Week 1 Done!

I have decided that writing a blog would be a good way of updating friends and family of my adventures whilst I chase the filthy Yankee Dollar and live the American Dream.  This blog is not intended for public consumption, so stop reading now if you don't know me... ...you WILL be bored!

My flight over here was good - we flew premium economy with BA, so very comfortable, but long!  Thankfully, there was a great selection of junk food on board and some interesting documentaries on the TV thing.  I watched a documentary on Bitcoin which I found very interesting and it has got me thinking...  This could be the early days of something revolutionary.  I need to do more research before I can make up my mind for sure, but definitely food for thought.  The two opposing Bitcoin camps are: governments and large financial institutions versus the entrepreneurs and internet geeks who got the whole thing running; plenty of them are minted, but it might be a bubble which is about to burst.  More to come.

My oppo is Maps, we first met 20 years ago at RAF Linton-on-Ouse when I completed my Basic Fast Jet Training Course.  He had already been in the RAF for a few years back then and was a Tornado F3 navigator completing a crossover course to be a pilot.  He graduated a little behind me and went back to the F3.  I don't think that I ever saw him again in my RAF career!  He left the RAF in 2012 and went to fly for Monarch Airlines, but took voluntary redundancy when Monarch got into financial difficulty and joined the company as a Typhoon instructor pilot in the sim at RAF Coningsby.  He now works with me and we are the first two CIPs blazing a new trail!  

Maps and me blazing a trail.  Well, blazing a BBQ.

Maps was at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to meet me.  He had arrived a day earlier than me because I was delayed to my visa faff, which is another story altogether...

It cost us $4 in parking fees, but when Maps had arrived the previous day, the company had arranged for an enormous van to collect him and drive him to the hotel - a 25-mile journey which cost $400!  The company paid another $70 for a man to stand in the arrival hall with his name on an iPad and take him to the waiting van!  

This week mostly consisted of snoozing in the afternoon, shopping for essentials and waiting for the company to sort out our medical clearances before we could get access to the base.  It was getting quite fraught and at one point they asked us if we were able to book medicals in town to include a chest X-ray for TB and an HIV test with the results back within 24 hours!

Essentials purchased!

One of my mates works here at Luke AFB - he was on exchange in the UK on the Tornado and has now come back home.  We met him and his wife Helen, an ex-RAF doctor, on Wednesday night for the hot rod show at the Westgate complex in Goodyear.  It was nice to meet Helen for the first time and even nicer to see some good-looking hot rods!

A little Mexican influence in this design!

T bucket - it's based on a Ford Model T.  I remember reading about these in a custom car book that Mum bought me when I was about 10!

Another T bucket

Maps and I have both brought road bikes over here with us and we did our first (and probably last!) ride out with a local group.  The ride started with a disclaimer from the guy who organises it and he went on to brief some basic rules and etiquette on group riding which upset one of the regulars and rapidly descended into an argument.  After a few minutes, we got going but it was hard riding with such a large group (approx 100 cyclists) which such poor discipline.  It was also hard riding through the city grid system as there is either a stop sign or traffic light at each cross junction which invariably means that group either stops and then starts or gets split up - it makes setting a steady pace more or less impossible.  Anyway, there were a few nice welcoming cyclists and Maps and I had the opportunity to chat for a bit.  I have been exploring a little on my own too.

As far west as I could get in Phoenix.

Saturday finished off with Oktoberfest at the Goodyear Airport.  We live in Goodyear, which is technically a city in its own right, but has been swallowed up by Phoenix and is now part of the metropolitan area which is the fifth largest in the USA.  There is a German Air Force training detachment here in Goodyear and they hosted the party in a hangar at the airport.  There were 2500 attendees!  It was a great night with lots of German beer and currywurst and I am now the proud owner of a Bavarian hat and some very fetching lederhosen :)

Before

During

After!

Trixie and I have managed to speak most days so far, so I have been able to keep up with news from Wereham and see the house projects progressing too.  Technology is great!


That's all for this week.  Stay tuned for your next exciting installment!