Random Tuesday

My friend, Seyda, tells me that, sometimes, even the mundane is nice to see. She reminds me that it's certainly worth remembering, and why I'm writing this blog in the first place. So...

A random Tuesday:

Sometimes, the Forest Service or BLM (Bureau of Land Management) will provide lunch to everyone assigned to a fire, is the fire is big enough. The only problem there is that each lunch has 10,000 calories ~ because each lunch has to sustain the firefighters on the ground, who are burning more calories than they can consume. However, air crew don't really need all the sugar, fat, and carbs that the people on the ground do. So, helicrews often will send someone out for sandwiches or even carry a grill with them. 

This crew is a carry-a-grill-with-them type o'crew. The Mechanic grilled up lunch for everyone yesterday; My Favorite wanted to do it today. I ran ingredients out to them, but didn't get to drive through the airport, because I was at the wrong gate.

Not the right gate for the code I had. Still cool.

When I got back to the hotel, the parking lot was a little more crowded.

CalFire is in the house

The only issue there is that My Favorite and the couple other aircraft that were pulled in the other day have gotten the fire out. We'll see if they're here in the morning. (Hell, we'll see if we're here in the morning!)

A little more crowded, indeed

That silver Impala is me. The asshole pickup truck is just a random asshole pickup truck. I probably sat in the Impala for a good three minutes trying to decide if I should snuggle myself into that parking space, tight enough to make it impossible for them to open the driver-side door. Unfortunately, cooler heads prevailed because it dawned on me ~ if this driver is enough of an asshole to park like this, they're enough of an asshole to drive over my silver Impala. And I love my silver Impala.

A couple days ago, I posted pictures of preflight. Here's what happens after that, courtesy of someone from My Favorite's crew:

Running up

Fly away

Please note the size of the bucket next to the size of the (very large) human being standing next to it.

Even on random Tuesdays, the adventure continues.