Born to Wander

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Heligypsy

My fathers family were travelers or travellers since they were British. Were they Pikeys? Well, my father was born in a caravan in a farmers field. When the second world war ended and folks were allowed to travel more or less freely, he was on a boat to Canada.

In Canada he married and my Mother and little Keith got to travel as well. By the time I graduated from primary school I had attended 13 schools.  The next five years were spent in the same school and address but the die was cast. In High school my favorite subjects were social studies and later geography and history.

I was interested in the world outside my own and I hoped to travel. The guidance counselors and student analyzers of the day said my aptitude and interests showed me to be suited for a career as a camera man, or photographer for a publication like National Geographic. Yeah, that, or a Forest Ranger.

What the hell had I written on that profile? My first name means woodland, a forest dweller or guardian of the forest. So maybe that explains a part of my life. I come from a traveling heritage and I am interested in and somehow responsible for forest protection? My career as a helicopter firefighting pilot that travels extensively all over the world to primarily protect forest lands seems appropriate.

So did I pick my occupation, or did I just wander around ’till it found me?

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A Helicopter Made Worse

Posted on July 1, 2008 by Heligypsy

Spring time in Northern Saskatchewan. Unless you are a fly-in-fishing sort of person you most likely know very little about this Canadian Province. It is known as one of the prairie provinces based on the 30% that is actually prairie. It has the Trans Canada highway running laser like through its southern flatness, and that’s what most people see of Saskatchewan. The North is completely different. There is more water than land and the conifers, while not good for much more than pulp, cover 90% of the growing surface. Bogs and low rocky slopes make up the rest.

I had been hired by Athabaska Airways, a pioneering aviation company based In Prince Albert, the first to introduce helicopters to Saskatchewan. The Glass family ran the business and the old man, Floyd was a legendary bush pilot who liked my background.

“So you left a successful family business to become a helicopter pilot?” Floyd had asked.

“Yes sir” I said, “Any jobs better than working for your Father.”

That got a big laugh out of Floyd and his son Bob. The interview was done and I was hired to fly one of the six Sikorsky S-55T’s that they had on fire contracts in the province. Five fire fighters and one pilot flying on what we call Helitac now. A 100 day contract flying a helicopter I had never seen before. I wasn’t totally unfamiliar with the helicopter. A few years back I had flown several hundred hours in the radial engined version of this Sikorsky. The turbine S-55T should have been an easier assignment. That wasn’t the way it went. There would be many times that summer I would find myself wishing for the reliable roar of those old radials. Twisting throttles and losing my hearing wasn’t pleasant, but if I had known that engine failures three and four were in the near future I might have gone back to work for my Dad.

More to come.

Posted in Contract helicopter pilot, Flying Stories, helicopter firefighting, Helicopter Pilot | Tagged | 4 Comments

Try this

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Heligypsy

The smart and some would say adventurous traveler will usually sample the local cuisine. Adventurous, because very often you have no way of knowing the storage and preparation circumstances of your food. That type of dining can be risky. The fact that I have been made sick more times dining in North America may be a matter of numbers, or perhaps I am more careful in foreign locations when dining out.

I mentioned the smart traveler eats the local food as well. Presumably you are traveling and experiencing new cultures and food is a big part of that experience. Its smart as well to avail yourself of local foods if, for no better reason, than to save money. Your favorite brand of peanut butter sits in the import section of a grocery store aisle, and when you read the price you rock back on your heels and put it back on the shelf. The peanut butter can wait till you get home. That jar’s price is equal to 4 lb.s of the local fish, eight meals of grilled fish, tacos de pescado, ceviche, fish burritos with local tomatoes, avocado, lemon and the regional hot sauce.

Last winter in Belize it was cheaper to eat the local lobster than the frozen imported fish sticks. Not a tough choice there. Add some plantain, mangoes, bananas, some fresh tomatoes a little dirty rice and your having a $40.00 lobster dinner for about four bucks.

Belizeans eat off the streets and drive by stands. The same in Mexico. If you like BBQ chicken, you can get half a chicken, beans, rice, slaw, a little side of BBQ or hot sauce for about 4 or 5 Belize dollars. That’s $2-$2.50 U.S. dollars. In Mexico a whole BBQ chicken expertly cooked and sliced before your eyes is stacked on the standard styrafoam tray or plates. Add to that a pint of frioles, salsa, a salad of slaw or macaroni, and a stack of honest to God homemade right there tortillas, now you have lunch and supper for two. Total cost about $5 or $6 U.S. Grab some local fruit in season, maybe one or two of the more than 8 varieties of mangoes, a couple of the local beers and your set.

Here in Italy most people, while much wealthier than most Belizeans and Mexicans, are certainly cost conscious when it comes to food. The Mediterranean diets of Italy and Greece also make use of the fresh produce in season and eat accordingly. My favorite Horayattiki, (Greek Salad) is best in season when tomatoes and peppers are fresh. Some restaurants don’t put it on the menu off season. Italians eat, naturally, a lot of pasta, (thats PAHsta,not paaasta) but what they stuff in it and have with it in their insaladas (salads) varies seasonally and regionally.

If you are in the Baja of Mexico or the Ionian coastal area of Greece, and you like Calamari or its Mexican equivalent Calamar (big difference) you won’t eat any better or any more reasonably either. Its like going to Louisiana and ordering the steak and holding back on the shrimp. Why not eat the way the locals do?

Crayfish etouffee, a big bucket of mudbugs or shrimp boil, soft shelled crab po boy. Oh, man that’s the stuff.

Naturally there are exceptions to every rule and every palate. I have passed on braised horse, dog (I hope), menudo, tripe, and well I have to stop. The point is that you don’t have to try the burgers in Australia and gripe about the beet root ruining the taste. Have the lamb. They have more sheep than people and chances are the locals know a thing or two about preparing it.

You are in a new exotic place, eat local, try international cuisine on a locals budget. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Posted in Dining out, World Travel | Tagged | 1 Comment

A smile for some friends

Posted on June 29, 2008 by Heligypsy

The Sayulita Bus 

I was making another attempt at uploading some photos on to our webshots photo sharing program. The internet here in Albenga and Alassio Italy, that we have access to is very slow. Uploading photo’s is a painfully slow process that usually ends in failure. I came across a few photos that I took in Sayulita Mexico that won’t mean much to anyone but our two friends in Belize, Ali and Gale who have a bus of similar age and design. They will appreciate the beast in the photo’s. This bus could use some of Gales art work and Ali’s interior add ons but I thought the two of them and maybe some others might like to see this vintage Bus/ RV.Click on the link for Gale and see what he and Ali did with their vintage Crown Bus.

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The quest for self sufficiency

Posted on June 28, 2008 by Heligypsy

I have had the dream of a self sufficient farm/residence for some years. Most of the ideas for this type of life unfortunately fall into two categories for me. The pioneer category or the futuristic category.

While I recognize that the early pioneers to remote places had some good very low tech ways of living, I have long since lost the desire to be cutting, thrashing and milling my own grain. My thoughts on many of the high tech ideas for self sufficient living run into similar problems. Too pricey, complicated and inefficient to warrant the investment. As a helicopter pilot I have made it a rule to never fly the “A” model of anything and the same goes for new equipment purchases. Another problem we face in incorporating new technologies into our lives is that the technology becomes cheaper and sometimes vastly improved after short periods of time. Buying high and getting stuck with an item of little or no resale value, never feels good when you have built a home around it.

But the times are changing and quickly. Solar, battery design and hydrogen fuels are making rapid advancements. Low cost very efficient buildings are being made with almost 100 % recycled and discarded materials. The world wide knowledge base and experience is growing quickly. Self sustainable living as a concept has been around for 50 years or more but its practicality, now hastened by our very real energy concerns is getting very close.

Still I am reluctant to put all my eggs in the high tech basket. There are various examples of self sufficient residences and farms around the world. In many cases you can visit and stay in these places and in some cases you can, for a nominal fee, work, (slave) as an intern in the construction of one of these structures.

The payback being, as Paula pointed out to me, that this little slave labor pyramid scheme will have new interns flocking to help with our very own building. Another case where location is everything I expect.

Would you rather intern at a site in Hawaii over say Minnesota or North Dakota? Maybe the knowledge gleaned overrides the setting or lack thereof.

All this gets me to my latest idea and I may be rushing some of the technology, but here it is. A sailboat is a curious combination of ancient low tech and high tech. Perhaps the opportunity to try some of these advancements in alternative energies could be best utilized in the sailboat. The wind is there, the solar panels are getting pretty light and efficient, almost everything you need can run on d/c electrical and the others can be accommodated with the latest light weight inverters. Wind generators and water turbines supplement power requirements. Every sailboat has at least one engine for motor sailing. How far are we away from a small hydrogen making machine? I’ve seen one already. Hydrogen is made from water. Lots of that around a sailboat. Fresh water? There are very small and yet effective desalinators on the market and in many sailboats already. The battery technology is getting better and lighter. Even batteries as a weighty item are not a concern for a sailboat that needs ballast and/or a weighted keel in some designs. That’s a good battery location to my way of thinking. Who needs lead?

So water, power, fuel and back up energy sources all handled. Sewage? The traditional method or something more high tech? Your choice. That leaves food. You are on a boat. Seafood. Man can’t live on fish alone but a cold storage of modest size should keep enough snapper and lobster or what have you to barter with.

We wouldn’t be stopping in the kind of places that discourages the barter system so trading for staples and necessities should be no problemo. Fruits, veggies, beer. Anchor out and take the electric powered dinghy to shore using one or two of those high tech batteries and you cut down on slippage fees.

Your left with the cost of maintenance and that is the big unknown. A winter spent living at a Marina reminded me of something my Father schooled me on many years ago. Preventive maintenance not only keeps your equipment in good condition it alerts you to the problems that you would never have seen coming if you had not got into things to look.

After 33 years in helicopters I’m glad that most of my employers have followed the same principle for the helicopters they maintain.

So, now whats the best type of sailboat to get? What design has the most flexibility to accommodate additional equipment. I’m thinking, multi hull. Could you get insurance on a boat with uncertified marine equipment on board. Same problem but in reverse. Use the approved new slightly futuristic technology or pioneer the latest unproven equipment. Interesting.

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The Travelers View

Posted on June 26, 2008 by Heligypsy

The first stings had me jumping clear and quickly scraping the little tormentors away from my bare legs. Smiling, my friend chuckled and pointed down to the slightly larger mound I had landed on,

“fire ants, they’re all around here”. He was laughing hard now as I yelped, jumped again and slapped and swore at this new attack.

“I reckon they don’t like you trompen’ on their homes”, my friend added. He walked back towards the helicopter and cursing I followed, the sting of embarrassment worse than the ant encounter.

We had been flying this area of south Texas looking for hazards to flight. Wires, towers, shooting ranges, anything that could make the low level flying and slinging we would be doing on this seismic grid more hazardous. I had barely finished my story on the importance of situational awareness and the other visual clues to look for when spotting wires when we landed to check out a possible site for staging.

“So much for situational awareness.” I said as we climbed back in the helicopter. My friend just laughed.

“Well Keith,” he said “You spotted a couple of wires that I didn’t see till you pointed them out to me. I’m from around here and you aint. I been lookin at them little ants my whole life”.

I wouldn’t claim that the ant venom sparked my brain into an epiphany of enlightenment, but it did get me thinking about what we see, comprehend or think we see. The classic examples of witnesses at an accident or crime scene come to mind. Five witnesses, five differing accounts of what happened.

Last year, at our annual pilots meeting, we viewed a short video clip from a segment on crew coordination. Our collective task was to view a group of eight people, four dressed in black, four dressed in white, counting how many times they passed a ball around in their group as they moved around in a circle trading positions in that circle. It required concentration to be fixed on the ball as it moved about the group. At the end of a minute or so the video stopped and we all wrote down our numbers. I was sure I had the right numbers but as I listened I could hear pilots muttering numbers different from my own. How could they be so wrong I thought, or was I wrong?

The presenter then asked a question that took us all aback.

“How many of you saw the gorilla in the video?”

Nervous laughter followed. No, was one of the ball handlers wearing a gorilla mask? I wondered. How did I miss that? The video was replayed and we were told to look for the gorilla. Halfway through the video a person in a full gorilla suit walked into the center of the circle waved at the camera and walked out of the circle. We saw what we were looking for. Nobody had seen the Gorilla the first time.

Its like that for so many people who travel to other countries. They see what they expected to see. What they see is from their own limited frame of reference. If not traveling ,is like owning a book and only reading the first page, then traveling with a closed mind is an even bigger waste of life. People and cultures strange to you are like an onion, you have to take the time and energy to peel back the layers to really get to see and understand. I am not surprised anymore when my original impressions of a country changes as I spend more time in that country.

When traveling I like to assess, assimilate, absorb, analyze and accept the fact that there is more to learn than can be gleaned from a single viewing of any place, any culture, anybody. In the early 1900’s the great Edwardian author G.K. Chesterton wrote,

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”

More recently a line from my favorite traveling Chef , Anthony Bourdain, “be a traveler, not a tourist”

When you travel with an open mind its a whole new vision.  I’ll keep looking and learning.


“

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Beneath our means

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Heligypsy

In these days of tightening budgets a lot of words have been written about cutting the cost of living. My parents were kids during the depression. While they didn’t have to budget through those times they definitely felt the affects of of their parents lack of funds.

My generation was wedged between the hippies turned capitalists of the 60’s and the “me ” generation of the late 80’s and 90’s. The generation “X” ers are in many ways like the folks from the 60’s but without the rampant idealism. The worst development to come out of all these times is the practice of providing easy credit to anyone with a job and a couple of brain cells.

I am as guilty as most for having dipped into that trough of instant credit. My parents saved for things. They bought the things they wanted when and only when they had the money and then only after some soul searching. I grew up in a different age with television hucksters asking the question,

“Do you need a new big screen TV? Come down and see the King of Big Screens, we’ll take care of you. No money down and 36 months to pay”.

I guess we can partially blame our, ‘move em through’ school system for producing so many barely literate students who are unable to comprehend the difference in the words want and need. Who actually needs a television? Other than replacing the requirement for pesky and expensive after school care, has the television ever been a necessity?

The Rolling Stones have been around so long that all the a fore mentioned generations have grown up listening and singing along to their music. Mick’s message was pretty clear.

(You can’t always get what you want)
But if you try sometimes, well you just might find
You get what you need

I guess many people are so far in debt that they couldn’t even afford to pay attention. I don’t know if we are listening now or not. The society that measures a persons worth by their possessions instead of their deeds gets what they deserve I suppose. I have nothing against wealth and the desire to attain financial freedom, what ever that means. If thats what you “want” to strive for, then good, if that makes you happy. Happiness may be something we need in life but one of the smartest guys to ever write a document was only willing to concede that the citizenry of this new nation be able to enjoy, “the pursuit of happiness”.

No guarantees in that endeavor. One of the big problems I see are the pretenders. When we sell the dream to kids who have been pushed along through life and not allowed to fail based on their lack of performance, we get predictable results.

The message to my generation and the others has been this. Not really making it financially? Don’t worry we have a plan to suit any budget. A realistic, sensible budget would have told our mathematically challenged but promoted students that they couldn’t afford credit.

Maybe Mick can do a remake and it can be the Mantra for a new nation.

You can’t always get what you want

But if you try sometimes, well you just might find

You can live within your means.

No, it probably won’t sell.

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Coastal City

Posted on June 21, 2008 by Heligypsy

The mind conjures up any number of views or remembrances when you read the words coastal city. I have always had an affinity for coastal places,towns,seaside villages,harbors and especially Island harbor towns.

Some of the most beautiful settings Paula and I have had the good fortune to visit have been seaside towns built on the steep hillsides overlooking the harbors and beaches.My children were raised for 10 to 15 years in the coastal cities of Santa Barbara and Carpinteria California, never more than a pleasant walk to the Ocean the beaches had free and easy access.

California ,despite its large population density in the south has always been good about not restricting the publics ability to visit the beach front by allowing right of ways,parks,state parks and beach access routes.

Private property fronts the Pacific but no one person owns the sea and low tide provides everyone the ability to cruise on foot and bicycle for miles. I often rode the 12 miles from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara on particularly low tides just to experience the freedom of blasting along the shore with nothing but shore birds for traffic.

States like Florida and Hawaii could take a lesson from California when it comes to letting their citizenry and tourists stroll freely on the beach.We can’t all afford or even want a home on the sea, but its sure nice to walk with a friend,with your thoughts,with your dog or zip along on your beach cruiser and enjoy the day without stopping short at a private property sign or worse, a fence!

I think I know how the early cowboys must have felt and can’t ever know how the plains Indians must have regarded the fenced off immensity of the grasslands. It feels more wrong to fence the seaside.

I walked the shore this morning as has become my routine. A lovely quiet early morning stroll along the beach in the Italian Riviera town of Allasio. The beach is about 300′ from my second floor balcony and when I inevitably wake in the early morning hours I like to open the doors to take in the sounds of the sea in those quiet hours and drift back to sleep.

As I walked along the water this morning I pondered the difference in the beaches here versus those that I walked last summer in Greece. Italy is more like Florida and Greece more like California. Here in this area of Italy as in many other Italian beach communities its wall to wall Hotels ,restaurants and they all seem to have the same style change huts, umbrellas and lounge chairs. A fee is charged for the use of the beach facilities but you can walk the beach front freely.

In Greece such places exist but they are mostly for Hotel tourists and shy folks who don’t want to change behind a towel or no towel.Greece has miles of free beaches and you will see cars ,trucks,boats,horses,skooters,sail boards,kites and people of every description dressed in everything from suits to nothing at all. The attitudes are more free. Enjoy yourself but don’t be a “Malaka” is the way in Greece.

In Italy its more about the money and while I understand the need to make money when your season comes around, I find the beach chairs lined up to the waters edge just a bit too much for me this morning.

An old man I have seen almost every day is grooming his little section of beach . His rake slips through the sand as he finishes the pattern between the chairs and terminates at the waters edge. An Italian beach version of a Japanese garden but he has left me no choice but to walk on his art. My shoes are laced up and so I tread on his finished work.His eyes flash a little and he thinks about something to say but won’t or can’t say it in the English he knows I speak.

I’ll walk there tomorrow again. He may be prepared with some English. I’ll wear my sandals and walk in the water but just in case I have been practicing to say, ” E la spiaggia di dio, parla con lui ”

Its God’s beach, talk with him.

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Plan “B”

Posted on June 21, 2008 by Heligypsy

I had left my comfort zone several miles back in the dark. What had began as a mission with acceptable risks had rapidly changed into something worse.The original flight plan was to fly the shore line route along Lake Ponchartrain to the FBI building in New Orleans.It was a night flight and the local fog was low and patchy as we entered the restricted area surrounding New Orleans.

I called the AWACS about 25 miles out when I could get a word in on their very busy frequency. The traffic was going to be mostly military helo’s over the hurricane and flood ravaged New Orleans area.Katrina relief efforts were in full swing and the flying was 24 hours a day with most of the flying thankfully conducted in daylight hours. There was just way too many helicopters and almost no flight separation outside the immediate area of the international airport. By immediate area I mean that on several occasions I heard the already over loaded controllers make a call in the blind on tower frequency that went like this; ” all traffic in the vicinity of the airport,shut up and listen”. “Unless you are inbound to the airport within one half mile going to triage on the south side of the field,stay off frequency”.

It was see and avoid for the rest of us. At night it was stare and hope to avoid. The military folks had NVG and discrete frequencies,call signs and two trained pairs of eyes looking outside. I had the shoreline route along the beach at beach buzzing altitudes that would keep me clear. Clear of traffic and obstructions until a few miles back when the mission had changed. We were deviating to a ” location” within the city.

If you have over flown cities at night you know that it takes a while to get your bearings. If you know the City. My knowledge of the area was limited to the previous two days flights. My FBI buddies knew the area but it was obvious after a minute that a completely blacked out city with water where streets used to be was going to make surface reference navigation difficult. Could I fly a little lower, came the back seat request?

Did you see that last tower that went by I asked? “Not until it went by”, came the answer. “Then thats a no, I guess”,he added.There have been at least three helicopters cross our path that I know of, I said and one of them was much closer and slower than I had originally thought.

I have every light in the house on and flashing I said but if we can’t get our bearings here soon I think we should scrub this portion of the flight. Turning one way or the next every few seconds to check a reference on the ground makes see and avoid more difficult for me and those other folks in the BlackHawks and what ever else is out here tonight.

Common sense prevailed and we flew back to the shoreline. As I low leveled along the shoreline on my side of the route we passed several military helicopters of various size and closing speed. It was the ones coming up from my rear that concerned me. Faster and fatigued just like me they were welcome to pass overhead. Down here I could deal with nighthawks, fog patches and maybe gulls. Anything more substantial than that and we would lose. The FBI compound had some emergency lighting on by the front gates and my grassy helispot of the previous days flights was clear and a welcome sight.

Once on the ground the special agent in charge asked me if I could sling some sealed filing cabinet sized containers weighing about 500 lb.s back with us that night to Baton Rouge.

No, I answered. That is a daytime flight that I would only conduct solo I said. The agent seemed to be thinking of another option.”We would have to fly with you”, Keith. Its not allowed, I said. Against the rules and if my guess is right, you probably want me to sling these containers into your facility in downtown Baton Rouge?

“Correct “,he said. I can not sling objects over built up areas for several miles, I said. Won’t happen.

Ok, Keith,we will figure something out ,but we sure aren’t getting much accomplished tonight are we ?

We are staying alive Sir, I said.

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A Rambling life just got pricey

Posted on June 16, 2008 by Heligypsy

No matter where we travel our home is usually always behind us. Thats how it goes with full time RV life. We have two RV’s now. The rather large 5th wheel and the rather small Class “C” Motorhome. They both have a separate purpose as their size difference would suggest.

It has been a great adventure traveling North and Central America but after this fall and winters trip that will take in the east coast of parts of Canada and the United States we will be done traveling extensively for a while.

There may be other Mexico trips but no more 3 and 4 thousand mile odysseys. At $5.25 a gallon our fuel bill alone is exceeding .50 a mile. Throw a dollar out the window every two miles.A friend asked me recently if I thought it wise to make our most recent trip up the west coast of the United States and then east to Ontario. It will be an expensive trip,he added. On the other hand I said,it will never be any cheaper either.

We have some alternate plans for travel and we will keep you posted. This spring as I sit in the seaside town of Alassio, Italy I can’t help checking out the sailboats. Wind power, now that is a lot cheaper than diesel fuel.Those Yanmar diesels in the sailboat burn 1/2 gallon per hour. Hmmm?

Posted in RV Travel, Self sufficient living | Tagged | 1 Comment