Dad made it half way through the door of the plane finally and shoved a little stick towards the dash. He yelled "Throttle" which meant nothing to me but Mom instantly got a guilty look on her face. Apparently she had been talking to me and not paying attention to the fact that she was basically letting more and more fuel into the engine as we sat there and talked. It would be the equivalent of accelerating your car to make it onto the freeway from your exit.
Dad hopped in the plane looking annoyed and Mom and I were laughing hysterically when we realized what had taken place. Little did I know until later, Dad was more embarrassed than anything. Everyone up in the tower was watching as his plane and passengers almost took off without him.
The gauge was still not responding correctly and Dad was having second thoughts. So we took the plane back to the terminal and parked it. Then we debated all our options. While we deliberated we tied the plane down. Dad called the weather service at one of the airports that was on our way. They said that the Cascades were completely socked in and we wouldn't be able to pass. So Dad relayed the information to us.
We decided to say a pray before we made a decision. So here we three sat by the plane which had been tied down for the second time in one morning in the exact same place. Arms casually folded so we didn't look too conspicuous and eyes closed under the wing saying a prayer. Dad finished the prayer and Mom and I both said at the same time, "Let's go."
"I think it is going to be fine," I said.
"It will be," Mom said.
"Worst case scenario we leave the plane at an airport half way and take a rental car the rest of the way." I commented.
"Alright," Dad said.
"I guess now is not a good time to mention that I've been feeling like I might die in a plane crash all week," I said, "but don't worry I feel good about it now."
We untied the plane again and dad propped the plane and received clearance again to take off. We barreled down the runway. I watched out my side window at the rest of the airport going past. We had barely taken off and I noticed about twenty military jets lined up perfectly. Then coming out of a hanger all dressed in uniform were formations of people headed out to the jets. Their uniforms were dark enough that they did resemble squares of little ants marching to work. I am kinda greedy and I thought to myself that I should feel lucky to be able to fly in anything but underneath it all I was making a pact with myself that before I die I wanted to fly in one of those jets. I wanted to go so fast that my organs would be imprinted with my spine and my shoulders would never hunch forward again. I wanted to spin so many times that I didn't know whether I was up or down or sideways. I just wanted to be the passenger though! I didn't ever want the responsibility of equipment like that to be in my hands! Let's face it, I have a hard enough time being a good driver.
I watched the city buildings I know pass underneath. Everything taking on the look of a scale model of the real thing. I tried to identify streets by landmarks that I could barely make out from the air. I tried to spot my house but got confused about which direction I was really heading anymore. I started to watch for backyard pools. I observed that it seemed like there was an unusually high number of pools for such a cool climate. We get maybe 3 months of good swimming weather every year. I was watching what I figured was the freeway below. It was very calm but it was early Sunday morning. Patchwork fields took over where the buildings had been and my neck was feeling sore from craning it to see out the window. I was debating whether I should get out my ipod and Sudoku when I felt the plane make a sharp u-turn.
Mom turned around in her seat and said we had to go back.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I'll explain when we get back," my Mom replied.
"Is it the oil pressure and engine again?"
"Yes."
I resigned to leaving my things packed since we would be back momentarily.
We landed and after about twenty minutes of flight. Parked the plane. Tied it down...AGAIN. Here we faced yet another dilemma. Mom and Dad had a car at the airport but the problem was they had left the keys in Hailey. I had a car but I knew Ben would need it because it had all the car seats in it. His mom might need it to run errands with the kids during the day while she was up helping take care of them. Ben would probably need his car to get to work since we live a whole three minutes from his job.
Mom and Dad debated driving Ben's car to Hailey to get the keys. (A short two hour drive.) Then turning around and coming back to Boise to pick me up and drop off the car before heading up to Oregon. Not only would this add another four hours to our already long day but it was completely unnecessary. I think they just felt bad putting the miles and wear on our car. I finally was able to assure them that it was ridiculous to drive all the way to Hailey to pick up a pair of keys. We headed to my house and grabbed Ben's Civic.
We emptied out a years worth of junk from the trunk and cleared his work files out of the back seat. We said good bye to the kids who were up by now and thanked Ben again for allowing me the chance to leave for a week.
We got on the road and drove hour after hour through beautiful clear weather. Dad was in the backseat of the car pouting. Mom asked what was wrong and he said he was upset that of all times he would have difficulties with the plane it ended up happening right before we were headed on a trip with it. Not to mention the weather was just fine and he didn't see any clouds. We got closer to the Cascades and there were clouds but Mom and Dad both agreed that they could have gotten around those easily.
We stopped for lunch and the weather was perfect. I think this only made Dad's mood more sour. Luckily lunch was some of the best Mexican food I'd had in awhile and this improved everyone's mood.
We got back on the road and we saw that the clouds were getting thicker and pretty soon it was pouring rain on and off. There was a low fog that made some things hard to see. At least I wasn't disappointed driving through Portland. It was like I have always seen it, socked in and raining. Dad finally felt less picked on since the weather was clearly not suitable for flying his little plane through and it seemed that a higher power had truly been watching out for our best interests.
I joked with my parents that had we died in a plane crash it wouldn't be for a lack of signs or trying on God's part. He'd done just about all he could to get us not to fly in the first place. Plane malfunctioning and unideal weather conditions.
TO RECAP...
It is comical looking back on it but just proves how stubborn and pig-headed we can be sometimes. The starter goes out but that doesn't keep us down. SO engine problems start up. Would we let that stop us? NO! We add an additive to the oil and try to take off anyways. The gauge quits working and then Mom and I try to fly the plane ourselves and leave Dad chasing behind on the runway. That doesn't stop us no-oh! We hear there will be no way to make it over the Cascade Mountain range but wave that off like an annoying fly. We still try to make the flight and then the plane acts up again. Finally after all of that we decide...hmmm....maybe we need to change our course of action.I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that puts up with my stupidity no matter how legendary it is.
