Flying, Friends, and Art

Many of you following our blogs probably notice that most of our Arizona posts are about our hikes and outdoor activities or maybe bragging about the wonderful weather we have here. You probably think that is all we do here. To the contrary, when we are here living in our motorhome, we also are doing everyday “living” activities like groceries, laundry, dishes and all the other necessary stuff.  But we also get to do a lot of fun “extras” and this past week was no exception.

The weekend started with Craig getting back in the air again.  As you may know, Craig is a commercial pilot and a flight instructor.  Every place we have lived he searches out a fun group to fly with and Arizona is no exception.  During our previous times living here, he was associated with the Wright Flight group.  They are a non-profit dedicated to “helping kids reach new heights” in both their classrooms and their lives.

Wright Flight is a motivational program that teaches today’s youth how to set goals and achieve them.  The program participants receive an introductory flight in a small airplane for achieving the goals they set.  This past weekend, he reconnected with the group and even flew on one of the flights with the kids.  For most of the kids this is the first time they have every been in an airplane.  It is very rewarding to see the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment in their faces.  The flight includes views of the local Sonoran Desert, mines and of course taking off on a runway right next to big commercial airliners.  This weekend was just the first of many more he will fly with this group.

During our last time living in Arizona our boys were very involved with a local Boy Scout Troop.  Craig was even one of the Scoutmasters.  The founder and leader of the troop was  Mr. Chip Travers, and has become a good friend of ours.  Chip is an artist by trade and spent much of his career in commercial advertising.  But where ever he went, he always had his sketchbook with him.  Recently, he has taken to more actively showing his art work.  This week, he is a featured artist at the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun.  He is on display in the Little Gallery, a special venue reserved for local or lesser known artists.  I can tell you that after his two weeks, he will no longer be a “lesser known” artist.  His work is wonderful and from the heart.  Chip specializes in drawings of nature and local wildlife and birds.  Though he does work in color, his true passion is in black and white pencil drawings.  It was great to see him beaming with pride on the display of his art and our getting to see him and share it with him.

We always love the spontaneous surprise phone call from friends telling us, “Hey we are in the area”.  This week we got one of those from one of Jennifer’s sorority sisters and her husband, Lisa and Doug Friedrichsen. They were in Phoenix and wondered if we had time to meet them for lunch. They have a 3-wheel Spyder motorcycles and wanted to drive down to see us.

We arranged to meet them up in Oro Valley, a good middle ground so they did not have to travel as far.  Lunch was on the patio at Noble Hops, a brew pub with great views of the Santa Catalina’s.

Was great to catch up with them.  They were tailgate partners of ours at Cyclone Football games these past few years when we had season tickets and Jennifer has known her since high school.

Flying, friends, and art and another great week in Tucson!