Not so fast.

Looks like the triplane won't be headed west for a while. When the owner of the airport, who is the purchasers US representative, found out that they were planning on taking the airplane on an open trailer, a severe pissing-match ensued. The result was they unloaded the trailer and left without it.

I've volunteered to take it to California the second half of next month. We're looking at options now, including getting a truck to take it out and drop the truck and rent a car to drive home so I can sight-see. Do you think I ought to take Skyler?

Triplane goes away.

Dot Kotik, widow of the late Ken Kotik, has sold Ken's Fokker Triplane project and the guys stopped by today to load it onto a trailer. They are taking it to Sonoma and from there it will venture on to New Zealand. Sad day.

Tempted fate again.

I pulled the leading edge aluminum of the other wing this morning and cleaned it off. This one wasn't as bad as the other, having fewer mud dauber nests and no mouse nests. I got it ready to reinstall which Sky and I will do tomorrow. I feel a covering party coming up!

Screwed again.

I hate #4 sheet metal screws. My fingers are too fat to hold onto them. I don't know how many times I've fumbled them onto the ground trying to get them into or out of a little tiny hole in the leading edge of the wing. My little girl can't count that high. They fall to the ground, and bounce and bounce hither and yonder. If it weren't for that eagle-eyed little girl who can walk standing up underneath the wing (on sawhorses) and pick them up for me, I'd be lost. She feels she's helping and little does she know how right she is.

The good news: one wing is 10 minutes away from being ready to cover. The other about a day. We put an extra gas tank in the left wing in anticipation of putting an O-200 in the airplane in the future. Still haven't heard from the engine guy on how my second set of cylinders is fairing but should early next week.

Night Current again.

Tim, Cooper and I went out in their Citation V tonight to do our 3 full-stop landings each in order to update our night currency. Tim had me ride upfront for all 9 landings and swap seats so I could get more comfortable in the airplane. The company I previously flew for had a Citation V that I flew for 4 years but I hadn't flown the airplane in 5 years except for last weeks flight. It's hard to land a V when you're light (and you haven't flown one in 5 years) but we all had pretty respectable landings.

Slow but steady progress.

Sky and I started in tearing apart the A65 a couple days ago that we got from Glenn's friend, Roger. It looks freshly-majored, no evidence of being run. As of Friday morning, we had it all apart, the cylinders sent out to be checked and the rest mostly solvent-cleaned.

Lindsay helps by coloring and playing with Legos. Here she's telling me which part to clean next.

America has lost it's rock.

Now you're probably wondering what a manly-man like me is doing watching American Idol on tv. Well, it was Rolling Stones night and I wanted to see how the kids did covering the the iconic songs of the Stones. (Who are still not as good as the Beatles, but close. I don't care what you say.)

Frankly, I was disappointed. All the kids sang the songs like they were at a funeral. The only exception was Casey James and he wasn't much better. They all just stood all the mike, no showmanship at all. The whole show was boring with a capital B. In Simon's words, "Easily forgettable." It's like all the kids were auditioning for the Frankie Avalon show.

The Rolling Stones are all about rock 'n roll. They epitomize it, they live it (except for Keith, he's the walking dead), they set the standard for what makes a rock star.

These kids have no ideas. And you can't really blame them with the current rock stars being Justin Timberpuke and New Pervs on the Corner to learn from. America has lost its Rock.

What happened to the days of "Whole lotta love" and "Sunshine of your love"? Have kids become so tame that they think Britney Spears is cutting edge? Last nights show sounded like the "Best of ABBA."

So what makes my show? Easy. Hendrix's "Star-Spangeled Banner "to open the show. Follow that with McCartney's "Rock Show/Jet". Move on to Clapton's "Sunshine of your Love" and keep it going from there. No country-rock. Definitely no metal or rap or reggae crap. The Who would have to be in there, George Thorogood too. A little Bryan Adams perhaps.

Get our your lighters man, tonite we rock!