Lulu Marketplace

A travel story and a love story


“Geezer and The kid” a travel documentary with a window into the life and duties of a Cessna pilot is more than an interesting read, it is also a love story. I’ll explain more of that in a minute but first I’d like to give a quick synopsis.

Ron and kari fly together in a Cessna Cardinal over much of the Southwest and land in some of the smaller less known airports such as 0V7- Navajo Nation, Arizona or DAG- Daggett-Barstow, California and in doing so get a taste of life led in these smaller communities that many of us have flown over in the commercial airlines and have often wondered what it’s like way down there.

Ron Irwin, the author and an... More > experienced pilot provides us with a view into the intricacies of flying, such as hot desert air rising, thus creating some “awesome turbulence” or flight navigation systems such as VOR (very High Frequency Omni Directional Radio Range) and plain old VFR. (Visual Flight Rules) As a guy who has always loved aviation, I find this kind of stuff intriguing.

Many hours of training, experience and good judgment make for a good pilot and that in turn usually makes for a pleasant flight with a successful landing. Ron is, has and does all of the above in this adventure with one more interesting caveat: his daughter Kari

See Ron is not only a pilot and an author but also a loving father. If one thing stands out in this “action in flying” story, it’s a father’s love and devotion to his daughter. As a father of a daughter, I can relate.

Throughout this adventure in Americas Southwest, Father Ron’s concern for daughter Kari is quite evident. He makes sure she is fed when hungry, always books a motel with a pool so she can swim and in all but one instance, daughter Kari is able to access the Disney channel. Now that’s love.

I’ll cite more examples. Ron and Kari, while grabbing a bite to eat in Gallup, New
Mexico encountered an old Navajo woman selling some traditional turquoise Navajo jewelry. Kari had eyes for s piece of the jewelry being sold and Ron couldn’t say no. The necklace was hers: daughters have that effect on dads.

In another shop, in a different locale, Flagstaff, Arizona, Kari had an eye for a Navajo flute. Once again, dad couldn’t say no. Now he wasn’t trying to spoil his daughter, just thought she may be able to enhance her musical talents. Now, I kid a lot, but Ron’s love and concern for his daughter is evident. His pre-flight checks are more than routine.. There’s that little extra concern for making sure his precious cargo gets to its destination safely. He is also quite proud of her natural ability to take the controls of the plane in flight and her ability to comprehend all that is going on around her while in flight. Now, that’s a co-pilot.

In the process of telling of their adventure throughout the Southwest, Ron also throws in tidbits of history like Monument Valley, in Arizona. There’s an interesting story Ron tells of the filming of Stagecoach starring John Wayne and how it came about to being filmed there. Another tidbit of history is of the founding of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona where Pluto was discovered by one of its telescopes in the early 20th century.

An interesting read for sure, told in an informative, loving and best of all, humorous way.
Highly recommended for all, but especially for those of us who have kids, especially daughters. < Less