headed to the park for some ball.

We played for a bit, then decided to hit up downtown Chanute.  Hey, it's what we do.  So we parked the car and walked around downtown.  We stopped at an antique store, then headed to an old pharmacy that still served hand-made fountain sodas.  I watched before my very eyes as the lady took some root beer syrup, then added the soda water from the fountain.  And then she threw some ice cream in it!  A bit of nostalgia.  I love it!  It turns out she is a home-grown...Chanute born and raised.  How do I know that?  Because in this town, you can't meet someone without talkin' to 'em.  It's natural.  It's accepted.  It's weird if ya don't.

And I must say, that was one fine root beer float.  I'll be back.  Talked to another lady in the store on the way out.  She's from Minnesota and still has the twinge of accent left on her lips.  We talked for awhile.  It's the same ol' story, and it goes like this...

1.  You guys from here?

2.  Nope, but we are taking flight training at the airport.

3.  There is a school out there?!  [no one knows]

4.  Yup.  How 'bout yourself?  What brings you here?

5.  [you can choose two answers but only these two]  I was born and raised in Chanute...OR...I followed my husband here.

And that's it.  We get those a couple to few times a week.  Almost written in script.  But the people are great, and we love 'em.  The nicest you will ever meet!

From the pharmacy, we went to a dollar store, and as soon as we walk in, Jarryd says loudly, "Eeeewww, what smells like tar"?  And as quick as I could, I turn around to tell him to shut up.  We are now bein' stared at by the lady behind the counter...all fresh with her new perm.  You know, the perm that smelled like tar.  Turns out Jarryd had never smelled a perm before.  Talk about tension!  Yikes.  I bought something to try to make some peace.  I'm not sure that it worked...so we were glad to get out of there!

From there, we went to the Chamber of Commerce.  Three young guys walk in, and my guess is that that just doesn't happen here in Chanute.  So, of course, we get the questions again!  But we're greeted by two lovely ladies.  And we talk with them for 15-20 minutes!  We got their stories as to why they are here...(take a guess)...and we shared ours.  Even the Chamber of Commerce doesn't know there is a flight school here!  But we talked about everything from upcoming events to what we do to what they do, etc.

And I couldn't even make this up if I tried.  Out of the blue, just two minutes in to our conversation, I hear...

"Wait a second!  So does one of you write a blog"?!

Hmm.  Umm...how to respond to that?!  I mean, of course you say yes...but talk about random!  I guess as a city tourist guru, she keeps track of what people say on the internet about her town!  And since I use Chanute in my blogs, it comes up!  So she has read my blog.  Crazy.  (So if you are reading this again, m'am, thanks for your kindness, chocolate, and fun!  I love it!)

Fun ladies, though.  I even scored a bumper sticker and sign that say "I Love Chanute."  And I proudly carried that around downtown, even showing cars as they passed by.  And let me tell you, that just brings smiles to peoples' faces.  They tried to hold it back, but they couldn't hold it back.  Young and old alike.  They just had to laugh.  And so did we.

From there, we drove out in the country.  We took some back roads of Chanute, and I took them to "the ridge"...a place where you can't see the road ahead of you.  You seriously feel like you're drivin' off of a cliff...something I've never seen before.  And let me tell ya, there's nothin' like watchin' two guys actin' like they are all tough and skeptical...to grabbin' the sides of the car and liftin' themselves up in the seat to try to see up ahead...even lettin' out a scared lil' noise.  Fun times.

Van called us as he had seen us driving by from the air.  He told us that the plane was available.  So we drove back to the airport and made plans for Oklahoma.  Why not, right?  We had heard of a burger down there that we needed to find...

So we took the Cessna 172 down to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, about 5:50 P.M.  Got there about 6:30.  Once there, we took the courtesy car into town...just a couple of miles, and we found it...Murphy's Steakhouse...home of the World Famous Hot Hamburger..."Gravy Over All."

It's a lil' hole-in-the-wall joint, but much to our surprise, we had to wait!  All the tables were full!  That's what I like to see!  We talked with the other people waitin' outside with us (again, we all talk here...it's what we do!), and they recommended the hot burger.  Or the steak.  As we were talking, a few spots in the bar came up!  Sweet!  Round stools at the bar!  Can't beat that.

And by bar, I mean a 1950's diner bar.  Like that commercial with the Pepsi and Coca-Cola drivers at the diner out in the midde of nowhere.  Those types of stools.  Nostalgic stools.  That type of bar.  The waitress right there behind the counter.  It was beautiful.

We were served by a lovely Kathy, and we all ordered what we came for...the infamous hot hamburger.  Kathy asked us if we were hungry, and after sayin' yes, much to our surprise, she brought us out three rather full plates of fries with brown gravy smothered on top.  For free!  Just to whet our appetites for the real deal!

So we ate those...and then the real plates came out.  A couple slices of bread on bottom, a 1/2 pound hamburger on that, French Fries on that, and then tons of brown gravy smothered on top.  For my fellow Springfieldians back home, you know exactly what I am talkin' about here...but it's gravy and not cheese.  Impostors?  Perhaps.  But they've been servin' 'em since 1946.  Maybe some friendly competition...

So anyway, we stuffed ourselves to the brim and were outbeaten by the Finnish champion.  He downed all of his...I had to leave some fries.  The first courtesy plate,  as well as the appetizing bread and crackers and spicy garlic sauce did me in.  But I did get some mighty fine sweet tea.  And that made me very happy.

Oh, and speakin' of friendly people, I talked with an older local man who sat next to me at the counter, and he said he has lost count how many of those burgers he's eaten over the years.  But he was more than happy to share all of his pilot jokes.  Quite funny ones, too.  We just talked for a bit...an instant friend.  I love these people!  No one knows any strangers!

We asked some of the workers where to go for fun in town, and they didn't recommend much.  A mall.  A bowling alley.  A bar.  So we just drove.  And lo and behold, we saw some bright lights downtown.  A baseball game!  So in good fashion, we drove up to this nice field and headed inside.  The kind lady let us all in for free...so we stayed and watched an hour of baseball.  Quite fun.  (Oh, and as a side note...[please don't read the rest of this paragraph if you are my parents or a mature adult]...I have never been so close to streaking in my entire life.  No, seriously.  I have had this talk with my brother before.  I find streakers absolutely hilarious and even commendable.  Perhaps I am wrong, I concede.  But at the same time, I find no other event in all of history that literally requires you to "man up" so much.  And so picture this.  All of a sudden, I found myself out of town, out of state, with no one that knows me, with a get-away car AND a get-away airplane, and I couldn't fight the urge.  The 8-foot outfield walls were a problem, but not insurmountable...and how funny would it be to see me runnin' across the field all...well, you get my point.  I couldn't stop smiling just thinking about it!  But time kept ticking, and a hit brought the winning run home, and people were leaving...I had waited too long...there was too much thinking involved.  A missed opportunity, for sure.)

*Mature people may now resume reading.*

From there, we headed to a bar at a town up the road and played some pool.  I was the DF...the Designated Flyer...so I didn't have anything to drink.  Pilots have an "8 Hour Bottle to Throttle" rule...and we had no plans of spendin' the night.  We spent about an hour and a half there, and we meddled with some real country folk...the typical moustache-wearin' or cut-off shirt sportin' men ...and the women that were the epitome of Gretchen's "Redneck Woman" song...they even proudly sang their anthem.  And we even had a pretty impressive magician come by our table and show us several tricks.  I was dumbfounded.  After a couple of games of pool (some guy and girl team kicked my butt), we headed back to the airport.

We flew the beautiful night sky back.  Back in Chanute, I had a nice 10-knot crosswind 80 degrees of the runway.  That was fun...that Cessna just coasts right through it.

Finally got back at 12:15 A.M.  What a day!  An innocent basketball game left me with a stomach full of root beer, ice cream, sweet tea, a hot hamburger...and plenty of memories of kind folk, baseball games, and pockets of America that just don't get unveiled very often.

And to think I could even add 0.8 hours to my logbook.  That's just a good day right there...