(WOMR file photo)
Earlier this month I was driving back from Fresno after my cardiologist visit. I have driven that long 500 miles many times recently. On this particular day I was near the Mojave airport, close to Edwards AFB, when I looked up to the sky to see an airliner heading to the East Coast. That old jet airliner got me reminiscing about my 37 years of flying, and all that I have witnessed in the air and on the ground.
About that same time a tune came up on the radio by Jason Aldean that really intensified the thought patterns. Listening to the lyrics, as I now do at my advanced age of almost 62, it really made me think about a lot of things.
When we think of this country, we tend to think only about the cool parts, New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc. However, we fail to realize that there is another part of this country, the part of the country that feeds, not only this country, but much of the rest of the world!
The forgotten parts of this country are called “the flyover states”!
There is one “flyover state” that is near and dear to my heart, “those plains of Oklahoma”. That is where my roots emanate from. That is where my parents were born.
Nevertheless, if you watch the video and listen to the lyrics, you might feel some of the same emotions I was feeling while the song played on that long lonesome road back home!
While watching this video, with its broken down B-727’s, of which I have flown for over 5,000 hours in my aviation career, brought back many memories from my Eastern/United Airlines days.
Check this video out!