Walts Travelogue

[h0rnytoad1]

yunno, i bet the girls wouda liked a good foot rub before diner. Darn me and my PHD in not foot rubbing.

Yeah steakhouses are expensive, but if normally at home you buy those on sale and you're in the mood for a good steak , well once in a while you need to just go and have a real good one with all the trimmings, its so worth it.

We also have some restos here called Madisons, used to be a Kelsey's (Grammer, Dr Crane from Cheers).

Oh you know what restorant i miss the most for steak ? The Ponderosa steakhouse. omg my parents usta bring us there as kids at the one in Rosemere. Mmm so good.

Never found out why they pulled out of Canada. i know there's a whole bunch in New york & the tri-state area, but its so far away. We went to the one in NY like 10years ago. Nice family outting, just a long drive to Plattsburgh.


Just to emulate LJS a bit, my meat never pulls out until it's (well) done

(they always finish with a good sexy one liner don't they?)

[WalterB]

For HT and anyone else interested:

I stumbled upon Alaska in early 1970. I was hired onto The Alaskan White Alice System from Detroit. I flew to Anchorage for sign-in and indoctrination, then we all (class of 8) Flew out to Sparrevohn for 4 weeks training on the system and it's equipment. Ended up staying with them for 7 years. Visit http://www.geocities.com/~billev/wacs/main.html for info on the system. None of the remote sites are there now. It was all decommissioned in, I think, the late 70's. I will try to attach a Google Earth view later, and some pics of the landing strip at Sparrevohn. It was a dangerous landing. The strip dead-ended into the mountain, so the Point of no Return was somewhere out on final. Once past that point, the planes, especially the larger ones, like C-124s and C-130s could not wind up enough power to clear the mountains on the sides. There were at least 3 crashes at the airstrip, and one on the back side of the mountain. I think 3 guys died in that one. They let down in the fog on the wrong side of the mountain, where the elevation was higher. (also, no strip on that side.) There was no ILS (Instrument Landing System) at this strip. The fuselage burned out, leaving the wings. You can still see the wings in the google earth view. If you're proficient in navigating GE, fire it up and enter "Sparrevohn, Alaska" in the search box.

If you look thru the pictures on the White Alice web site, I worked at Sparrevohn (SVW), Nikolski (IKO, maybe 1200 miles out the chain,) and Cape Lisburne (LUR) which is/was way up on the NW coast of Alaska. You are above the arctic circle here, so you go into 24 hr dark in the winter and 24 hr light. It wasn't far enough to go totally dark , or for the sun to stay above the horizon, but in winter you could see a glow on the southern horizon in Winter, and in summer it would stay light enough to read outside.

Well, I can't figure out how to get the Google Earth view to you yet, so will do later. Meanwhile, I have attached 5 pictures of the landing approach at Sparrevohn taken from the cockpit of a landing C-130. In my opinion, it took a Sullenberger type of pilot to get into this strip. You had to come in at a steep angle due to mountains (behind the landing A/C in the pics.) Any crosswind greater than a very few MPH would also play havoc with your landing. The captions are from the captions that were under the original pictures, except for an additional note I put on one of them. If you save the pics to your 'puter and view them with Picture Viewer or your own software, you can zoom in for greater detail.

Enjoy. More later.

[rokkerr]

I think you took those pictures from some playstation game.

Amazing.. no way you could get me on one of those planes

[WalterB]

It was a fun ride, for sure.

Getting out to 'civilization' was a big thing for everyone, of course. You typically only got out twice a year. Once for a week or two, and once for 6 weeks, where they would fly you to your point of hire. I was waiting for a flight out once, in an incoming C-124.

They told us that the flight out would be delayed, as they had to do some 'work ' on the A/C first. I, of course, replied, "Take all the friggin' time you need. Just make sure it works." Well, it took an hour or two. We all (4 of us, I think,) went out, boarded and strapped ourselves in. The engines fired, we turned to the runway and the pilot hit the throttles.

Just after liftoff (3 - 5 feet off the ground?) one of the engines coughed and sputtered, and the plane skewed to the right. Well, it caught again and ran flawlessly after that, but I guarantee you, there were four sets of dirty underwear on that A/C for the flight to Anchorage. If the engine had died, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here telling this. There just wasn't enough power in one engine to pull it above the mountains that still laid ahead.

If any of you play with MS Flight Simulator, fly from any of the Anchorage fields to the Anchorage VOR (114.3) then about 247 to the Sparrevohn VOR (SQA, 117.2) about 150 miles if you want to try the landing. If you have trouble finding the field, just start your flight at SVW and fly back to Anchorage. You'll need about 8,000' to clear the Alaska Range Mtns. I like the Beech 350 for this trip.

[vectis]

Hey Walt , having followed your misadventures in travelling in America and now seeing your journeys in Alaska,if I ever make it to the U.S.and you offer me a ride...I'll echo Benny and elect to walk

[Benny25]

Hey Walt , having followed your misadventures in travelling in America and now seeing your journeys in Alaska,if I ever make it to the U.S.and you offer me a ride...I'll echo Benny and elect to walk

good one vectis!

[WalterB]

I could rent you my skateboard, vectis. I don't use it ever since I fell off and busted my ass.

[st1fler]

this is walt now

[WalterB]

I hope I never get that crotchety! Where the hell does he think they should skate? On the Freeway?

Well, did that once, too. Well, not on the Freeway. In winter in Alaska up at Lake Wasilla (sound familiar? Anyone remember Sarah Palin?) the ice freezes to maybe a foot thick, enough to drive on and land ski-planes on. We used to drive out on it and tow each other on sleds, cardboard, whatever we could scrape up. And, if you fell off? We drug you on your ass! WAYYYY too much fun, especially after a 6-pack or two. (or a bowl or two?? heehee.)

[WalterB]

Finally made it to Vegas last nite (Monday.) Had 'puter probs and couldn't get on-line til now. Really not a bad trip, just long. You sure go thru some beautiful country out here. Nothing happened, so nothing to write about. But, I'm off to do some shopping and exploring.

[h0rnytoad1]

exploring that's the fun part of being where you're going. its the getting there that's long.

i hope V&R are having a good flight.

[LauraJebAndSue]

Walt,

So did you "skateboard" or fly in that "old air thing" to Vegas? We just not sure how you got there!

After pussy convention and all in Vegas on the way home you are near http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/ and we all only live once. Read the online rules. You must buy part of the ticket 24 hrs. before.

Naughty L&S

PS No grabbing any VNA or other Ladies in Vegas! U a bad boy. Will this be live on VNA Rokkerr?

[vectis]

Walt,


PS No grabbing any VNA or other Ladies in Vegas! U a bad boy. Will this be live on VNA Rokkerr?

L&S there is a note on the schedule..Live feeds on all cams ..Wed & thurs.

[WalterB]

Walt,

PS No grabbing any VNA or other Ladies in Vegas! U a bad boy. Will this be live on VNA Rokkerr?

What? You gonna be there to tie my hands??

Last show, the girls kept jumping up, thinking someone in the crowd was pinching them. Well, some guy was. They just didn't know this guy was standing behind them.

[AussieSteve]

Hi Walt

Have fun in Vegas, mate! I'm sure Vicky and Sara will keep you entertained; I'll be logging into c2c later today to catch up, see you soon

[LauraJebAndSue]

What? You gonna be there to tie my hands??

Last show, the girls kept jumping up, thinking someone in the crowd was pinching them. Well, some guy was. They just didn't know this guy was standing behind them.

Walt,

Stop pinching "The Talent!" Make sure money is safe.

WOW was Sara Jay hot on C2C today. And xxxDavex gives Jarred a crack off stud workout as the "VNA Whopper!"

L&S

[WalterB]

Well, I can't make a trip with out something going wrong.

First nite of the show, Vicky and Dave are taking their stuff back to their hotel (across from where the show was,) while I went to get my car to take them to The Peppermill, where we were all going to meet and eat. Suddenly there's a loud sound like I'm dragging a traffic sign or something. I was in a construction zone and going real slow and never saw anything coming.

Well, the sound wasn't going away, si I pulled into a protected lane and stopped. I got out and looked under the car, expecting to find a body or something.... Nothing? Well, . Where the hell is all the noise coming from? So I open the hood and get my flashlight, and there's a spark plug wire lying across the manifold. So I quick shut off the enging and looked further. Yup! There's my spark plug, lying down amongst the crap. Somebitch came unscrewed and blew out! Well, CRAP! NOW WHAT!! The immensely exciting and HOT Sara Jay is waiting for me to show up and have dinner with her, the amazing Vicky Vette is anxiously awaiting my arrival that I might chauffeur her around in my Golden Chariot, and my Golden Chjarion turns into so much CRAP! Shades of Cinderella and a chariot turned to pumpkin. And, it wasn't even MIDNIGHT yet!

Well, I was only a half block or so from Vickys hotel. I called her, then drove into their parking lot. We took a taxi to dinner, then I went home. Went out the next morning, bought the tools I needed and a plug and went to fix it. The plug went in no problem, so the threads weren't bunged up, which is what I was afraid of.

So, made it to dinner with Sara and Vicky after all. Talk about "All's well that ends well."

[h0rnytoad1]

ya ya car troubles with pretty ladies, we all know that one, you sly devil

hey glad you're plugs werent buggered, atleast you made it back and safe. did u take pix ? hope you can post em someday when you get the chance.

[vectis]

Walt
why do I get the envious felling that your car troubles elicited sympathetic responses from Vicky and Sara ?

[Benny25]

Walt
why do I get the envious felling that your car troubles elicited sympathetic responses from Vicky and Sara ?

lol Vectis! They don't call him a sly old dog for nothing. Works every time, eh Walt?

Now if he said he ran out of gas while driving Sara Jay around, then............