The few times I have been in an airplane.

For a while when I was in college, I saw a therapist at WWU's Counselling Center. I remember one session where I talked about almost being afraid to ride my bike at times. The following week, a pilot, living in the dorm, took a few of us up in his plane. It was the first I've been in a plane. The following week when I saw the therapist, she remarked, "Wow, you are making fast progress." "Last week you were almost afraid to ride a bike, this week you've gone up in a plane."

I answered that I was just a passenger. I would be afraid to be the pilot. I lack the confidence that it would take to pilot a fast moving vehicle. Cars going at highway speeds can be very dangerous. More dangerous than planes. One reason why I don't drive. I still see the car as a big responsibility. The tamer pace of a bicycle is more my speed if I am at the wheel.

As for being a passenger, I'm okay with speed, but I haven't had many occasions to fly. To this day, I've never been on a jet plane. I'm not the type of person to jet across the country for a weekend wedding, or a Christmas dinner, and then be back to work by Monday. My travel tends to be more about the trip and what I see along the way, versus the destination.

Years ago, I've taken a few commercial flights between Seattle and my hometown of Pullman. Back then it was propeller planes to Pullman. Since then, the Pullman / Moscow Regional Airport has a new runway so it has jet service. In recent years, I have bicycled to Pullman mostly for the things I see along the way. That takes about a week where as the trip by air takes a bit over an hour.

Pullman Moscow regional airport (Moscow, Idaho 8 miles east of Pullman) has had 3 terminals that I remember. The first one for many years from my childhood to the 1980s was very small. Like the little building seen on the right. The main terminal, in this picture was later. I took this picture passing by on my bicycle in summer of 2022. Now there is a bigger terminal, built more recently.

My very first flight was from Bellingham to fly around Mount Baker and back. Since it was a small plane, it did a few sharp turns. Taking off seemed normal until we turned east and flew over the freeway. In that sharp turn the bottom of the plane still felt like it was down, but when I looked out the window, the freeway looked like it was turning on its side.

Sort of what I-5 looked like tipping on its side from the plane.

It was different, but I was okay. The rest of that little flight was beautiful till we got to Mt. Baker and the pilot realized it was clouded in. He did another sharp turn over the glacier and headed safely back to Bellingham. I realized that I was probably safer in that plane than in a car or even on my bike, but it was a bit of an adventure.

Mount Baker seen in early 1990s from a bicycle trip on Glacier Creek Road.

A few times after that, I flew to Pullman. Before leaving on one trip, I remember asking someone what it was like to fly above the clouds. His answer was, "it's very interesting - for 5 minutes." Then, I guess it can get boring.

On one of my plane trips to Pullman, it was a totally clear day. The snowcap mountains were visible all the way from Canada down into Oregon. Every seat was a window seat with an aisle down the center. I happened to be sitting across the aisle from the President of Washington State University back then; Glen Terrill. It was a chance to converse with the president.

On another flight, it was cloudy with thunderstorms over eastern Washington. The plane was a bit larger, a turboprop with engines made by Rolls Royce. The flight was pretty turbulent, but my stomach was okay. When we landed at Pullman / Moscow, my family was waiting by that little runway. They said, "we're glad you are okay. The light are out at the airport. They were able to land the plane okay, but the little terminal was dark.

At Christmas time when I was around 5 years old, the family drove out to the airport to pick up my oldest sister who was flying in from Seattle. I wasn't one to believe in Santa Clause due to my scientific mind, I guess. My dad being a scientist. Still I remember seeing a red glow in the sky so I thought, maybe there is a Santa and that's the glow of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Just then, my brother commented that he could see the glow of the red runway lights off the clouds. So much for believing in Santa.