Airplanes

Last night I dreamed about airplanes. I was in Tibet flying over snow-capped mountains that reached skyward. I think we were going to a yoga class. Jilda was going for training, I was along for the ride. I guess I thought I'd howdy up with the Dhala Lama and get his views on the war in Iraq, world hunger and playing guitar in open D tuning. Off in the distance I could hear a dog barking. I thought, how strange, We are cruising at 35,000 feet and I can definitely hear dogs barking. They must be on top of one of these mountains I reasoned in my dream.
Once on the ground in Tibet, we headed straight for the mountains and I could feel the cool breeze blowing on my face. All of a sudden, I could hear that dog barking again and as the dream slipped away, I realized it was Buddy barking. He needed to go potty. When I laid back down, the dream was gone.
I love flying. I remember the first time I flew back in the summer of 1971. I got drafted and did my boot camp at Fort Campbell, Kentucky but after that gig I had to go to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey which is just outside New York City. We flew out on a clear day and you could see forever. The skies were congested and we circled for some time before landing. We flew close enough to New York that you could see the skyscrapers jutting up from the landscape like one of those 3D puzzles. It was a beautiful sight. You could get peanuts on airplanes back then and you could gait check an Edsel if you were so inclined. Ah the days before 911.
Flying down to Panama was a trip too. The ocean takes on a new dimension when viewed from five miles high. When we started our initial descent that country was as green as a well maintained golf course. The water around Taboga Island, which is a small island just off the Atlantic coast, was the color of an aquamarine.
I've had some rough flights, most of them involved cities in Texas. Once while flying to Charlotte, North Carolina we flew through a thunderstorm. Seeing lightning up close and personal was not something I'd like to do on a routine basis.
But all and all, my flying experiences have been good. Jilda and I have enough frequent flyer points to take a vacation somewhere but we're not yet sure where we will go. Maybe to Montana. I'd love to see the Northern Rockies from the sky.