August 7, 2006, Herald Journal
A different view from above
Like my trip to Mississippi, my job has yet again lead me in another direction I never thought I would be...above. Yes, I got to go flying.
Monday morning I had a note on my desk to call Rob Swendra of American Family Insurance, because he had a story idea, “Take a reporter flying.”
I immediately called him to see what this was all about. He, being the president of the Litchfield Flying Club, was trying to promote general aviation around the community.
They have a program where a flyer will take a reporter or a teacher flying to help educate the public and youth about flying.
With an opportunity like this, how could I say no? Yes the idea of death had crossed my mind, but realistically I wasn’t too worried.
Rob seems like a smart, careful guy, I was almost sure I was in good hands, (Oh wait, that’s Allstate).
He asked if 7 a.m. was a good time for me. Even though I hate early mornings, I said “yes.” That just goes to show how excited I really was.
Morning came and I was ready to go. I looked out the window to see unfriendly skies. I became disappointed. Not only was I not going to be able to fly, but I was awake that early for no reason.
Luckily, Rob said the skies over Litchfield looked pretty good. We could still go flying!
After he taught me a bit about all the gizmos and gadgets related to flying, the plane was ready for take off. He asked if I was scared. Strangely enough, I wasn’t.
The day before, my coworkers had told me about people they knew who had gotten motion sickness, but thankfully I was fine.
It was almost surreal being above the earth looking down. I knew there were a lot of lakes in the area, but looking down, there is water everywhere. Lake Washington is huge!
I was expecting turbulence or a somewhat bumpy ride, but even the landing was smooth.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to fly around the area as much as I had hoped.
My dad wanted me to fly over our Lake Erie home and take a picture, but the clouds were too low in that area.
Unfortunately, Cokato was also out of the question due to low clouds, but strangely, Dassel looked a lot bigger from above.
I guess this gives me more reason to go up again. Actually, I can’t wait to go again. The view from above is amazing!
Back to Kristen Miller Menu | Back to Columns Menu
Herald Journal
Herald Journal / Enterprise Dispatch
Stories | Columns | Obituaries | Classifieds
Guides | Sitemap | Search | DC Home | HJ Home