"Seeing The Bird"....

About a year ago, a friend at Gus's saw an airplane painting I completed for a local client and suggested I speak to this guy named Dave. In a conversation, I recently had with him, he gave me his last name and phone number, but before that ever came to fruition, he and I were playing hide and seek.

Apparently, he's one of those good old boys that kinda hangs with a mixed group of bikers, farm boys and horse owners. The dude resembles George W. Bush with long gray hair, and I'm told he is rather wealthy having inherited his father's Folsom nursery.

He doesn't look the green thumb type.

Two years ago, I was introduced to the vice principal of a high school who's MD husband had two aircraft stationed at the Covington City Airport. One was a "172" and the other was an aerobatic Pits special. She said that she'd ask him for permission to paint one of his aircraft. Since that time, I lost contact with her and was not invited back for the high school career day to seek her out.

I guess I wasn't very inspiring to the senior students about a career in the arts.

Anyway, I looked and looked for that airport, which I found out later, is more like an airfield with a wind sock and five or six corrugated hangars. I tried many times to find the airfield and never did until just a few days ago.

Okay, back to Dave.

"You the guy that wants to paint my airplane," he asked.

"The plane doesn't need a paint job. I still have some work to do on it before I do anything with it. It is missing a valve!"

"In a way, I've sort of lost interest in flying," he said.

"I don't know your name, but I wouldn't fly with him for all the money in China," a friend yells across the table!

"Shaddup, man!"

"No Dave, I want to paint a picture of the aircraft, En Plein Air style and I hear you've got an interesting aircraft sitting in your hangar."

"So, you're an artist, eh?"

My dad had owned a few art galleries in his day and he asked me once, "What am I gonna do with all of these seascapes?"

"I told him that he should've never bought so many beach scenes... I mean, you see one wave on a beach and you've pretty much seen them all!"

"Right?"

Trying to get back on the topic I was interested in, I added...

"Only problem is, besides getting permission from you to see the aircraft, is finding that damn airport. I've yet to be able to find it," I said.

After he explained to me, the country version of how to get there, it was a piece of cake to find it.

"I tell you what, Dave announced, I'lll give you the key and you can go check it out yourself... See what'cha think, but I'll tell you what, there's a silver post war Luscombe in disrepair sitting in an open hangar that you should check out."

"You should go check that one out first," he said.

"You're an airplane guy. You're familiar with Luscombes, right?"

"Oh yeh... very cool! Post war, eh?"

I had no idea what the hell a single engine, all metal, Luscombe aircraft was... till I Googled it before setting out to find the plane.

I don't know when we'll ever get together for that key to his hangar, even though I have his phone number. After finally finding the airport and seeing the bird, maybe, I don't need to!

First "blue skies" cup!