Day #5 Van Nuys and Six Flags

It was a warm and beautiful morning! The weather was good and despite our difficulties the day prior to, we made it out without any problems. After a pleasant flight through the L.A. basin, we came to the Van Nuys airport. Now we as pilots have a special understanding of Van Nuys due to the movie 16R(One Six Right), and upon arrival at Van Nuys we were all hoping to hear the controller say, “cleared one six right.” When we finally got there the words were sweet music to our ears. I can’t speak for Rory’s landing, but I greased PTO right onto the ground.

We had some creative taxiing (ie got lost) but the controllers there were more than friendly and we got the planes unloaded and went to find transportation to a hotel. The FBO was extremely nice and the people working there matched the aesthetics with personality. We even got a red carpet welcome.
After getting to the hotel, we sent Aaron to the beach for the day while the rest of us headed to Six Flags.

What confidence and anticipation there was in those five young pilots as they headed to the front gates. A quick wait in line for tickets and we headed in towards the park. And then we saw the metal detectors. Now all of the Canadians know that the American was born in jeans, a tee shirt, with a belt and multi tool around his waste, but the security at the Park didn’t think it so natural and sent me running back to the car. The rest of the guys said they would wait up at the newest ride for me. So I hoofed it back to the car and dumped my Gerber, then with a slightly off step I made my way, naked, back to the gates.

After working my way through the entry process and up to the new ride, I discovered my Canadian companions were nowhere to be found. Expecting them to find me there, I waited in line for the newest and supposedly best ride in the park. After about two hours I got on without any of my friends and after a five minute round of intense loops and speeding drops, I set out to find my compadres. I spent the rest of that day wandering from ride to ride stopping at each one to try the ride and then moving on in hopes of finding the lost foreigners. By six in the evening I was bored with the park and convinced Border Patrol had finally caught up with us. With nothing better to do I went back to the first ride and had another go at it. On my way out I glanced at the large lineup of potentials and there beheld the red hair and shirt that I knew to be Jeeber. I had finally found them and with new vigor we spent the last two hours of the day getting in as many rides as most of us had gotten up to that pointing the day.

By the end of the evening we were all sunburned and spent. It had been a good day, and I felt great for having spent at least a little time with my friends (also having put my Gerber back on I was much more inclined to see the rosy side of life).
We caught up with Aaron at the hotel, he had spent the day enjoying the beach and roads that have turns in them (poor flatlander from Manitoba). When we finally crashed for the night, we could all look back and say it was a great day.

Quite a day, indeed! While the rest of the guys were enjoying the twists and the turns of metal tubes, I was sent off to enjoy the twists and turns of another sort...

As Mike mentioned, Manitoba is somewhat landlocked. Manitoba is somewhat flat!

However, (and allow me to take on the role of an apologist here for a moment!) Manitoba occupies the heart of the continent. There are few places where one is allowed the ability to sense and grasp eternity. After all, when both land and sky stretch out before you and disappear into a limitless horizon, how can you not get a sense of being part of something that doesn’t end?

Sky and land are everything in Manitoba!

Shortly after our wheels touched down on the immortalized pavement of 16 Right, I realized that this would be an excellent opportunity to soak in some more of that limitless horizon, and to experience it in a manner somewhat different. California is the place where sky meets ocean.

It was Sunday, and we were soon to find that getting cars on a Sunday (particularly at 8AM!) was going be a challenge. However, Becky at Pentastar Aviation was up to the challenge, and she managed to put together a package for us that worked! I was going to head out and explore the California Coast, while the other guys were to take in an afternoon of thrills at Six Flags.

Becky suddenly found herself working as a tour operator.

“Aaron, “ she said, “You want to get onto the Pacific Coastal Highway North…. However, you want to get there along the pretty and scenic route!”

“Take the Ventura Highway West,” she continued, “and turn south down the Las Virgens Highway. Going this way, you’ll see some beautiful landscape! Once you hit Malibu, turn west again, and head towards Santa Barbara!”

All that I can really say is WOW!!!

Becky’s recommendation put me down canyons and switchbacks. A short turnoff down the Malibu creek highway led me to a little lake nestled in the mountains, and to rolling green summer-type foothills. Getting back on the Las Virgens highway, a journey through a tunnel eventually led to sheer cliffs just off the road, and eventually to the coast and Malibu… the place where sky meets sea.

As recommended, I continued northwest bound for some time. The smell and feel of ocean spray surrounded me, and it wasn’t long before I elected to stop and do some wading. The water was clear and warm, and the power of the surf amazing.

Sunset seemed to come far too soon. With the fading light, I turned eastward, to retrace my path back towards the hotel room.

It had been an eventful day. I had been permitted to see the location where a seemingly endless sky met a seemingly endless sea. In some ways, it was very much the same as what is known in Manitoba, but yet, at the same time, different.

Eternity can be seen, and felt, here too.