Bad weather service

The weather has been bugging us for the whole day. And yesterday. and day before. We got some serious rain on Saturday and stayed in CJs tent for few hours.

The bad weather service in the CJs tent was Lazlos iPad with Angry Birds!

The judging line turned out to a muddy field before we were called back to the airfield.

After the rain, there is always some sun... so the sun set on Saturday was pretty nice....

After the rain and getting stuck in the mud, I met few friends in the airfield. We drove to my hotel so I could change clothes and wash my feet (yep, they were quite muddy since our shuttle actually got stuck on the judging line and we had to do a few tricks to get it out from there) we headed to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

Orvo & Paula, it was really nice to finally  meet you in person!

Texas Roadhouse is really nice place to eat. Although I must say, I am a bit suspicious about the "road kill" they serve.. :D

Texas size blossom. Kind of a onion rings reproduced. Delicious but NOT very healthy... but what is... 

Cesar salad and corn with 10oz ribeye topped with (welldone) mushrooms and onions. The steak was really good and tender. They really know how to make a good steak!

It's pretty cool to see these everywhere, pumping oil up. This one is on our hotels back yard!

Sunday was the same, the shuttle was postponed to noon and eventually we got to the airfield, and waited and waited... The CD even took his plane out and checked the ceiling, but no use. After 4 hours and 4 postponed briefings they called the day an took us to the hotel. 

After a rest they loaded us to the busses again and we drove to Oklahoma for some rodeo. That was interesting to see and we sat on the fence watching lassoing the calves and barrel racing. I need to get back to the saddle again... After rodeo we drove to a casino for dinner. Interesting places, both of them. 

we were sitting on the fence just like the locals and watched the rodeo.

The quality of the photos is crappy, but I only had my pocket cam with me.... 

Today the weather was even worse, it was raining the whole day. So, the day was cancelled and we had time to do what ever we wanted. We went shopping with Pekka H. from Sweden, he is observer here and he was bored too, so we needed to invent something. Lunch in Red Lobster (Yummy!!!), shopping (got some souvenirs for the kid) and dinner in the eveing in the Texas Roadhouse. Again. (Yummy, yummy!) But seriously, sweet potatoe topped with sugar butter and MARSHMELLOWS????? 

B-17 the flying fortress

Now, that I have  a bit of extra time in my hands, I though I'd share the interior of that plane with you. I got the change to visit also the plane inside, and take some photos. I spoke with the crew quite a while at the airfield and they were really interested about aerobatics and told me a lot about the plane and the Arizona wing they representated.
Just a small hint. If you get a chance to go in that plane, don't go there with your back pack. It is really tight in there at some point :D

Ok, here we go. I let the photos speak of themselves.   And we're off to the airport.

Texas hospitality

First day in Texas was nice. We had a bit of time in our hands in the morning, so we went to the close by Walmart. Bought some sunscreen and stuff like that, usefull things, no spending ;)

Then we were taken to the airport for judges briefing, pilot briefing and opening ceremonies... Also registered for the contest, and received a nice back bags with full of stuff. A polo shirts, brochures, some small gifts like key ring, stickers, pens, cooler for cans and some candy. The best thing was, there was also a small bottle of sun screen there, which is very useful. 

The hangar for the planes. Behind there, you can also find the contest office for registration.

Briefing hangar. Spanky announces here about some of the upcoming events... 

 People in the briefing...
  

The airport is HUGE. I mean you can fit the whole box IN the airfield. 

The opening ceremonies and the parade of nations

Local marching band

and some entertainment. The Skydivers brought down the flags of FAI, Texas and the States, the US flag was last and was brought down with the national anthem.

Some of the evening entertainment included few pretty birds... 

The commemorative Air Force, Arizona wing, B17

and B25 

P-51 flew a nice small show

and I just had to take some sunset photos...

The closing dinner was nice. We were seated in a hangar with Texas rangers private jet (Cessna Citation) and some really nice cars. They gave us colorful cowboy hats and we had a nice and tasty dinner with salads, some meat and sweet dessert.

The second day of the contest started out windy and in the afternoon, we finaly got to do first contest flights, and now there are 17 done. I was very happy to see one brave guy flying a Pitts S1 in the unlimited contest and I must say, he did well! (at least I think it was a he, could have been a she too, I haven't checked). Anyway, after the flights were done, it was time to head to the hotel, do a quick refreshing and then we went to a "Library bar and grill" where we had an amazing dinner sponsored by some individuals. The rib eye steak I had was the best I have ever tasted, and I made it a bit over half way, it was the size of the plate. Along with it was served some fresh salad, baked potatoe and the Key lime pie-kind of thing as a dessert was to die for!

So yes, the Texans really know the hospitality part nicely!

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome on board...

This was the layover hotel in Heathrow. The good thing was, you could watch landing planes from the restaurant while having dinner or breakfast. Or could have, if it wouldn't be dark outside... 

T

That's our ride, finally boarding!

Made it nicely to the airfield, and walked one looooong terminal to the last gate, we boarded to AA51, American Airlines flight to Dallas. Instantly realized that the delay was basically an upgrade. The B777 is way newer than 747 so each seat has own entertainment system. A wide selection of movies and TV-shows, music and games. 

I watched few episodes of my absolute favourite Sheldon Cooper show.

And a movie Planes. Will have to see this in 3D, the audio on board was really not good, so missed out quite a lot.

They served lunch after departure. The spinach-mushroom lasagna was really tasty, can't complain.

Also plenty of crackers and sodas, coffee or juices.

And they got my undying love by serving chockolate! :D

The unfortunate event was that there was also needed a doctor and the situation almost needed a divert to the closest airfield. Luckily there was a doctor and a nurse on board, so we made it all the way to Dallas. No one complained about the missing second meal they did not serve, since they were unable to prepare it due this medical emergency. And the patient is stabilized. 

When we landed, the paramedics got the lady out and then we got to get out too, directly to the immigration... I think I counted, that my passport was checked 6 times BEFORE entering the plane and 3 times after landing... It seemed to be a jackpot when we got to the immigration hall, there was a really long line, but fortunately it was cleared in 20 minutes. After that, picking up the luggage, one more passport check and out from the arrival hall. We met our ride and searched out few other judges and got to the car. The bad thing was, that we met some heavy traffic so the ride to Sherman took a while longer than expected, but eventually we made it. Had dinner and now I am going to get some sleep. It is 6 am in Finland anyways.... 

Few minor delays... or major. You decide.

Well, we weren't lucky. We did not make it to Texas today.
Instead we're staying in a freezing cold airport hotel that smells like Brezhnev. It's called Renaissanse. I'd say Soviet... You know those gray block houses, that were so popular during Soviet Russia and that grow something funny on their walls...?

Okay, I must admit. the room is clean and comfortable, although it is located right next to the road.

How did I end up here..? Well, in my previous post I told you, that after 3 hours in a plane, we were still sitting in Helsinki. Shortly after that, we took off, finally, but just to miss our connection flight to Dallas...

well, we were told to follow "connecting flights", the purple line to terminal 5, so we did. Just to end up in CHAOS... Yes, what you see in the next photo is a line. Clear, isn't it?

So, it took us a bit over 2 hours in that line, just to been taken as idiots. "we have a flight to Denver. There is a connecting flight, but we cant write a ticket to that, because we don't have a deal with them..." RIght. anything else? "well, then there is a route to Dallas via Atlanta... "forget it, I do not want to change plane in States with the immigration and all, we'd miss the next flight again.." well, then there is this direct flight tomorrow morning... American airlines... "we'll take it".

Much smarter to get some good rest here and then travel tomorrow to the location. Besides, the're buying the hotel, dinner and breakfast. And vouchers for transfer bus to and back from hotel.
So, after a quick bite at COSTA coffee (where btw even the small coffee is huge in Finnish standards) we headed out to find our bus.

Which is quite suitable as a airport transportation, makes you feel right at home. And seriously, I was sitting as back as possible... Damn :D

When we arrived to the hotel Renaissanse, we were taken to a "side room" to get the room keyes, and not just taken. We were completely blocked entering the front desk. And again, placed in a queue. I am beginning to think, that the Brittish have some weird fetish about queues.... Well, we received room keys and vouchers for dinner and breakfast. So, to the room, shower and then dinner. It was buffet dinner, pretty ok, at least that brown meat in some sauce was really tasty. And to let you know, that today was not a complete failure, there was smelly cheese, chockolate-fudge cake with cream cheese and fresh fruits for dessert.
And thanks to BA, we got also a "survival kit" (because our luggage is still somewhere in Heathrow and magically appears to our flight tomorrow) with white t-shirt and some bathroom stuff to go, I was also able to go to shower and get fresh for tomorrow...

Well, need to put the alarm on, I don't want to miss another flight tomorrow morning.
Another thing I must say about this hotel. The view from the restaurant would be nice, directly to the airfield where the planes land. Must have been a shrine for spotters :)