What's The Closest You Have Come to Buying The Farm?

[MIflyer]

Clock and compass will always see you through. But some years ago a friend of mine was flying his 1939 Luscombe to somewhere and realized he did not recognize anything. Okay, so it is clock and compass time! Then he realized that he had not bothered to put a compass in his airplane and had not worn a watch since he left NASA .....

 

[GrauGeist]

I haven't flown in years, but still have my pocket altimeter and compass in a felt bag (which used to be with my knee pad and protractor).

 

[DBII]

I'm jumping over the the tread for military stories and photos. I have some old stories to share.

 

[MIflyer]

In Germany a dumb 2nd Lt who couldn't read a map almost led a Corporal Missile Bn over the border into Czechoslovakia

Hence the USAF's rethink of the original idea of letting nuclear armed TM-76 Mace missiles to disperse all over Germany in order to complicate the USSR's targeting task. Instead of hauling them around using those massive Teracruzers to spots where they could be assembled for launch, they established fixed compounds with multiple missiles, set up the missiles, and used the Teracruzer as a site power plant. I understand that the area underneath the Teracruzer tractor where the cooling air was directed after it went through the engine was a very popular spot for the crew to relax in that very cold German winter weather.

The Soviets persisted with their mobile deployment of nuclear armed ballistic missiles and as a result got a lesson in stark terror when one of their troops, angry at mistreatment of his family under Communism, swiped one of their rigs and ran off into the woods with it. They were very worried that he would figure out how to launch the thing and take out Moscow.

 

[N4521U]

1968 jingle "You meet the nicest people on a Honda"? But where do you meet!!!!!

For want of transportation I bought a brand new Honda 300 Scrambler. Not much of an Off Road bike but it was among the first. The nice dealer begged me to take the helmet, "pay for it when you can"!!!
I had a friend with Many years experience on and off road. We had gone to do trail riding a couple of times so we set out to do some light Hill climbing. It was along the notorious Redwood Rod in Cqstro Valley CA. A gently undulating paved two lane road through a canyon. So me, with 4 days road experience following an Expert! You can now start to see it coming. I was doing okay until he left me in the dust. Trying to catch up I was cutting corners and just having a blast. VW bus? Other lane? Warning warning Collision eminent. Unfortunately my foot peg has now come in contact with the road. Warning warning collision eminent............ postpostpost! So I just took out this barrier post. 8"x8" perhaps I slid into it, the bikes bottom frame to it out of the ground, I slid forward under the handle bars which now sent me airborne over the post, straight up fortunately not straight out with my new Honda, into the barbed wire fence at the bottom of the slope, 20' out, 15' down. This narrative was relayed to me by the shaking woman driver of the bus! When the fog in me noggin cleared I was sitting cross legged about 10' down the slope. "I came out of that pretty slick" I thought to meself. Uncrossing my legs, my right knee was about halfway to my hip. Drs. said it looked like a saw cut almost exactly halfway down. After the pin was inserted down the marrow of the Femur, knee to hip, I developed a blood clot in my a lung, yes the Little bugger did a rally race from my right leg, thru my heart into my left lung. Spent 4 weeks just to get rid of the clot and prevent any more. I did go back to the Honda dealer, he shook his head when I showed him the road rash on the back of the helmet. I paid the man and thanked him. It cost $18.00 to fix my Honda. Arrrrrrrr but I showed I was tough............................ I was slalom water skiing 6 weeks after I broke it. But I am still here!

The nicest people, I met a Honda rider, two broken arms, and a broken leg. Woman hit him, broke one arm, backed up to see what she hit, broke another arm and his leg! We met in the same ward!!!!!

 

[MIflyer]

One guy described to me that one day he was out flying his homebuilt Quickie, a tiny little composite thing, powered by an 18 HP industrial engine, smoking fast. It was more like wearing it than riding in it. All seemed to be going fine until he woke up, on the ground, his feet still under the instrument panel and the aircraft aft of his derrire not to be seen. A hole in the firewall had let in some exhaust fumes. He had come down in a new housing development just north of Daytona Beach, the unpiloted aircraft fortunately alighting in an area that had just been cleared of pine trees for a new road.

 

[Njaco]

September 2021: We here in South Jersey had a devastating tornado, the first in several decades for that category. I had a part time job at a local hospital working the front desk. No radio, no TV, no weather updates. I can see the storm through the big, open windows that most big businesses have from their lobby and didn't think it was anything bad. I usually have a 40 minute drive home. Tornado hit about 5pm - I was done work at 8pm. Halfway home, one of my roads are blocked. Downed wires. Heading down another road. It is blocked by bushes and wires. Every road I was directed to by FD was blocked or shut down. Now I worked for the County for 30 years and knew every side road and short cut there is. Came upon another blocked road of trees and wires and not enough firemen to stop idiots like me. I decide with my superior knowledge, that I know how to get around all this. I bypass the downed trees at one section and get stopped in another traffic jam. Housing development on my left has a cut through not too many people know about. Yeah thats the ticket. Understand, it is dark, no lights, the rain has become heavy again. I shoot down the side road only to be stopped by a large tree wrapped with downed wires. I look hard at my surroundings. I am in the middle of about three electric poles down with wires all over. One is mere inches - and I mean an INCH - above the cab of my truck. I try to back up without hitting that wire but no good. I can't see anything. Finally saying some Hail Marys, throwing salt over my shoulder and making weird pics on the dashboard with a Sharpie, I decide to just punch it. If I die, I die. I didn't. That was one of the scariest, stupidest things I have ever done. Took me 3 hours to finally get home.

 

[Greg Boeser]

September 2021: We here in South Jersey had a devastating tornado, the first in several decades for that category. I had a part time job at a local hospital working the front desk. No radio, no TV, no weather updates. I can see the storm through the big, open windows that most big businesses have from their lobby and didn't think it was anything bad. I usually have a 40 minute drive home. Tornado hit about 5pm - I was done work at 8pm. Halfway home, one of my roads are blocked. Downed wires. Heading down another road. It is blocked by bushes and wires. Every road I was directed to by FD was blocked or shut down. Now I worked for the County for 30 years and knew every side road and short cut there is. Came upon another blocked road of trees and wires and not enough firemen to stop idiots like me. I decide with my superior knowledge, that I know how to get around all this. I bypass the downed trees at one section and get stopped in another traffic jam. Housing development on my left has a cut through not too many people know about. Yeah thats the ticket. Understand, it is dark, no lights, the rain has become heavy again. I shoot down the side road only to be stopped by a large tree wrapped with downed wires. I look hard at my surroundings. I am in the middle of about three electric poles down with wires all over. One is mere inches - and I mean an INCH - above the cab of my truck. I try to back up without hitting that wire but no good. I can't see anything. Finally saying some Hail Marys, throwing salt over my shoulder and making weird pics on the dashboard with a Sharpie, I decide to just punch it. If I die, I die. I didn't. That was one of the scariest, stupidest things I have ever done. Took me 3 hours to finally get home.

During our residence at our previous address, storms claimed both boulevard trees in front of our house. Each time the tree was toppled into the street, blocking it completely. Now, I want to know! What kind of idiot, when encountering a downed tree in the road, really believes it will move out of the way by honking at it?

 

[MIflyer]

What kind of idiot, when encountering a downed tree in the road, really believes it will move out of the way by honking at it?

The same kind of idiot, when he encounters a car that is moving about 1 inch per minute because its tires are spinning on ice, will speed up and get out of his way because he honks at it.
So he passed me, the two of us, side by side, each 3000 RPM plus and moving at 1 inch per minute. He took it up to 5000 RPM and got up to 1.5 inches a minute.

 

[Njaco]

During our residence at our previous address, storms claimed both boulevard trees in front of our house. Each time the tree was toppled into the street, blocking it completely. Now, I want to know! What kind of idiot, when encountering a downed tree in the road, really believes it will move out of the way by honking at it?

 

[MIflyer]

His driving "qwerk" was jumping on the gas as soon as the traffic light turned green. A

In Norman OK I found the local practice was for cars making a Left turn to do so very quickly, before the oncoming traffic could hit them. If you blew your horn at them they looked at you like you were crazy.

 

[Peter Gunn]

1968 jingle "You meet the nicest people on a Honda"? But where do you meet!!!!!

For want of transportation I bought a brand new Honda 300 Scrambler. Not much of an Off Road bike but it was among the first. The nice dealer begged me to take the helmet, "pay for it when you can"!!!
I had a friend with Many years experience on and off road. We had gone to do trail riding a couple of times so we set out to do some light Hill climbing. It was along the notorious Redwood Rod in Cqstro Valley CA. A gently undulating paved two lane road through a canyon. So me, with 4 days road experience following an Expert! You can now start to see it coming. I was doing okay until he left me in the dust. Trying to catch up I was cutting corners and just having a blast. VW bus? Other lane? Warning warning Collision eminent. Unfortunately my foot peg has now come in contact with the road. Warning warning collision eminent............ postpostpost! So I just took out this barrier post. 8"x8" perhaps I slid into it, the bikes bottom frame to it out of the ground, I slid forward under the handle bars which now sent me airborne over the post, straight up fortunately not straight out with my new Honda, into the barbed wire fence at the bottom of the slope, 20' out, 15' down. This narrative was relayed to me by the shaking woman driver of the bus! When the fog in me noggin cleared I was sitting cross legged about 10' down the slope. "I came out of that pretty slick" I thought to meself. Uncrossing my legs, my right knee was about halfway to my hip. Drs. said it looked like a saw cut almost exactly halfway down. After the pin was inserted down the marrow of the Femur, knee to hip, I developed a blood clot in my a lung, yes the Little bugger did a rally race from my right leg, thru my heart into my left lung. Spent 4 weeks just to get rid of the clot and prevent any more. I did go back to the Honda dealer, he shook his head when I showed him the road rash on the back of the helmet. I paid the man and thanked him. It cost $18.00 to fix my Honda. Arrrrrrrr but I showed I was tough............................ I was slalom water skiing 6 weeks after I broke it. But I am still here!

The nicest people, I met a Honda rider, two broken arms, and a broken leg. Woman hit him, broke one arm, backed up to see what she hit, broke another arm and his leg! We met in the same ward!!!!!

One of my favorites of the 1960's California scene when I was a kid.


View: https://youtu.be/avGzl-8gQ88

 

[MIflyer]

September 2021: We here in South Jersey had a devastating tornado

My brother was driving a VW Bug through Columbia SC and actually had a tornado pick up the car and spin it around 180 degrees.

 

[SaparotRob]

Way cool!

EDIT: he was okay, right?

 

[MIflyer]

EDIT: he was okay, right?

Yes, he was, and so was the car, but looked out on a scene of absolute horror. There were dead bodies all over the street! Then he realized the victims were all dressed quite formally and it turned out that the twister had hit a formalwear shop and distributed the mannequins around the neighborhood.

 

[RAMROD1944]

Driving on a mountain road in Napa Valley years ago. I was riding my bike when I turned a blind corner and came upon an accident in the middle of the road. I put on the brakes and laid my bike down. The cycle went one way, and I went rolling in the other. Luckily, I wasn't traveling that fast and, aside from some serious cuts and bruises, I left the scene in one piece. (Albeit very slowly!)

 

[SaparotRob]

Body surfing on asphalt isn't as fun as it sounds.

 

[GrauGeist]

Body surfing on asphalt isn't as fun as it sounds.

Nope.

"Road Herpes" hurts like a MoFo, especially if it's older chip-seal asphalt.

 

[SaparotRob]

It's called "road rash" here.

 

[GrauGeist]

It's called "road rash" here.

Road Rash, Road Herpes, Street (or Aspalt) Surfing and so on.

It all hurts - I can personally attest to this.