Chapter 27

Ah, Saturday. I was semi-conscious, thinking about sleeping in. Then the mind kicked in. Oh yeah, ground school for a pilot's license. I wonder how smart it was to commit to something like this. Oh well, I did commit, so I better be getting out there.

I slid from bed and did the bathroom stuff, coming from the shower to meet my big beauty. She gave me a wonderful hug, telling me that the girls were going shopping out at the Quality Wear factory store today. She said Sue and another lady she met were going to help find clothes for them. She asked if I wanted anything, and I suggested that I wouldn't mind having some camo fatigue pants or possibly some shorts from the same material.

While Bobby was showering, I dressed and made breakfast for everyone. It was still early, but there's no sense in getting used to sleeping in. I made the trip around the rooms to find the three all sleeping together in Wanda's bed. I asked them if they wanted to get up for their shopping expedition and they bounced right out of bed.

We ate together and I said I was going to ride the bike out to the air park since it was such a nice day. The girls told me to be careful and learn well so I could fly them to the moon. Very funny.

The bike was running well, but it let me know that I needed gas. Thank goodness for the reserve on the fuel tank switch. I filled up and rode serenely out to the airpark. It was a very nice ride, with much less traffic, since it was early Saturday morning.

I was there just before eight, possibly an hour early. I thought I might check out the planes some more, but when I signed in at the operations building, an older guy that identified himself as the teacher said, "I think everyone is probably going to be here by eight fifteen, so we can start early and learn more. You're the one who wants to try for the test tomorrow right?"

I nodded.

"I'm not saying you can't do it but there is a lot to learn for only today and tomorrow. I'll make sure you have all the information, but you'll have to study tonight to catch up. Here's another binder like you were given yesterday. Go in the classroom and start on page one. I'll shift us to the correct page when the class begins."

Ten minutes later, the classroom was full. The instructor said, "Let's begin. You all have a lot to learn before your exam tomorrow."

We were taught for almost two hours before we got a pee break, then two more hours before we broke for lunch. The school had a huge stack of hoagies and soft drinks for us, and encouraged us to eat quickly so we could get right back to class.

We started back at twelve thirty, and at two-thirty the instructor said, "That's the information I wanted to cover for today. I'm going to jam through last week's information for our new student. Any that wish to stay to go over the material again are welcome. I'm told that I can cram as fast as I can with this guy, so stay quiet and just listen, okay?"

From two thirty to almost six, the instructor had me going through the earlier chapters, and using visual aids, and taught me the items about flying that you never think about. Every time you go somewhere, you have to calculate weights, quantities of fuel that must be included in the weights, plus weather and wind conditions. There was a lot to remember, and he reminded us that was why almost everything having to do with flying an airplane had checklists involved. If I wanted to be a perfect pilot, I should make up my own personal preflight checklists that didn't have anything to do with the plane, but prepared me to fly. We did several sample calculations for weight and balance, and then he threw in a problem about density altitude and the differences it made.

When the instructor called it a day, my head was spinning. I could use some food and a beer. I called Bobby to see where they were. If they were near food, I wanted to join them, especially if the food was accompanied by beer.

When Bobby answered, I asked, "Hey Babe, I'm finished for today and I'm starved and need a beer. Where are you so I can meet you?"

The surprising answer, "We are back at Sue's place actually, having barbecue and beer. Come on and get here. There's enough food here for an army."

"Are you sure we're not intruding?"

Bobby was smiling, "No Honey, I think it's the way this place is, one continuous gathering of family and friends. Come on before we eat up everything." She hung up on me. Huh!

I rode to the trailer park and was passed through the gate as if I was expected. When I parked in front of the trailer, I parked among a bunch of really nice bikes, and a bunch of various kinds of golf carts. I noticed that there were kids running around doing things everywhere I looked. There were a bunch of redheaded kids that must belong to the cute little redheaded twins.

My ladies all greeted me with enthusiasm, all talking at once telling me about what they had found today at the factory outlet. They were praising Sue and the ladies that had gone to the store to help them find sizes for all of them.

Mercy brought me a beer with a smile, "You look like you would enjoy a beer. Have some ribs, Tiny is doing a great job on them today."

When the chatter settled to a roar, I went over to say hi to the men at the bar, watching Tiny and an older, much shorter, man cooking on two huge built-in grills under a giant hood. When my beer looked low, Steve pointed at a refrigerator with a Bud handle on it. "Pour your own, Chuck. That's the advantage of having a keg that's always full."

I went back to the table to satisfy my hunger, listening to the multiple conversations from the various groups. The famous Glenda was introduced to me while we were eating. I told her how great her meatloaf sandwiches were. She smiled proudly. While pointing to the bar, she said, "My Martin loves my meatloaf and says all men love good meatloaf sandwiches. I think men just like to eat." Martin was the little guy helping Tiny cook.

As I was filling up with food, Steve came over and said, "I know you have to study this evening, but we're taking a little ride up to Dade City. Want to come? If all your ladies want to come, we have enough single riders that everyone can get a ride."

Bobby looked at me pleadingly as I answered, "I would love to. My bike isn't anywhere as nice as those out front. Kind of a plain Jane."

"Hey," said the big burly guy with the redheaded girlfriend or wife, "you get your knees in the breeze. You ride. From what I hear, you even ride with a fake leg. Some of us have time to fool around with our equipment, and some of us don't. If you keep your bike running well and clean, no one will ever fault you."

We did ride up to Dade City. They had some kind of festival or fair at their fair grounds. We had some more beer and a sausage sandwich, loaded up, and rode back to the trailer park. There were several women who were single riders. Some took my ladies and one of Steve's women rode behind one of the ladies. The tall lady with Steve, Kathy, was talking to one of the short redheads about when her bike was going to be ready. She was anxious to get it on the road. She did seem to enjoy being behind Steve while he rode a big bike with a sidecar. Sue was in the sidecar, while Mercy was behind a tough looking lady with a gentle smile.

As a group, we said our goodbyes and thank yous for the hospitality, food, and beer. The girls were now all old pals with the women here and promised to call this coming week. They all were easy to know and like. There were a lot of them, though. Hard to get all the names right and who belonged to whom.

Marie rode back to the house with me, while Wanda and Jan went with Bobby in the Escalade. As soon as we were home, I went into the office and studied hard until midnight. I took a shower, had a beer, and sat with the girls as they were still looking over their purchases from today.