Stanley Is Flat

More pictures from the Air Park. Buck told me that just about every air force base in the United States has a air park of one size or another. Some only have one or two airplanes, and some have more. Buck thinks Cannon will add more airplanes to their air park when the new units arrive at Cannon next year. You can read all about Cannon by clicking the link in the side bar. If you want to.

So, anyway. The pics below are of an EF-111, an electronic warfare aircraft that was used to jam enemy radars and communication systems. The EF-111 isn’t in the Air Force any longer, it’s been retired. Bobby’s brother Buck worked on the bomber model of the F-111 back in the 1990’s and was in the First Gulf War. (Yeah, Bobby’s oldest brother has the same name as his Dad. Weird, isn’t it?)

The other airplane is a T-33 trainer, an airplane that was in the Air Force’s inventory from the 1940s through the 1980’s. That’s a long time for an airplane to be on active duty in the Air Force!

Well, I’m going back to La Porte tomorrow. My vacation in Portales is over.

I hope you liked my stories and photos!

Today we went out to the air base again, but this time it was a lot more fun than shopping. Buck took me to the base air park where they have all kinds of different airplanes on display. Real airplanes, real fighters, not just models. The airplanes that are on display here are planes the 27^th Tactical Fighter Wing has flown during its long history, dating back to the Korean War in the 1950s.

This (above) is an F-101 that set a world speed record back in the 60s.

This is an F-84 like the kind the 27^th flew during the Korean War. The next picture is the marker in front of the F-84 with historical information.

And this is a picture of me in the business end of that F-84.

And finally, this is a picture of the disk that sits in the center of the air park. I don't know who had more fun at the air park, me or Buck. He really likes airplanes, but I guess he should...after all, he DID spend 22 years in the Air Force!

We had lunch at the Bird’s Nest Sandwich Shop today, which is about a mile from Buck’s place. Buck had a roast beef sandwich and I had soup. The Bird’s Nest is a nice place, and the people that work there are very friendly.

Buck had to run some errands after lunch, so we went downtown. I didn’t feel like getting in and out of the car…you know, in and out, in and out, in and out… it gets boring after a while. So Buck said I could stay in the car. Buck has a convertible, and he had the top down. And did I tell you Portales is really, really windy? No? Well, it is.

Guess what!

The wind blew me out of the car! I really freaked out! I didn’t know where I was, and I was SO afraid I was going to get lost! But then… a police car happened to drive by. I yelled with all my might and the officer slammed on the brakes when he saw me skittering down the sidewalk. He chased me down, picked me up, and asked just what I was doing getting blown around all over the place. I began to explain everything, not the least of which was why I’m so flat, why I’m so small, and so on. Police officers ask a lot of questions.

Well, to make a long story short, I was about three blocks from where Buck was. The officer put me in the car and drove me back to Buck, who, by the way, was Justas freaked out as I was.

But…all’s well that ends well, right? Buck thanked the officer and then we went back to Buck’s house to recover. We were both kinda shook up after that little adventure!

Today we went for a walk on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University. It was a very nice walk, and the campus is a very pretty place. I was surprised, because I don’t think Portales is very pretty, at least not compared to La Porte. We have mountains in Colorado…everything is pretty flat here and the town seems rather small and dusty. But the ENMU campus has lots of trees and is really green. Quite different from the rest of Portales.

Buck had to go into the student union and go to the coffee shop. So we did.

I think he just wanted to look at the girls. He's like that.

We went to the dentist’s today. Buck asked if I had had my teeth checked after the bulletin board incident and I told him I didn’t remember…maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. So he thought it would be a good idea if we went to see his dentist, Dr. Thompson.

Sheri, one of the ladies in Dr. Thompson’s office, took very good care of me! She x-rayed me and then gave me a thorough examination.

Buck thinks she’s cute. What do you think?

The first thing I did when I got to Portales was go shopping. Not exactly fun, but, Hey! I go where I’m taken, ya know. Buck (Bobby’s Dad) shops at the commissary out at Cannon AFB, and that’s where we went.

I helped Buck shop, but I don’t think he was all that pleased with my suggestions. For instance, when we were in the coffee aisle, I suggested he try something new… buy some caramel flavored coffee, for a change. He just looked at me and muttered something like “I don’t drink frou-frou coffee, Young Man!”

How boring.

So, we continued to shop…some of this, some of that, and some of the other. I was getting pretty bored, and while Buck was away from the shopping cart I whispered to this lady walking by…

“Psst! Hey!”

She looked around, pretty startled like, because she didn’t see anyone else in the aisle, just a shopping cart.

“Psst! Hey! Over here! In the cart! I’m real small, and flat!”

She saw me, and came over. I told her I wanted to play a trick on Buck, and asked her to put me behind one of the Tide bottles on the shelf…you know, an impromptu game of hide and seek. She was kinda reluctant and thought Buck might get mad, but I finally talked her into it.

It was a riot watching Buck run around looking for me all over the place! After about three minutes I finally yelled at him and said “Ha! I gotcha!”

He threatened to rip my other leg off if I ever did that again…but I don’t think he meant it.

So, we continued the shopping, did the check-out thing and went back to Buck’s place.

The hide and seek made the trip a little bit fun, anyway.

So. Here’s the story. My name, as you may have guessed, is Stanley. I’m flat. And that’s not a bad thing, really, because I can go places and do things most people can’t. Specifically: I can (and do) travel via envelope. In the mail, as it were. All over the place!

I’m sure you’re asking yourself “OK, just how did Stanley get flat(tened)?” It was an accident, but I don’t remember anything about it, so I guess you could say it was painless. When I woke up in the hospital the doctor told me a bulletin board had fallen on me. And you can see it pretty well flattened me! I got pretty depressed, because, as a flat person, I lost the ability to move about on my own. I also lost my left leg in the accident, too, in case you didn’t notice. It hit me pretty hard when I realized life was never gonna be the same ever again. But my friend Bobby had an idea, and he said it would cheer me up.

My friend Bobby said…

“Hey! I have an idea!

“OK, Bob-O, tell me what this spiffy idea of yours is,” I replied.

So…we talked. Basically, the idea was for to go on vacation to New Mexico for awhile and do some fun things to take my mind off my flatness. I thought that was a pretty good idea, and the next thing ya know I’m in an envelope and off to Portales, New Mexico, to visit with Bobby’s Dad.

This blog has some pictures of me doing stuff in and around Portales.

I hope you like it.