Alligators & Airplanes, Oh My!!!

Cupcake and I flying about 8ft over a bean field.
Now we're pretending to spray a rice field. And yes, we are headed straight for those trees!
Now we're hugging the curb and trimming edges. Yep, we're inches away from those trees and they are towering above us!

Yesterday afternoon Cupcake and I went on a big flying adventure. I've been after him to go for a few weeks now but with us going full throttle till dark-thirty it's incredibly hard to find the time. Luckily, he finished around 6:30 yesterday, and although Matthew was still working he told me I could go flying anyways. What a great brother!

So wheels up around 7:30ish! It was a beautiful clear afternoon and I was very excited! Our first adventure; scouting alligators! Cupcake had seen two already that day and I have been dying to see one from the air for awhile now. After the airing of "Swamp People" I have become a big gator enthusiast. Troy, Bruce, Joe and Tommy, I love them all. Last year when I was in a rural part of Jackson County I called Daddy to tell him I think we'd been watching too much swamp people. "Daddy, I just went by a reservoir and I caught myself plotting where to hang the gator bait!" (this was a true story) He got a big kick out of this and loved to tell that story!

We headed west towards Lodges Corner and then flew around Hampton's Reservoir. On the first fly-by Heath thought he saw one but wasn't sure if it could be a log. The second time around I knew my line of sight and if this log was an alligator I was gonna see him. Cupcake whipped the plane around and there he was!!!! The beautiful beast was floating right on top of the water! He was a big fella too! Judging by my professional opinion I'd probably say at least 800lbs. (That Ain't a Tree Shaker, That's a Tree Breaker!) Finally, I saw my gator... Now on to my next adventure... Crop dusting!

Now, when I think of crop dusting I think of a yellow airplane gracefully flying over the fields back and forth, back and forth... And then I found out what it's really like. I guess I was feeling adventurous yesterday so when Cupcake asked, "Hey, ya wanna do some crop dusting sh*t?" I immediately said, "Sure, let's go!" He picked a field close by Mr. Alligator that he sprayed earlier in the day and told me to hold on. It was actually two fields that he tied together (sprayed at the same time) and were only separated by a small tree line. He informed me we would "hop" over these trees and continue flying the rest of the field... After the "hop" comment I decided I should probably hold on tight AND tighten my seat belt! Awayyyyy we go!!!!

Now I have rode with Matthew before when we buzzed David and Charles Neal on the tractor so the initial affect didn't bother me too bad... We headed straight for the field, quickly dipped and were flying inches above the rice. At first it was smooth sailing; gracefully gliding above the rice... Then there was that "hop" over the small tree line and back down again. I was slightly startled and it took my breath away, but I quickly gained my composure and was again enjoying the ride.... Then I looked up. And, I was pretty sure I might die...

We were headed straight for an enormously tall line of trees!!!!! What was Cupcake doing?!?!?! Did he get distracted? Did the airplane stall? Did he instantaneously become paralyzed? Why is he trying to kill us? Holy crap, get me out of here!!!!

... And right as I was seeing my life flash before my eyes, Cupcake pulled the plane up and whipped it around over the trees. In a matter of Milli-seconds my female equivalent of an Adams Apple, (I made a D in Anatomy) went from my throat to the bottom of my belly and back up again. We literally went from 8ft off the ground to like 450ft lickity split! I thought I was going to be sick and I wanted to scream like a little girl but I didn't want to seem like a rookie. (although I totally am) I pinched myself until I gained my composure and took a very deep breath.

Hey, I thought to myself, I'm alive!!!! Hey, that was kinda fun!!! "You do this everyday, all day?", I asked Cupcake as I tried to catch my breath. "Yup, but faster", he replied, "What do ya think?" I immediately said, "Let's go again!"

This went on for about half an hour. We pretended to spray rice and bean fields. (I would prefer spraying bean fields and avoiding levees) He showed me how he sprayed in little pockets surrounded by trees. He showed me the difference in heights between fertilizing and spraying. He showed me how to trim the edges. He showed me how to hug the tree line... And I showed him how I could do all that without puking in his airplane!!!! It was so much fun!!!

The sun was setting so after a hard half hour's worth of (pretend)work we decided we better head on back to the home base. We pulled into the hangar and I immediately began bragging about all our cool swoops and dives and how I didn't puke! They boys were all very proud.

I definitely have a new appreciation for the hard, tedious work crop dusters do everyday. I have never been so thrilled, yet terrified, yet excited, yet nauseated; nor have I ever had so much adrenalin pumped into my body in such a small amount of time! Talk about system overload, and I was only doing it for 30 minutes! The fact that Brother Bear and the other guys sometimes get in the plane and do that whole shebang for 12 hours straight day in, day out; well, it just wears me out thinking about it!

Now that I've got to experience the action first hand, I'm incredibly proud of them and even more so thankful for their hard work. And like the previous poem says, I think this is truly something that only a prestigious (and slightly crazy) select few were born to do. They were born to fly!

Brother Bear taking off on his last load of the evening! *Full Disclosure: While I acted like "one of the guys" and bragged about not getting sick in front of the boys, on my way home from work I had to pull over on the gravel road to my mom's and puke my guts out...but, let's not tell them that! Hey, it was my first time!