Happy Thanksgiving

We are blessed this morning with a beautiful, cold, crisp Thanksgiving day. I remember lots of snow last year. And, I'll never forget the exact moment, when I was about to spoon the stuffing inside our Thanksgiving turkey, hearing Willie yell from the living room, "TURKEYS, come look!" Sure enough a group of turkeys were walking across the front yard. I still didn't feel guilty about my stuffing, though, and after watching the live birds head on their way, I went back to work.

This year, Willie and Debbie are in Boise. Annie is here, though, and we'll all never forget just how she arrived here this year. I'll post photos later, after she gets up and I can use my laptop. We had to document yesterday's events because they represented once-in-a-lifetime experiences for all of us.

Quest Aircraft Co. called last week and said they'd like to take Bill and me for our ride in the Kodiak, their new plane which is starting to take off from the manufacturing plant near our former home. Soon, the first two Kodiaks will be delivered. We rode in one of them yesterday. That was part of an agreement when we sold our place to Quest for its eventual expansion.

As a bit of a lark, while coming up with an agreement for our land sale to Quest last year, I told CEO Paul Schaller we wanted one contingency along with money, of course----a ride in the Kodiak. Paul happily wrote it into the contract, and since then, we've all been so busy, the promised ride did not happen until yesterday. But yesterday wasn't just any ol' plane ride.

When, Steve Zaat contacted me last week, I told him that Monday and Tuesday would be the only days available because we had to go pick up Annie at Spokane Airport on Wednesday. Steve immediately wrote back and suggested that Quest go pick up Annie with the Kodiak. He also told us we could bring two other passengers.

So, we asked Mother, who served as a Rosie the Riveter draftsman on bombers at Kellogg Field in Battle Creek Mich., during World War II. We also asked our very appreciated and GOOD NEIGHBOR Jim Vanicek, who's a pilot and an aviation buff. The plan called for us to drive to Quest and board the Kodiak, an hour or so before Annie's flight was due in to Spokane from Seattle.

The only other logistical consideration worked out rather well: how would Annie get from Spokane Airport to the Kodiak parking spot at another air service at the huge airport complex? Steve worked that out quickly. A white stretch limousine owned by the air service would pick her up and bring her directly to the plane. Not a bad taxi.

And, it all worked like clockwork---gorgeous day for flying, an informative tour through the Quest manufacturing plant, visits with several of the wonderful Quest employees, including Steve, Paul Schaller, Pam, the receptionist, Eric, the mechanic; and Kenny, the Kodiak pilot. All treated us like we were something special, and we thought they were something special in return.

The plane is awesome, to say the least. The flights both ways were memorable with a phenomenal sunset, spectacular views of the gorgeous North Idaho and Eastern Washington country from above, capped off with a shocking realization from vast sea of night lights that the Sandpoint area sure has grown since the days when we grew up on our farm at the end of the Sandpoint runway. We all loved every minute of the experience as the photos below show.

In the meantime, we're thankful to Quest for creating this very special memory for each of us. And, as always, we're thankful to family, friends and all on this earth and above who make each day special. Happy Thanksgiving.