02.25.03

In Rochester

Posted in Travels at 12:57 pm by Leopoldo

2/25/03 7:54 AM
I am aboard a small aircraft en route to Cleveland, Ohio. The airplane has capacity for about 40 people and is not nearly tall enough for me to stand up straight. Weather report for Cleveland is for sunny, clear and 8 degrees. I had to get up at 4:30 am to be at the airport in time for the flight. That is 1:30 am West coast time for those who are counting. I was not able to get to sleep last night until around 12:30 am so I am running on less than four hours of sleep. I wish I could sleep on the plane but I have so far been unable to do so. I realized this morning that the only mental concept of Cleveland I have comes from the ‘Drew Carry Show’. I think I drove through Cleveland once when I was driving across the country but did not stop.

When we were getting ready to land at Dulles on Sunday I turned the audio to a channel that carried Air Traffic Control. It was fascinating to listen to the controllers pas our craft from one station to the next. Getting close to the airport air traffic announced that Air Force 2 was coming in and demanded 15 minutes before and after it for safety reasons. There was one airplane up that was low on fuel trying to find a way to land. They told air traffic that they were close to declaring Min Fuel but the controllers were unmoved. Once Air Force 2 unloaded it?s passengers and got ready to move on it stopped responding to that call name and took on the name ‘Marines 2′. I remembered watching a documentary on Air Force 1 where they explained that name was given only while it was carrying the president, at all other times it was Marines 1. I also remember them saying that when Nixon resigned he officially ceased being president in mid-air, making it the only time that Air Force 1 has changed call signs in mid air.

The view from the plane is beautiful. It is clear for miles and for miles you can see farm after farm. Each has a house, a barn and all the fields are covered in snow. In the distance I can see two nuclear reactor cooling towers with a huge steam cloud coming out.

2/25/03 3:50 PM
At this point I am in Rochester. My cold looks like it is making a comeback. I am running on less than 4 hours of sleep. I am in meetings all afternoon and am having a very hard time focusing. I am very glad to finally be in Rochester though. It is sunny and showing outside, quite beautiful. About 12 degrees last time I checked.

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