People Watching

In my earlier life I did a great deal of traveling by air. When I was expecting our third child, my then Brother-in-law convinced Forry he should join him at a ground school class that prepared for the Private Pilot's exam. The class was being taught in Ritzville by a local rancher who was also a Flight Instructor for a Piper Airplane dealer in Spokane.

A couple of weeks into the classes, the instructor told the fellows that if they would meet him at the local airport Saturday morning, he'd take them up for a ride. He took each of the fellows up in turn, sitting them in the left hand pilot's seat. When they came back down, he presented each of them with a new logbook with a half hour of dual instruction logged... I don't remember what the ground school classes cost -- a couple of hundred dollars maybe -- but the instructor then told them if they wanted to take flying lessons, they'd deduct the cost of the ground school classes from the flying lessons. Such a deal!

Since flying had always been one of Forry's dreams, he jumped at the opportunity. He loved flying and the lessons. Even with his dyslexia, he studied assiduously and passed the Private Pilot written exam with flying colors. And wouldn't you know, the Piper dealer told him that if he wanted to buy an airplane, they'd deduct the cost of the flying lessons! How could you beat a deal like that?!

The next thing you know, we had a Piper Cherokee 180 (the first of five we eventually owned) -- and a new baby girl -- and were putting an airstrip in at the ranch. We joined the Flying Farmer organization (and became part of the Vic Franz family!) and began taking trips by air. If there's ever a motto for flying, it most likely is, "hurry up and wait." Weather is always an issue and because we did much of our flying towards the south in the winter-time (farmer's downtime), we spent many hours in airports waiting out storms or for storm fronts to pass, or for other people to be able to get out out of the weather wherever they were and join up with us.

There's nothing quite like people watching at an airport. You certainly get to see people in all their modes and moods. Everything from harried business people who act like everyone else in the airport is an imposition to excited families heading on vacation or exhausted families on their way home from Disney. And if you want to see people at their best -- and at their worst -- just throw in some weather delays or mechanical problems. Many years later when I traveled for my work at the AHEC, I once again found myself spending many an hour entertaining myself by people watching.

So, what does that have to do with full-time RVing? RV campgrounds are another great place to people watch. It's especially interesting here on the East Coast where the sites seem to be mostly back-ins and quite close together. I am very intrigued by the way couples do --or don't -- work together. I'm also intrigued by the role women play. Some couples seem to have clear divides between inside and outside roles; others seem to pretty much work together. Sometimes tempers flare and we hear some interesting language.

Some people are very cautious as they leave the park. One of the partners guides the rig out and makes sure they clear all the other vehicles as they slowly depart. Others just rev the engine and go! And everyone around sort of holds their breath until they clear the park. The other ones that are fun to watch are the dog walkers carrying their plastic bags in order to clean up after their pets. Some are very nonchalant about it, others act like they're rather embarrassed and hoping no one is watching. And then, every once in a while, there are the ones that pretend the animal didn't do anything and just keep on walking...

Bored? Just look out the window!