Heli Expo & NVG Trg

I finally had the chance to attend Heli Expo and I was sick as a dog but damn it, I just had to go. 

I managed to see a lot of great technology that is up and coming into the mainstream. There are things like infrared displays and portable HUDs that we need to prepare for. As I work on drafting the regulations for imaging technology I feel like like I'm running after a runaway train but I am confident that we will catch up 

There were so many great machines to see, my favourites were the new EC175 and the A119de. 

You gotta love machines with this much power to weight ratio. 

I also tried to catch up to Chopper Chick whose blog I really enjoy but there was no way to keep up to this girl, no dust gathering here. 

I left the relative warmth of Anaheim for my simulator training in Portage La Prairie in Manitoba Canada where it got down to -37 celcius (nearly the same as -40F). We used the new B412CF simulator run by Allied Wings. This consortium which includes Flight Safety and Canadian Helicopters Ltd runs a great facility. While their prime customer is the Canadian military flight training program, they offer their services to industry. 

Currently this is the only helicopter sim available to industry in Canada and the only one NVG capable. I was able to do some great refresher and have other inspectors experience NVG flight for the first time. It was great flying and it almost made up for the freezing weather. 

Now it's back to the office but I do have some more NVG flights booked and I am due for my annual check ride so it won't be just the cubicle. 

Move

Well we did move after all. We left AB in mid July 2008 and drove across Canada to ON. On our way we stopped at some interesting things and made the trip part of our summer holiday. 

We visited Rouleau Saskatchewan which is where the set of Corner Gas is. We love that quirky show and it was much fun seeing all the sets and places they film. 

We also crossed the lake by ferry into Riverhurst SK. Not too many folks aside from the locals of course can say they have done a ferry crossing in Saskatchewan. 

We finally moved into our new house in mid August. We live on the St-Lawrence river now and the kids love it. It is a big change from AB but ON has lots to offer too. The new job is going well and my wife found a job also so that makes the transition easier for us all. The yard got fenced so the dogs are happy and we have enjoyed the local history. We are looking forward to a nice fall with lots of colours from our maples and oaks in our yard. 

Moving?

Well it looks like after nearly 18 months of planning, interviewing and tons of waiting, I am finally offered a position in HQ. So we are moving from AB back to ON.

I Need A Walk!

Don't get me wrong, I have a good life. I'm almost always inside, the food is great and plentiful and I've got a couple of good friends. I sleep on leather chairs and once in a while they let me up on the bed.

I have them pretty well trained to pet me on demand even if that little rat comes up and jumps and yips at me, damn pups. But man I'm getting fat and restless. Mind you so is the big fella who tries to run the joint. He's gotta be tipping the scales at around 1000 pounds. Ok I don't do math, hey I'm a dog!

I just wanna get out some and chase some darn rabbits and deer. They got pissed off at me last time we went for a long walk cuz I just ran off and ignored them. I mean I only get out the odd time so I give her, I run my feet right off, literally and that pisses them off too. I figure screw it, I don't care if my feet bleed, I got to run! It's not my fault, it get it from my mother or something but I'm an anxious dog. I get all worked up when I know I'm gonna ride in the truck and my guts get upset and I just can't help it but I bark my ass off. I'm so excited I can't contain myself, my bark is like a shrill yip and my guts churn and I shit myself.

Oh you want to see pissed off, just shit in buddies truck on his leather seats. The guy's whole face turns read, veins pop out of his neck and forehead and he just tosses my ass out of the truck. Ah mission accomplished, I'm out and I start running. Of course this really torques the guy, he's angry about the crap, of course my guts feel muuuch better, and now I'm off running.

I don't come right back to him cuz he might beat me senseless.........allright he doesn't do that but he scares me when he's just ranting on and on about his damn truck, I had to shit! And besides, he'll haul my ass into the back of the truck and take me home and I want to run, so I run.

After about 40 minutes to an hour, or an hour and a bit I come back. By then my feet are sore and I'm thirsty as hell so I let him take me home. He's usually cooled off by then about the whole crapping thing. I've only done it about five or six or seven times, you'd think he'd get used to it by now. At least I don't eat seat belts anymore, that sent him right over the edge man, I thought he was going to have an anurism for sure. I mean the guy's a goof but hell he feeds me and pets me on command. It's either him or the streets again, I can't go back out there alone, I just can't, I nearly starved to death.

Choosing a Camper

So after decades of talking about if we finally decided to get a camper. We had actually thought we may buy a cabin since we live in Alberta and could have found something in the foothills. But then I thought let's check out campers. Why not.

I began looking at pop up trailers thinking to keep it simple and relatively inexpensive. My wife vetoed that quickly on so I ended up looking at a trailer with a small pop out for the master bed. The pop out had canvass sides but it was a nice trailer will all amenities. It was the kind of trailer we could pull with our SUV.

So I bring my wife to the dealer with our kids. The kids are running around like squirrels on speed running up and down steps into trailers and motorhomes well beyond our means. Meanwhile my wife and I are looking at the trailer I had picked out and she wanders off to another unit and says, "this one is nice". So I look and nod in agreement however it's a fifth wheel trailer! So I tell her we'd need a new truck and she smiles and says "well you've always wanted another pickup". While our children are causing a great diversion we look the thing over and it is quite nice. After wrangling the kids into a one controllable group we approach and salesman and before we know it we've bought the darn thing!

OK we knew exactly what we were doing but it was pretty spontaneous. So we go out for a drive and again in a rather spontaneous and rather rapid move we trade our new Ford Explorer for a used F350 King Ranch Crew Cab turbo diesel 1 ton truck. We are off to the races. So now we begin our camping plans. I now own this huge truck and a fifth wheel. The last time and the only time I've ever driven a truck with a trailer was when I was 13 and went on a road trip with our neighbour who was a trucker. I use to go with him during the summer that year and he let me drive his tractor trailer around in large empty lots plus he thought me very briefly how to reverse. You wouldn't think that such a short lesson would last but I did remember numerous things including watching my mirrors on turns and how to reverse. I wasn't that great at it, but so long as it went very slow I handled it just fine.

So now we have this huge truck which I absolutely loved. Big diesel truck sound and black smoke on start up and whenever you pound down on the go pedal. Our trailer was a 2006 Pilgrim fifth wheel, 27 feet long.