Don’t Get Lost

 Have you ever been lost?

There are several ways to be “lost”. Let me tell you about the time I got lost as a young 16 year old.  A few years earlier my Dad took me on my first trip on an airplane from Phoenix to Denver.  I loved it and decided I wanted to be a pilot when I grew up.  

So, Dad offered to send me to flying lessons at age 16.  One of the requirements in those days was for the student to complete a solo round trip triangle with each leg being at least 200 miles long.  My instructor decided my trip would be from Phoenix to Blythe, CA to Yuma and back to Phoenix.  

With full confidence I was ready, my Dad and instructor saw me off in a rented Cessna 150 on a clear, beautiful Arizona day.  I had worked hard in the preceding days preparing my flight plan on the map with directional details and radio frequencies, etc…. 

The leg to Blythe seemed relatively benign and everything was going as planned.  For those of you who are now dependent on the GPS in our phones to even find a pizza joint, let me tell you civil aviation did not have GPS in 1970.  We were taught to navigate using a system designed in the 1930s known as VOR, Very High Frequency Omni-directional Range.  I learned that day that VOR doesn’t really take into account headwinds and crosswinds.  As I flew along I mostly used my sectional chart to pick out mountains and valleys that fit my flight plan.  I knew for sure I would not miss Blythe as it’s an AZ-CA border town right near the Colorado River, how could I miss that?  I did start getting a little worried when I was way behind on my ETA (and I needed to go potty!)

So, you can imagine my relief when I spotted a large river with a small town and an airport just ahead.  I locked in the radio frequency and radioed for permission to enter the landing pattern.  I tried several times with no response.  But, being a “highly trained” teenager I knew that smaller airports didn’t necessarily have towers but most had Flight Service Stations which were not always manned but pilots could communicate with each other and maintain a safe distance when landing.  The next procedure was to fly at 3000’ feet over the top of the airport for a complete visual, then enter the landing pattern with an announcement to any other pilots in the area.  As I got lower and entered my final approach I wondered why Blythe Airport had so many military planes on the tarmac.

After a textbook landing I was also surprised when a Jeep drove up with a sign on the back that said “Follow Me”.  I recall thinking, “that’s the nicest greeting I’ve ever had at a small civil airport, how nice!” I followed the Jeep all the way to an old style wooden flight control tower painted in red and white checkerboard.  He pointed to a parking spot so I parked the plane and shut it down.  With no other air traffic that day something was beginning to not feel right.  I stepped out of the airplane and someone at the top of the tower opened a single hung window, stuck his head out and said, “yeah?  I yelled up to him, “Is this Blythe?”  He said, “What?”  “Is this Blythe?”  He said, “wait a second” and went back into the tower.  He returned a few seconds later and said, “We never heard of it!”  That’s the moment I knew I was lost!

The next hour or two were pretty intense for a young guy.  I had landed (without permission) on George Air Force Base in central California.  I was farther from Blythe than when I left Phoenix!  My next meeting was with what must have been the Base Commander.  I explained my dilemma to him and he had so much ”compassion” that he pulled out a regulation book about 8 inches thick (everything is bigger in your memories).  He paged through it and acted grumpy when he told me my airplane didn’t weigh enough to issue a fine.  When I think about that today as an adult, I would have done the same thing…scare the crap out of the kid but then let him off the hook!  After that we called my Dad and instructor and they wanted to make sure I had the confidence to get home.  I assured them I did and the Commander sent me to the fighter pilots prep room (lined with maps like the movies) to have a pilot help me work out a flight plan home.  

I had flown completely off my civil sectional map and the Air Force uses an entirely different map.  He gave me one of those for the area.  I was almost out of fuel and they did not carry fuel for a Cessna 150.  So, he directed me to the neighboring community of Apple Valley for conventional fuel.  The next stop was Palm Springs, then Phoenix.  So believe it or not that qualified as my solo cross country requirement! 

Now that’s a story about being lost but not actually knowing you’re lost.  I have other stories about knowing you’re lost which usually happened in the woods without any assistance…but there’s bears!

I have always been of the mind that getting lost now and then builds character.  You learn to keep your cool.  You have to figure out a plan on your own.  You use all your known resources to find your way out of trouble. You learn to rely on yourself.  Little did I know then, that it wasn’t me, it was God building my character.  

There is knowing you’re lost, NOT knowing you’re lost and then there’s FEELING you’re lost.  I think a cancer diagnosis can lead to a feeling of being lost.  Many people are frightened of something they know nothing about but now face a huge challenge that relies on doctors they haven’t even met yet.

For me the diagnosis was gripping but I had already beat colon cancer in my life so I had early confidence that “I” could beat it again.  But, something accelerated in my life.  I needed more of the Great Physician.  I’ve been a Christian since I was a little boy but I never really dove in head first.  I always thought I could handle everything myself.  Once Diane and I turned this cancer over to God we no longer felt lost.  We are not bitter, we are grateful.  Grateful for every day we have and everything we’ve been blessed with.  Yesterday was our 42nd wedding anniversary!  God has blessed our lives and he has lead us to the best medical facility in the country.  

I call this cancer my Damascus Road.  When Saul was persecuting Christians he met God on the road to Damascus and God opened his eyes.  He changed his life and became an apostle of Jesus.  Whether you’re  a lifelong Christian, a Christmas and Easter Christian, or a complete non believer you could have an experience that becomes your Damascus Road.  It could be a broken marriage, loss of a loved one, financial problems, a drug addiction, depression, mental illness or like me, a significant medical challenge.  Keep your eyes open when things happen that you can’t explain and that you had no control over, it could be God getting your attention.  It could become your Damascus Road. 

I realize that it’s been a while since I’ve blogged.  Part of that is because I’ve been feeling so great on this new treatment that we’ve been staying very active lately.  We’ve got the treatment down to one night in Houston instead of two.  We fly in on Tuesday and I take a blood test Wednesday morning then meet with the doctors to go over the results, then take a pill under their supervision.  Sometimes there is another blood test an hour later, then I’m free to go home.  Last week we were done by 11 or 12 in the afternoon and we hopped on a flight back to Phoenix at 4:00 pm!  I have one more weekly treatment this week in Houston then we have two weeks off returning March 8th for our first monthly treatment.  We are using that two weeks to take a trip to the Big Island to visit Annabelle and Paku.  Then, April 5th will be my first CT Scan on the new medicine.  Please keep praying that the medicine is doing it’s job to reduce and restrict the cancer tumors in my abdomen.  I feel so good and I’ve gained back all my pre-surgery weight that we feel strongly that the pill is working. 

A second reason I’ve been delinquent in writing is we’ve had a lot of visitors the last few weeks.  People who read this blog and pray for us are a huge source of encouragement for Diane and I.  We know that prayer works.  Many of our visitors are dear friends from Alaska who care enough to leave that cold, snowy season to comfort us in warm, sunny Arizona!

Here are some pictures of our latest visitors:

The guys in the hot tub came to Phoenix to hold a Captain’s meeting with me. Capt. Steve , Capt. Mike, and Capt. Skip and I planned and executed 40 years worth of remote, exclusive river trips in Alaska, Canada, and even the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. We had a great guy’s week shooting trap, attending an Allman Brothers tribute concert and pictured above, a trip to Top Golf with long time Arizona friend Joe Bohlman. 

Heidi and Vito came from Alaska to their place in Scottsdale.  We had a milkcan dinner at the Balistreri’s

Elliott stopped by with his Mom, Kyle and Billy

My amazing sister came to town to help celebrate Mom’s 92nd birthday.  Her husband Garn came too and I took him to a Phoenix Suns basketball game.

Our son-in-law Joel came to Phoenix during Super Bowl week to work his pedi-cab business.  Diane and I took Skip and Cheryl downtown to the NFL Experience just to get a ride with Joel!

Cousin Jason and his lovely wife Connie are in Arizona touring the north country.  That saguaro in the background is named Fritz after my Dad.  Fritz was not even 6 feet tall when we planted him!

My 65AAA Sidewinder team took first place last week at the Gold Glove Classic here in Phoenix.  Our next big tournament is Southwest Championships in St. George UT next month.

And finally, Diane’s amazing sister Barbara returned for another visit and some incredible cooking!