Chapter 20

At breakfast the next morning, the contractor asked if we could take his wife up to Minnesota to the Mayo clinic right away. She had agreed to get treatment.

Sue looked at me and said, "You fly, you need some time in the air. I have some things that have to get done today. If you get tired, stay over somewhere. Call me."

I went into the office and looked up a flight plan to get up there. After calling out to the air park and telling them it was a mercy flight they said they would have the plane serviced and ready, including oxygen and the potty in the back.

I filed the flight plan and called the contractor and his wife to tell them that we would leave between nine and nine thirty. We should be in the air about four and half hours. I used my truck to take us to the airport. I had an unexpected passenger. Nelda said she wanted to ride with me to keep me alert on the long flight.

I loaded the contractor, his wife, and their luggage into the plane before doing the preflight inspection, with the curious Nelda on my heels. It was almost funny to have this tiny seventy plus year old lady walking with me as I checked the various places you needed to check or inspect.

I got Nelda situated into the right seat and began the startup procedures for the turbines. It's so strange to sit in the cabin and fire up the engines when the way you learned was with a plain old gas engine. When the startup and pre-taxi checklist was complete, I requested permission to the active and taxied out to take off. Before advancing the throttles I opened the flight plan.

Flying this plane was becoming second nature to me. The takeoff was smooth, with a rapid rate of climb. I started the pressurization for the cabin and turned on the oxygen as we were going to be flying at twenty-three thousand feet. We were bumped around a little in the tops of some building cumulus clouds, but there was no lightning in any of them. Nelda was an excellent companion. We talked about a variety of things. She told me all about her husband and her three kids. They had all died at one time or another, leaving just her. She was a tough old bird; she didn't give up, and just kept going.

We made the trip without a stop, with all the passengers using the potty. An ambulance met us at the ops building. I told them both to let me hear from them. I told them I would fly them back; just call.

The airport was first class. Instead of firing the engines again to move to the fuel pumps, they brought a truck out to me. Nelda and I took time to have a late lunch and bought some extra water for the flight back.

Nelda followed me around the plane on the preflight again before we climbed into our seats and went through the cockpit preflight and startup. This time, I gave her the big flip chart and had her read off each procedure while I performed the task.

It's always exciting to fire the turbines. As the first one winds up, you check several gauges to make sure everything is the way it's supposed to be. Your ear becomes tuned to the correct sound once the engine is spinning. When the first one is stabilized you fire the next one. You could probably do both at once, but the recommended procedure is to do one at a time. When the second engine is turning correctly you call in for taxi instructions, and spin up the props.

Flying is a series of events, regardless of the type of plane you're flying. You check the plane, you check the inside, you start up the engines, you check the engines before you move to take off. We were given a straight run to the active and immediately cleared for take off. I was already advancing the throttles as I turned onto the active runway. The plane shot down the runway and lifted off quickly. The wheels retracted and we were climbing to our return altitude of twenty-two thousand feet.

I did my checks and dialed in the return flight on the GPS to head for my first marker. As we flew along, I explained the different instruments to Nelda. She was fascinated and seemed to be retaining everything I told her.

Down near Atlanta she asked if we could land and take a break. She needed to use the restroom and didn't want to use the plane's potty. I requested landing instructions for us to come into the private aircraft terminal. They brought me in nicely clearing me to a taxi lane to the private terminal. I asked for a cart for Nelda and asked for a fuel truck.

She was gone for a while and returned with a happy look on her face. I went into the little pilot shack and took a whiz, and came out to do the pre-flight and we went through the startup procedure. The bigger airports require pilots to request startup in order to clear ramp personnel. I had a guy right in front of me watching as I fired up. He stood beside the first engine with a fire extinguisher confirming a good ignition, then went to the second to do to the same. Like I said, it's exciting to listen to the big turbines winding up.

The traffic patterns must have been in our favor as we were set up with only four planes in front of us. There must have been a couple of low fuel landings as the lead plane was held way back from the active runway. Finally the first plane wheeled onto the active and gunned it while the second plane in line was coming onto the active runway. The plane in front of me was crowding the runway so I tucked in behind him. The second plane took off with the third plane wheeling onto the active runway.

When the 737 began its roll, the left engine flashed really bright. I called to the tower to advise the 737 that the left engine looked like it flared. The plane was committed and had to take off. We were held in position as the plane circled and came in for a fast one engine landing. The left engine was in flames. By the time the plane had stopped the onboard fire retardant chemicals had killed the flames. We ended up waiting for over thirty minutes before we were finally cleared to take off.

I called in to amend the flight plan times and received an attaboy for notifying the tower of the 737 problem. Nelda asked about it and I explained that the 737 pilot would have heard me tell the tower of the flare and would soon feel the loss of thrust from that side. She then understood how one pilot helps another.

As we approached our airport, the weather was not very nice. Our little field said there was a thunderstorm over the far end of the runway. If I was cleared down quickly there shouldn't be any trouble. They gave me a straight in and I reversed the pitch on the props to slow us down immediately. We were good on the short field landing technique and taxied toward the hangar. I spun us at the hangar and shutdown, going through the after shutdown checklist. I pretty much ran out of the plane and pulled it into the hangar. The storm hit almost as soon as the plane was inside, lots of lightning, lots of thunder. I filled out the logbooks and wrote up the low fuel sheet and hung a copy in the cockpit and one on the attendant board.

Nelda and I used a big umbrella to walk to the truck and drove back home. Sue was surprised we had made it back in just over ten hours. Nelda said we would have been over an hour earlier if we didn't have to stop for her in Atlanta. Sue hugged her and told her that we would stop for her anytime. Nelda said she loved to fly and would go with us at the drop of a hat. Sue promised her that we would be taking her to lots of places with us.

Mickey was very loving, while Nelda and I ate a light supper before getting ready for bed. As soon as I closed down the patio and cleaned up a little before coming to bed, Mickey was all over me, saying she was going to get me ready for Sue and Sue ready for me.

I have to say Mickey did exactly what she said she would do. Sue and I enjoyed each other. When we were laying back Sue whispered into my ear, "Get her, show her what she can experience, make her scream."

When I began loving Mickey, she was a little apprehensive, but gradually relaxed. As I went to the south end of her, Sue began kissing her and her breasts, thoroughly turning her on. With little effort, I found her buttons and soon had her body quaking with orgasm. When Mickey pulled me up to enter her, Sue kissed us both and smiled at me for finding Mickey's pleasure switches.

Just about the time I was sliding to one side to hug Mickey while she relaxed, I realized she was asleep. Sue pulled my head around for a kiss and whispered, "Good job, Lover, good job."

We flashed through the week and weekend until it was time for Sue and me to fly up to pick up my sister, Susan, her husband Kevin, and their two kids, Dennis and Tina.

The new addition to our home had been completed for the five bedrooms and three bathrooms. The contractor's men did their usual first class job in no time at all. The way they opened up the wall, utilizing all the space possible, was great. A new bathroom was now directly across from the sliding glass door so this would be a help on busy mornings or evenings. The design that had been settled on was to have doors to the bathroom from each of the two bedrooms and the living room. I missed not having the outside door on that side of the living room but there was still an outside door in the addition's baby area, as well as in the office. Sue and some of the women had made an expedition to furnish and decorate the bedrooms and bathrooms. We had a pretty big home before, and we had now increased it more than half again as much, by adding eleven hundred and twenty square feet. We could have divided up the new space better, but I wanted to add some big bedrooms rather than several small ones.

Sue and I advised everyone that we would be in the air, bringing my family back that day. The crew was more excited than I was to meet some of my family. The person most excited was Mickey who wanted to fly with us, and then there was Nelda who insisted that she would fly with us too.

Sue wanted the left seat time, so she planned and filed the flight plan to Cincinnati. I had called my sister to make sure she was going to be there when we arrived. She was excited and assured me the whole family couldn't wait to see us.

The flight up was smooth and flawless. Sue landed perfectly and taxied up to the private plane operations building. We parked in the refueling slot and received immediate attention. While I greeted my family, Sue was monitoring the refueling of the airplane.

I couldn't believe the size of Susan's kids. Susan looked pretty good for thirty-six. She wasn't built as full as Ruth but she still had the youthful enthusiasm that I remembered her by. She was always excited when doing something new or different. I think she was the most adventurous of us three kids.

Dennis was tall and slim, probably six foot maybe a hundred and sixty, good looking with a crew cut. Tina was a budding young lady, trying to look older. She had lighter hair than her Mom, almost blonde, and was fairly tall and slim at five foot five, and maybe a hundred to a hundred ten pounds.

I received a hug from Susan, and handshakes from the rest. The kids really didn't know me. After the girls that had flown up with me had returned from the bathroom with Sue, I introduced everyone. Susan fell in love with Nelda, who acted like our mom used to with her spunky upbeat attitude. Susan's kids needed a grandmother and Nelda sure would be a good one. Dennis and Tina were fascinated that Mickey was a crime scene specialist with the sheriff's department.

We loaded up everyone and got them all buckled in. I gave our little safety talk while Sue and Nelda were giving the plane its outside pre-flight. Sue thought it was cute that Nelda liked being a part of everything.

The traffic was light, so we were cued up for take off quickly. I had switched on the speakers in the cabin so they could hear the chatter between the controllers and the airplanes. Sue was flying left seat so it was her voice they heard confirming active runway access while we turned onto the long runway. A minute later we were climbing to our cruising altitude. I switched the speakers back to a tape of light jazz and helped Sue set up the GPS for the first leg of our flight plan.

A couple of hours later we were landing at the Aero Park. Sue taxied up to the operations building and parked. An attendant came out to help unload the luggage and to take the plane for refueling and on to the hangar. We did receive first class treatment at the Aero Park.

Sue had driven her car too, so I loaded the visitors into my gaudy truck and Sue was going to take Nelda and Mickey with her. The kids wanted to ride with Sue in the convertible, so there was a scramble to switch the kids with Nelda. I think Nelda was disappointed because she really liked the convertible as well.

We arrived at the park around two. Glenda was ready for us with a hot lunch. Sue took Susan, Kevin, and Tina on a tour of the house, while Dennis was instantly moving balls around on the pool table. Glenda had the big TV on so she could get some news of a big tropical storm out in the Atlantic. It was hurricane season and so far everything had pretty much veered off to the north Atlantic. Hurricane Dennis had just hit in North Carolina, causing a lot of damage and a demand for big generators. This one, named Emily, looked to be coming our way. A really bad one named Cindy had slammed into Mexico, causing a lot of damage and injuries.

There didn't seem to be any reason to worry. We seemed to just get some rain from the storms, but no bad winds. I did know that if a storm were to come, we would have to leave the park. Trailers and mobile homes are easily damaged from hurricane strength winds, even when they are heavily anchored.

After eating and getting their clothes unpacked, Dennis and Tina wanted to go to the pool. Sue said Mickey, Glenda, and she would go up with them and make sure they didn't get too much sun right away. Nelda said she needed to get a swimsuit. She didn't want to be left out of anything. Sue promised to take her to get one. Nelda did go put on some long shorts and a sleeveless blouse to go with them.

Susan and Kevin stayed on the patio, while I gave them a brief history of how I came to live here in the monster manufactured home. I loaded them into the truck and we went to the shop. When I parked in the lot, I made sure to point out the big S&S on the sign. Kevin loved the showroom with the frames of cars and motorcycles hanging from the ceiling. The car made him drool; he was a big NASCAR fan. I introduced them to Debbie and Deanne who were in my office, followed by taking them upstairs to meet Ruth, Tiny, Phil, and Judy. Phil was all bubbly because Tiny had just given him the numbers for the week so far. Every Friday, Phil puffs up his chest and struts around, enjoying the adulation of everyone for his job well done.

I took them down the stairs through the little lunch room, telling them that this was the original building and the rest had all been added on as we rapidly grew. The motor room is always a remarkable experience. The place is ridiculously clean for an oily, greasy, motor building shop. Each station was neatly arranged with parts being weighed, shaped, and put back together. The teams were all being nice, with only some lighthearted banter going on. Shawna was busy with two high school part-timers, putting a custom bike together.

The sheet metal area had stacks of completed panels ready for the paint shop and stacks of painted panels ready to ship. The frame area is always busy looking. There were frames on rolling paint racks and a couple nearing completion on stands. A couple of bike frames were being made too. The body guys were finishing up a boom body. It was painted and only needed the finishing touches for the drawers and doors. I tried to explain how the body stuff came into existence, but it's all pretty unbelievable.

The rebuild shop was humming away. The men were concentrating on generators, as the hurricane season had created a bunch of orders. Kevin kept commenting how clean everything was. I told him we would come in Saturday so he could see how it looked when everyone had cleaned up for the day. Susan loved the logos on the floor and the "perfect" signs everywhere.

Kevin asked what the "perfect" signs meant. I took him over to Tom who was working on the boom body and asked, "Tom could you tell Kevin what is meant by the "perfect" signs?"

Tom smiled sincerely and said, "When I started, I didn't know whether I could do perfect work. Steve taught me I could. He does not allow anything but a perfect product out of the door. See that sign, "Is it Perfect?" over the door. It's over every door so every one of us can ask themselves that question before we take a product out the door."

Kevin was a skeptic, "How can you be sure that everything is perfect? That's impossible."

Al was standing right there and said, "We all try to outperform each other. We never try to out-produce, but we try to make what we do better than the other guy. Steve taught us all to make it right. When you try to do perfect work, speed takes care of itself."

Susan told Kevin, "Steve was always a perfectionist. He had an old motorcycle that ran perfectly. He didn't have enough money to make it pretty, but it always ran. That's just the way he is."

I walked them over to the big building to show them the super lift rebuild shop. Neither Kevin nor Susan had ever seen lifts this big. We looked into the fiberglass shop to see Jeff and his men already cleaning up. They were so messy that it was a wonder they could get the place clean every night.

The last place was the truck body shop. There was a completed truck sitting outside and a body being completed inside. Kevin said the shape was a little strange, so I had to explain why. When he discovered that our body was responsible for three to four miles a gallon savings, he went nuts asking why he had not heard of that. His job was to be responsible for a small fleet of delivery trucks, so he had some genuine interest. I told him it was new technology but a coming thing. He asked if we did bodies for day haulers, which of course we did. I told him I would get him some literature.

Susan asked, "How many people are in business with you here? How many partners do you have?"

I kind of ignored the question as we walked back across the span between the buildings, watching a flatbed trailer backing up to the big dock with a load of used generators to be rebuilt.

"Jesus, Steve, you are busy," Kevin said looking at all of the activity. He was looking at the three signs along the fence. One had "Truck" in big letters, the next had "Busch," and the end one had "Winston Cup" on it. "What are those for?" he asked, pointing to the signs.

I explained, "Those are for our race-day trucks. They go to the races to sell parts to the racing teams when they have wrecks, or just need them."

"Are those the fancy painted trucks they show on TV that sell everything from motors to T-shirts?"

"Those are the ones. Come on let me get you some race day event shirts. I think they are really neat."

I went up to Debbie and asked her to get me four extra large, four large, four medium and four small T-shirts for me in different events or different styles. I explained that we usually sold out of the event shirts at every race. They had become a desired item by the racing people as well as the fans that came to the races. Debbie came back with four sets of two event shirts for the coming events, and two of our S&S shirts. I told Debbie that I would see her later, and we carried them out to the truck.

I pointed across the street and said, "That is Sue's main factory for the clothes she sells. I'll let her give you a tour this weekend. I think she has people working two shifts now and six days. She has a lot of part-timers now that work evenings and on the weekends."

On the way back to the house, Susan asked, "How long has it been since you were down in Belize? Didn't you just come here this year? Was this business already going when you got here?"

I ignored her because I didn't even believe what had happened so fast.

"Tonight is going to get crowded. Every Friday, most of the employees from the shop and lots of people from Sue's factory come. Just hang around and watch. You'll love the excitement all of these people have."

When we arrived at the house, I parked behind a small Chevy SUV that I didn't recognize. When we went around the house to the patio, I was surprised to find the big tent up and the caterer busily putting out food. Sue and Nelda were enjoying some tea, while Mickey was playing pool with Dennis and Tina.

Susan asked, "What's all this? A party for us?"

Sue laughed, "No, Tiny or Phil must have some big announcements and always use the Friday gatherings as a chance to talk to both sides of the street. It used to be just the shop people, but now my factory people come too. It gets a little crowded with the wives and kids. Parking is a real problem, but we get people from the park to help."

Susan asked Sue, "I can't get a straight answer out of Steve about his shop, as he calls it. There has to be over a hundred people working there. Can you tell me more about it? Who are his partners, how did he get started, all of that stuff?"

Sue glanced at me and smiled, beginning her story with, "When Steve came to this park he had just gone on vacation. He had a duffle bag, along with a pickup truck and beat up motorcycle that he bought in Miami. He was going to take a long vacation. He rented a little trailer for three months and instantly began making friends here. He rode his motorcycle to a bar and found some guys that needed some welding help. He did a job for them, and did a job for a motorcycle shop down the road. In the mean time he had bought a bunch of equipment at an auction and found out you could make money doing these custom jobs."