Rainy day in LA and my plan to waste your tax dollars

Well, since it's rainy day here in LA, I'm sitting here packing for my trip next week back to Missouri next Tuesday
The first variable I looked at when planning my trip was what to do once I got to Saint Louis. while I could rent a car, the truth is I wouldn't need one. At $50/flight, Cape Air is hard to beat. Plus, I get take another trip on a plane? What more could an Airline geek want?
Why is it only $50? Well, service from Saint Louis to Cape Girardeau is subsidized under the FAA's Essential Air Service program. Back during the Good old days(tm), if you wanted to fly between Saint Louis and Nashville, you flew on Ozark Air Lines, and you made a stop in Cape or Marion, IL, EAS is a program deigned to keep communities(Marion is also now a EAS airport)like Cape in the airline business. Carriers bid on flying these routes, and the FAA awards the contract based on low bids, community input, and financial stability (Snoopy and his Sopwith Camel probably wouldn't win a bid)
As you can imagine, there are problems with pork-barrel spending and less than sound airlines Cape has had two carriers (Air Illinois and Regions Air) grounded by the FAA due to maintenance issues, and one (Big Sky) went out of business after flying to Cape for a month. Several Aiports in the Program have "normal" airport fairly close , which is counter to the mission of providing service to out of the way places.
And, the EAS program was designed so that, eventually, the subsidy would no longer be needed. Both Cape and Marion have been EAS ever since the program started.
The current airline, Cape(as in cod) Air of Barnstable, Mass, actually does have a history of being able to wean routes off the dole. How do they do this? For starters, they fly small planes. Real small planes. How small? Try the 9 seat Cessna 402. The folks that were on my last flight that Complained that the MD-80 was a “little plane”? The Rental car counter is across from the baggage claim on the lower level in Saint Louis. Most airlines in the EAS business fly 19 seat planes, which means that they have more seats to fill and more fuel to burn. The 402 can be legally operated by a single pilot in good weather, so that cuts the cost even further. By the way Neither 19 seaters or 9 seaters have to have flight attendants.
Cape Air's model is built on increasing the number of frequencies and destinations from their airports with a big serving of Customer Service. Their motto is Make Our Customers Happy And Have A Good Time Doing It or “MOCHA HAGTDoIT” Beats dealing with surly rental car clerks or rude shuttle van drivers and Passengers.
As far as wasting Tax money:EAS does tend to be a scared cow “vote for Sen Smith. he worked hard to preserve airline service to Hooterville International!(yes. it is International. Remember when Mexicana had to divert there 20 years ago? That pilot had such a funny accent and was real mad when Sheriff Jimmy Joe told him he couldn't let his passenger get off the plane” They only way I see to ending this is the Cape Air model.
And then there is the issue of Airlines and Airports. I normally like LA/Ontario International since it quite literally in my back yard, but there are 5 airports(Ontario "ONT", Burbank Bob Hope "BUR", LA International “LAX”, Santa Ana -John Wayne "SNA", and Palm Springs "PSP") with commercial service in a 60 mile radius. Normally, I usually compare Ontario and LAX. The difference is usually only about $60, which is usually not worth the hassle.
It turned out that LAX was about $200 cheaper, which was a little too much to be ignored. Plus American flew there directly. If I flew from Ontario, I would have to stop at Dallas/Fort Worth. so, off to LAX


Why American Airlines? As you can imagine, Cape Air will only fly you to Saint Louis. To make their service even more convenient, They have what is known as a Code share agreement with American. This means I can book my entire trip on American, earn frequent flier miles on my trip to Cape, and most importantly, My checked luggage will make it all the way with out me having to claim it and re-check it. Chances are you have flown on a code share. If you've flown on a regional Jet, You've probably been on a code share. Think “Air Missouri d/b/a Transcontinental and Western Express(a nod to the airline that became Trans World Airlines)”.
American is the only airline that code shares with Cape Air at Saint Louis. The biggest airline at Saint Louis, Southwest, refuses to do code sharing (American is now either #2 or #3 , depending on how you define “biggest”. Delta has more flights, but on smaller planes). I find this somewhat curious, as both Southwest share similar points on their Business models (fly a lot of flights on Smaller planes (yes, a 737 is smaller than a 747.) and have out standing customer service. The big difference is that Southwest only serves major markets, whereas Cape Air Focuses on Rural areas.
I usually do price them all before booking. A site like Kayak.com is nice since it is an aggregator (pulls in data from several website, but then takes you that site to book,so you can enter your loyalty program information). I also compared Airport - I just booked a trip Friday to Fort Wayne, IN (FWA) in April to do more research for my book. It was the opposite (LAX was $200 more than ONT) But you can't look up Southwest fares on Kayak, they're only available via Southwest.com.
And despite their reputation as the "low fare" airline, most of time, the "traditional" airlines are fairly competitive With Southwest. In this case the only difference was the the $25 bag fee (Cape Air doesn't Charge for bags - another plus for them ), That I have never cared for Southwest boarding process:

After Looking at Parking, I began to think maybe I should re-book. I found a hotel (the Hacienda) near LAX that would let you park your car if you stay the night before and the night after, and since I have a 07:00AM departure and a 10:00 arrival, it should come in handy.
So I'll be deserting my "home airport", although since ONT and LAX are both owned by the City Of Los Angeles, maybe I should think of as getting promoted to Major Leagues. or Maybe not, since I'm listening to the Kings lose right now.
BTW, Santa Ana "John Wayne" beat ONT by $20 and one less connection. Considering the traffic: probably not worth it. besides I'll get a free cookie when I get to Fort Wayne:

too short of a weekend

I did the tour de foothills the weekend.
Before hand , I did get some plane spotting at ONT

I also got a baggage tag for ONT at the post ride festival. But didn't stay too long. Maybe I should let Hunter have it:

I had a flat on the way to church , which meat I needed to run by coates and get a new 650 tire. I did run by Macy's and looked at luggage again (maybe I should start luggagegeek.com)

Brand my Luggage!

I did the Santa ana river trail on Friday. Not bad, and it seem less I worry about the bike, The better I get at it. C'est La Vie.
And I won't bore with Luggage any more. I walked into Macy's and $60 poorer, walked with:

From 11-5-2010

Not Bad for $180 MSRP. and It turns out that Atlantic is a subbrand of Travelpro, so it should be a good investment, plus , the seahorse will help me avoid this:

It turn out that is Fairly common in that Industry. Samsonite,

Also owns American Tourister

Courisly, They have American Tourister assigned to the low end, despite the Fact that it has better awareness, partly due to the Gorilla:

Of course, Samsonite is considered to more high quality, so maybe they're on to something.
Travelpro uses a different Stratagem(why is Google suggest all these High Faluting words). It was started by a Northwest Airlines Captain. who invented the Rollaboard.
They give substainal to Flight Crews to buy, and hope that People will want to buy the Brand that the "Pros" use. Atlantic was an independent company that they purchase to go after the "Value" markets (presumably not as downmarket as AT has gone)
Research is fun! Although it has got me wanting a Flight attendant doll I know , wrong airlien, but the American one doesn't come with the Beverage cart!
Now, let's go back to Vincennes circa 1790

Tour De apple Vally and the quest for luggage

last week I did the tour de apple Valley:

Applle Valley was the retirement home for Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. as I mentioned in the video, it was also where "Sky King" was filmed:
.
It was a very good ride, even though only three people from the SoCal bent group showed. Most people complained it was too far and too expensive. Me,I Think it's time to move on. It seem like I'm not recumbent rider, as least in mindset. Oh,
wait, those Roadies are out to get me! Quick, where's my tinfoil helmet cover?
enough of the venting. I also went by Victorville Airport, which is an old Air Force base that used for aircraft storage:

From 10-23-2010

I've also been doing some more research for novel,, I found google books , a very good resource. Not only, it will also show where a real live (or dead tree) version exists, which surprisingly for a history of Southeast Missouri, is the UC_riverside. and I thought I would get spend some more time at Kent Library @ SEMO u.
since my luggage is Falling apart, I've been looking at some new stuff. I went by the Ontario Mills mall. the Jc Penny outlet, Thy had some very good prices on Samsonite, but they only had the 29 or 21 inch size. I was looking for a 25 inch. Burlington and Marshalls had the same brands, which curiously was made by the same company in Mira Loma. Some of the wheels didn't work on these brands. Not a good sign,plus they also seel them to walmart. Macy's had a 50%, but I eventually decided I couldn't afford it right now. I think I'll wait til this friday and go back to Macy's

Vincennes, Part III and the trip home

I had planned this trip with some free time, as I was not sure how long it would take me to explore Vincennes. I had two option for Sunday Morning: drive down the Wabash to it junction with the Ohio or Go out to the Abraham Lincoln Boyhood National Historic site and then, If I had time, go to the Memorial for the Tell City airplane crash.
In the end, I decided that going down the Wabash was more important. I started out by visiting the Mound:

From 10-11-2010

I would have bid adieu to the Avenger. Unlike the one I had in July, this one had a Six way, power leather, heated seats, which proved to be torture devices for my back.
I stopped by the Old State bank before heading out:

I decided to route myself being as close to River as possible. This meant that I would need to cross the Wabash into Illinois on the “Wabash Cannonball” Bridge. It's an old railroad bridge that been remade into highway bridge:

On the way into St Francisville, Il , I ran into some touring cyclists, I stopped to read a historical marker and said hello to theme, but they acted like I did not exist. Oh well.
I crossed back into Indiana on the I-64 bridge and made a stop in New Harmony
New Harmony was the site of a couple of Utopian Communities in the 1820's. I thought I could explore a little but, But I kept on hearing a voice that told me it wasn't my time.

I then Drove down to last Bridge on the Wabash. It had a Starring role in this Video

I didn't make to the Junction, but then I had a chance to see it from the air when I was coming in. I stopped in the town of Mt Vernon, In to see the Ohio and contemplate what some might think seeing a river of that size for the first time:

I had lunch at my Favorite Place: SteakNShake, before pausing in downtown Evansville to check in on the folks in Cape Girardeau. I liked the faux riveboat, which is their Casino.

I then headed back to Dress airport:

It's named after the Mayor who promoted the idea. On the Tarmac was a Bombardier/Canadair CRJ "Barbie jet"(Just like the "real" planes, only smaller) flying for Delta(or Comair, depending on how you look at) in from Cincinnati:

I returned the keys, checked in and wandered for a bit before going through security,
Almost all of the P-47 Thunderbolts were built in Evansville:

The man who held the record for the largest collection of Model Planes also lived here:

I had been trying to record the tail Number, but had no luck, I wrote down the Tail number of the plane to Dallas, N950TW, and entered into a database: no such Plane! I thought I had made a boo-boo, so made sure to take a photo of the American Eagle plane that pulled up:

There was just a little issue, another Eagle plane:

one to Chicago O'Hare(ORD for Orchard Park, Illinois), one for D/FW. I guess I'm not meant to be a plane spotter.
The flight to D/FW was uneventful. I did forget my jacket when I deplaned, and remembered it in the gate check line(ERJ's have limited bin space). I dashed back in, but the flight attendant met me at the Door with it. he had noticed it, and was coming to find me.
I was supposed to meet my Uncle Henry, but he had some unexpected guests and was having a hard time getting rid of them. we eventually connected, and we had dinner at Braum's:

before I went back to the airport for a late night flight back, which another ex-TWA md80(newer interior being the giveaway as opposed to the tail number) . I was apparently the only person drinking coffee, as my cup was refilled several times.
This was fun! I've got to do it again. The only downside was that used my evening commute home on Metrolink to write this instead of my book. But then I do tend to find activities to fill my time. I was think was the only person on the Plane to ONT that was not asleep. That pesky sleep! Say, can I get a refill on my coffee?

vincennes, partII

After visiting the George Rogers Clark Memorial, I walked across Vigo Street. There is a Little Park that has a monument to all the Navy Ships that have borne the Name USS Vincennes:
It's named after Patrick Henry, Since he was the Governor of Virginia at the time of the Battle, and Virgina at that time consisted whet we know of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
A couple of blocks North, I found this sign:

From 10-11-2010

This is actually more important to me than Ft Sackvillle, as this is where the army fort was when my characters pass through here. I paused and tried to recreated what it looked like 210 Years ago.
The next stop was the Broulliet house. It's fairly close to my time period, but was closed. I have been inside a similarly constructed house in Sainte Genevieve, so there was no great loss. They had a Bois d'Arc, or Osage Orange, tree there.

Don't eat the fruit, though, I spied a rock with a plaque nearby:

From 10-11-2010

It turn out that this is where Jefferson Davis proposed to his wife.
I kept on making my way up the street. I stopped to let the Railroad Workers get their truck on the tracks.

They were a little embarassed that I was waiting for them to put their truck on the Tracks, but I told them that they were working, and I was on vacation.
Across the tracks was the famous Walnut Grove, where William Henry Harrison and Tecumseh sat down and hashed out several treaties (and almost came to blows).

I do have Tecumseh in my story, but he mainly appears when he was in his late teens to early 20's, so it's not that germane to me, but good to know. Maybe I can have him look at the grove and get a sense of dread. :)
And across the Street is William Henry Harrison's home, Grouseland

It wouldn't have been there yet, but the tour did give me some ideas, and I got to support the DAR.
Vincennes was the First Capital of Indiana Terrortory. The state has moved several buildings next to Grouseland and created a State Historic Site:

The red building was the first Capitol, and the White Building was the Offices of the First Paper in Indiana, which is still being published to this day (Vincennes Sun-Commercial). There was also the house that the author of “Alice of Old Vincennes” was born in. I Thought it made a nice Contrast to Grouseland
I looked at the map that ranger had given me. I decided to wander over to the courthouse and take a look at the Civil War Memorial, fully expecting it to be the run of the mill fountain that nearly every county east of the Mississippi has. I was pleasantly surprised

The Courthouse wasn't too shabby

I walked downtown and had lunch at the Saint Louis Street Soda shop. A ruben, chips, and a diet coke.

I was debating what to do next. One of the Bishops of Vincennes had a 5,000 volume libary. The guides wern't clear if it was open to General admission, so I tried the lock. No luck. I had almost called and made a reservation, but I couldn't think of anything to research. I did come up with one while I was there: who was Jean Hamtramck's (who was the Commander of Ft Knox at my "time") second-in-command? At the same time, I wasn't sure that the information was there, and I would probably waste my time find yet another story from the Past. They supposedly have the Correspondce between Fr. Gibault and his Bishop in Quebec. Bishop "You have not been to this Church in over a year and you were seen in a Log-rolling contest on the Wabash." Fr Gibault "It is too far to make regular trips there, and I must have some recreation" (Fr Gibault was a Voyageur before taking his vows).
So I went back over into Illinois, and drove up the river.. The Park Ranger had recommend that I stop by the Military Museum. I was debating as it seemed to mostly focused on World War II. Unlike the Civil War Memorial, it lived up to my expectations
A couple of things

From 10-11-2010

I thought this was plane was somewhat ironic. It's a Lockheed Shooting Star. One of the Translations of 'Tecumseh' from Shawnee to English is 'Shooting Star'.
This truck caught my eye, as I associated George Air Force base with the Airport in Victorville.

Turns out , there was a George Army Air Field across the river, which is now the Vincennes airport
I then headed over to the Quabache (french spelling) Trails County park, which is the site of what is Called "Fort Knox II", which was the army post present during the War of 1812. I didn't get that far:

From 10-11-2010

I wound up the day by dipping my toes in the "White river" (Translation of Wabash from Shawnee) and a photo of the Red Skelton Bridge:

From 10-11-2010

I then headed back to the Super 8. I was debating heading out for Dinner, but there was a Mc Donald's, Pizza Hut. and Hardee's within walking distance. I had my usual from Hardee's - The Mushroom and Swiss - which I found lacking compared to what I remembered, and called it a day well spent

Vincennes, part I

Recently, I got a nice break. The state of California resolved a tax dispute in my favor. Did I spend the on bicycle parts? no.
Plugging away on my writing, I decided to take a research trip. One of the pivotal place in the colonial northwest was Vincennes, Indiana. Since my Characters would have to gone thought there, I thought I need to go there . Was is it on a Bluff. What was still left?
I started by pricing my flights. I wound up on American with a 6Am departure from Ontario to Evansville, IN via Dall/ Forth Worth airport, TX. It would have been cheaper to fly to Indianapolis, but then I would have had a two hour drive. I woke up early Friday Morning and went over to ONT. I spent my time taking some photos of the murals.

Archie Mitchell and Waldo Waterman, The Fathers of the Ontario Airport

We were soon aboard the “Mad dog” (Mc Donnell Douglas MD-80, a second generation DC-9) for the trip to Dallas Forth DFW.
You never know what you will see at ONT. I noticed that there was a 727 with the Los Angeles World Airports(LAWA) logo on the Tail. Turns out, The airport maintains it as a movie Prop, so they must have been doing some filming
Once at DFW, I spent some time by taking a loop around the airport on the SkyTrain before alighting in Terminal b. Unlike most airports, the people mover is above ground
Despite all my trips through DFW before, I had never been in terminal B. It called Terminal "B" because it was the hub for another airline:

I had lunch at Mc Donalds before getting on the “Jungle Jet” - an Embraer ER1J45(so called because it's built in Brazil) for the trip to Evansville. Once there, I got my car, a Dodge Avenger (Enterprise must have gotten a great deal on these) and made to the Super 8 In Vincennes:

The hotel was beside a nice lake:

I went over to Wal mart , got some sodas, and lost my sun glasses, the next morning, i went back to get some sunscreen and lost my hotel key. eek!
I started by going across the Bridge to where Abe Lincoln first stepped foot in Illinois:

I then walked back into town ,and met some re-enactors, appropriate, yes?

From 10-11-2010

From 10-11-2010

The bridge is flanked by stylized statues of Tecumseh and his Brother , Tenskawata, The Prophet:

From 10-11-2010

From 10-11-2010

From 10-11-2010

Theres also a statue of Father Pierre Gibualt:

From 10-11-2010

Father Gibualt is one of the figures that's been forgotten by History and shouldn't have. He had a parish at the time of the American Revolution that encompass Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Vincennes was the site of one of his Parishes (the others being Kaskaskia, IL and Sault Ste Marie,Mi. He was instrumental George Rogers Clark's liberation of the West and the battle of Vincennes
another Figure in the Battle was Francis Vigo

Finally, we have the Memorial itself

The Memorial has Various Murals relating to Capture Of Vincennes and Statue of George Rogers Clark inside. The Ranger was nice enough to take a picture of me posing with George

The Ranger wanted to turn off my Flash, but neither she nor I could figure out how to do it. It turns that Google did a good job of cleaning up the image
I then wandered over to the vistor's Center. Actually, I had gone there First, but the Ranger stationed there sent me to the memorial. The Visitor center had a nice short film (much better than the usual fare) and some exhibits. I think the ranger was a bit surprised to find out that I knew who Mr Clark and Father Gibault were. I purchased a book on Colonials being adopted into tribes (another theme of my work) before moving on. We'll get there tomorrow

Hidden treasure

View Larger Map
View Larger Map
I was biking and found teh neat place and thought I'd share
It's called Founder's Garden In Ontario and commemorates the early "Pioneers of this area:

The watefall and Flume is honor of George Chaffey, who had the idea a channeling water down from the Mountains
it also has Olive trees

and a roses for some of the first exports:

and a Vineyard , Of Course:

and to Honor Mr Chaffey's Home Country , the Citizen's Business Bank Arena, Home of the Ontario Reign Hockey team:

I was going to post an IFrame of the bing Map, since it will let do a "bird's eye" view, but alas, no luck, We'll have to make do with Google. here's a link to Bing