The Clan Gathers

On Thursday morning we headed north to Denver to pick up, Jake, flying in from Ft. Worth. As usual, a postcard kind of day with great scenery, but too busy playing navigator to take photos. The Rockies were clearer that morning than before or since. The remainder of the day was taken up with gathering data from the plane, transmitting it, getting rooms, turning in one rental car and getting another (paid for by the Foundation). We had a nice dinner and another nice margarita. (Somehow the theme of this group has become to compare margaritas from one state to another.)
Friday the three of us gathered at the plane, which had been sitting at the Broomfield terminal for two weeks. We set up a table in shade of the wing and started giving tours. The opening had not really been advertised for that day, but there is a popular lunch spot in the terminal so we had a modest but interested number of people come by. Jane and David Gorrell joined us in early afternoon coming in from Park City, UT. They had not been expected but knew we would welcome a few more folks since there were only three of us. There was a cool breeze blowing, and being sheltered from the sun, it was a perfect temperature. We were to do a fly by at the Longmont airport at 7PM in honor of Jack Grenier who lives there who flew this very plane for American in the 1940's. He is now 90 years old and still flying. That means he can still pass the medical each year. There had been some publicity for this and we ended up with 10 passengers. It was fun to see the people out by the runway with cameras and waving when we did two low passes.
By the time we deplaned and buttoned up the plane, it was 9PM when we arrived at a restaurant to eat. Some of us had had a late lunch of sorts, but Gene had not eaten since breakfast, so devoted is he to his duty. A very pleasant meal with a lot of airline talk since everyone at the table except us were current or retired American Airlines employees. Then we fell into bed exhausted.