Flying Alone at Midnight

 I've been a little under the weather this week.  Nothing major or anything like that, just a cold that is always accompanied by a sore throat, a lot of coughing, a lot of sinus drainage and a runny nose.  Since Tuesday morning a roll of toilet paper has always been within arm's reach, so I can a) blow my nose, or b) spit several pounds of multi-colored sinus drainage into said soft toilet paper.  As of this early hour on Saturday morning, I am on my third roll this week.  I know, way too much information.

But one of the unwanted side effects of this late summer cold is the is the incessant coughing.  It is a cough that makes me sound like a smoke three packs of unfiltered packs of Camels a day.  Nasty cough. One aspect of the cough, is that it is pretty much a constant companion, only briefly taking a break after having taken some Coricidin, and sometimes, but not always, if I am laying horizontally.  Now that I think about it, it would be kind of hard to lay vertically.

When I am awake during the wee hours, like this morning (my laptop says it is 2.55a) there are two things I usually do.  One is listen to my iPod.  Approximately 1,400 songs, mostly classic rock, a little country, and some Christmas music for M.  Maybe the best $150 I ever spent.

The second thing I do is get on my phone and start randomly dialing numbers just to see who answers.  No, I'm kidding, I don't really do that.  That would be mean.  Fun, but mean.

No, I have this app on my phone called Flightradar24.  It gives you the position, speed, altitude, flight number of every commercial flight in the world currently flying.  It gives you the airline and city pairs.  For an airline geek like me, it is countless hours of fascinating entertainment.  Currently, at 3a, flying within 50 miles of my home in Tuscumbia, Ala., is an Air Canada Cargo 767 flying from Mexico City (MEX) to Toronto (YYZ).  It's cruising at 39,000 feet at 471 knots.  It is over Loretto, Tenn.  Just southwest of Town Creek, Ala. is a Delta A321 Airbus flying from San Diego (SAN) to Atlanta (ATL).  Amazingly he has just started his descent into Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in ATL.

My dad worked for McDonnell Douglas for 39 years and retired from then in 1996.  McDonnell built the Mercury and Gemini space capsules, the F-4 Phantom, the F-15 Eagle and F-18 Hornet, among other fighter.  They also built the huge C-17 cargo aircraft.  The Douglas side of the company gave the world the DC aircraft, from the fabulous DC-3 to the MD-11, which was an updated DC-10.

My mother started work for Ozark Airlines in 1972, survived the merger with TWA in 1986, and retired after 20 years.

So I told you all of that to tell you this, you can see where I get my aviation enthusiasm.  It is part of my DNA.  In fact, at various times, I worked for both McDonnell and Ozark/TWA.

I could tell you all about my airline career, but that would take a lot of precious inches, which at this early hour I don't want to type.  So I'll just hit the highlight.  I started working on the ramp with Ozark in frozen Fort Dodge (FOD), Ia in Dec. 1981.  I walked away from TWA as a Flight Coordinator at Lambert Field in St. Louis (STL) in September 1999, not long before TWA was absorbed by American.

The Flight Coordinator (or FIC as we were called) job I had with TWA was easily the best job of my life.  It was busy, it required quick-thinking and if you weren't mentally prepared, it was stressful.  It was not a job for most people.

STL was the domestic hub for TWA.  On a normal day, we had approximately 550 flights a day in and out of STL.  We had 51 gates and 12 banks of flights.  I worked in the TWA Tower, Similar to the FAA Tower, it was the hub of activity at the domestic hub of the airline.  We had two people directing traffic, one on the north side and one on the south side.  When a flight was ready to leave the gate, it would call FIC and ask permission (Ex. STL FIC, F444 ready to leave out Gate 42.)  if there was no traffic taxiing in or out, the response would be something like this, (F444, push back is approved, call when ready to taxi) then once unhooked and ready to taxi, (F444 your taxi is approved follow the MD-80 pushing off 72, contact metering at that point.)   Sounds simple right?  Except you might be juggling 10 aircraft at a time.  

The previous example was for the Southside, the northside person had it rougher because the busiest runway at Lambert (12L/30R), was right behind the gates and Taxiway Alpha.  Your conversation might go like this, (Tower, F315 ready to leave off Gate 38.  FIC: F315, push back approved, go tail east, and have them push you back far enough you can exit at Taxiway Golf.  F315: Roger, Tail east, Taxiway Golf, TWA 315.)

We had four individuals who monitored activity at the gates.  They would have 10-13 or so gates, and it was their responsibility to keep up with each flight and advise of any delay.  They kept the flight monitors for their gates up-to-date and wrote delays for anything over four minutes.

My favorite spot was the Gate Coordinator. In the TWA Tower, and I should add, the setup we had every major airline had at airports with hubs.  We had hot lines to the FAA, and we could communicate directly with each other.  I worked a lot of midnights in the tower.  When I started my shift at 10.30p, the last bank of flight, all heading west, were just leaving.  They would fly to west coast, then turn around and fly back, usually not arriving in STL until about 6a

So no, I did not twiddle my thumbs or watch tv all night.  On midnight it was my responsibility to assign every flight, all 550 of them, a gate for the next day.  Now this was not as easy as it would seem.  We had seven different types of aircraft DC-9, MD-80, 727, 747, 757 and 767, as well as the Lockheed L-1011.  Not all aircraft would fit in all gates.  Be we had a daily grid we worked off of, and if there were very few changes, I could be done by 2.30 or 3a.  Now STL Maintenace would have a briefing with Planning and Aircraft Routing at JFK at 4.30a.  Sometimes they would throw a wrench into things, and you might still be struggling when day shift arrived.

But most mornings, like today, it was quiet. If it was clear, you could see aircraft that were 75 miles away, particularly from the northwest to east and watch them make the final leg of the journey.  On busy nights, you could see aircraft stair stepped for 30-40 miles on final, all at different altitudes.

It was my best job ever, so now hopefully you can see why I loved it so much. I see Delta 416 from San Jose to ATL is almost directly overhead.  some of them are sleeping.  I am not, just watching them.

100 Things I like about the South

 Ok, posting a list is not exactly a blog entry.  But its my blog, so this is my entry.

I think of myself as a Southener.   Sure, I was raised in Missouri, but both my parents grew up in Arkansas, as did their parent and most of the parents before them.  Before that they were spread out from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to Alabama and Tennessee.  I went to Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas, and have held Arkansas, Florida and Alabama driver's licenses.  Did I mention I was born in Louisiana?  The point being, I am a southerner, I even have bacon grease running through my veins.

A year or so ago, I sat down and tried to think of reasons I liked the South. Without straining my brain cells, I came up with over 400.  Today, I am picking out the 'Top 100 Things I Like About the South," and am sharing them with you.  Sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it.

Oh, one other thing, you may some of thoughts, you may have some of your own, no one is wrong unless they put down this wonderful part of the world.

Ready?  Here goes, the top 100.

1.  The people

2.  The Weather

3.  Charleston

4.  Savannah

5.  New Orleans

6.  The Shoals

7.  Hilton Head

8.  Panama City Beach

9.  Key West

10. Bless Your Heart

11. Fishing at a creek with your dad or grandpa

12.  Friend catfish

13. Fried okra

14. Cornbread

15. Homemade pickles

16. Collards

17. Tomatoes off the vine

18. Duke's Mayonnaise

19. Crepe Myrtle

20. Red beans and rice

21. Shrimp and grits

22. Coconut cream pie

23. Coca-Cola

24. Sweet tea

25. Chik-Fil-A

26. Bacon

27. Purple Hull peas

28. Augusta National

29. Sweet potato pie

30. Ribs

31. Biscuits and sausage gravy

32. Church

33. Church potlucks

34. Family reunions

35. Gatlinburg

36. Daytona

37. Talladega

38. Bristol

39. Beale Street

40. Iron Bowl

41. Egg Bowl

42. Third Saturday in October

43. Calling the Hogs

44. Rocky Top

45. Alabama Crimsonettes

46. Saturday night in Baton Rouge

47.Graceland

48. John Grisham

49. Harper Lee

50. Margaret Mitchell

51. Truman Capote

52. Lewis Grizzard

53. Fannie Flagg

54. James Faulkner

55. Kudzu

56. Spanish moss

57. Lightning bugs

58. Beignets

59. Rodney Scott's in Charleston

60. Crab Shack on Tybee Island

61. Drago's in New Orleans

62.Two Fat Sisters in Tuscumbia

63. Waffle House everywhere

64. Front porches

65. Porch swings

66. Hank Williams Jr.

67. Johnny Cash

68. W. C. Handy

69. Allman Brothers

70. Charlie Daniels Band

71. Lynyrd Skynyrd

72. B.B. King

73. Bread pudding

74. Robert E. Lee

75. Jimmy Carter

76. Mint juleps

77. Jack Daniel's

78. Martin Luther King Jr.

79. John Lewis

80. Booker T. Washington

81. Jimmy Buffett

82. Peanuts

83. Rice

84. Cotton

85. Designing Women

86. Dixie Carter

87. Sela Ward

88. Cybill Shepherd

89. Tennesse Williams

90. Bill Clinton

91. Muhammad Ali

92. Publix

93. Dollar General

94. Walmart

95. Peaches

96. Palm trees

97. Pecan pie

98. Natchez Trace

99.  Blue Ridge Parkway

100. Smokey Mountains

O Say Can You Seafood?

Well, M and I are still on Hilton Head Island.  We've been here since Oct 3rd, and will head home on in a few days on the 17th.  Certainly, a two-week stay at the beach, breathing that wonderful salt air is good for the soul.

I know some of my blogs are about food, and this one will be no exception, but hey, food is in the name of my blog.  This is Baseball, God and Tacos, not Baseball, God and Birds.  Well anyway, you get the idea.

I am a list person.  Now there are two ways to interpret that.  I am not the type who makes a list every morning of things I have or need to do.  That just isn't me.  Ok, when I worked at the Star Herald, I would make a list of all the stories I had to write that particular week (or day), but that was different.  No, I write lists of things like states I have visited (38), countries I have been in (24), major league stadiums i have visited (15).  You get the idea.

These past two weeks I have been keeping a list of how many different types of seafood I have had. I know, that is pretty silly, and I really can't argue with you, but if I am going to be in the land of fresh seafood, I really don't want to eat the same thing twice.  Does that make any sense?  I want to savor and enjoy as many different types of seafood as possible.

Fortunately, I do not have any shellfish allergy which would keep me from enjoying, well, shellfish, like shrimp or lobster.  So far I have yet to find a fish that really grosses me out.  I used to hate tuna, but then thanks to my friend Kim, who suggested I try Ahi tuna, I have seen the light.  I am now a true convert to a certain type of tuna.  Bottom line is, I can pretty much eat anything that swims or crawls in the deep blue sea without worrying how it affects me.

Today is our 12th day on HHI, and thus far my seafood list stands at 11.  Not a bad list, but I've done better.  I think in years past I have had as many as 15.  I doubt I make that this year.  I am getting older and slowing down you know.

So the following is my list thus far, with a brief comment about each.

1.  Crab cakes - The place where I usually get crab cakes is pretty decent.  We try to go there for Sunday brunch and I get the crabcake eggs benedict.  It's much better than ham.  Their hollandaise sauce is good, but not near as good as Southern Grocery back home in Sheffield.

2. Fried calamari - A good appetizer dish that is made better by what they have to dip it in.  Marinara is always a crowd favorite

3. Fried shrimp - Marilyn can eat shrimp all day.  It is far and away her favorite seafood.  I like my fried shrimp very lightly breaded, and fortunately most of the establishments on HHI do exactly that.

4.  Peel and eat shrimp - Just what it says.  Peel the skin off, drag them through some cocktail sauce, and eat away.  

5. Mussels - I have really become a fan of mussels.  Most of the ones here in the Low Country come from the Canadian maritimes.  Doesn't matter, they are good, just pull them out of their shells, eat them plain or dip in a sauce.

6. Crayfish - When I was growing up back in Missouri, we called these crawdads.  They look just like miniature lobsters and they taste pretty good as well.  I am not a purist though.  I just eat the meat from the tails, I do not suck the brains out.  One strike against crawfish, that's a lot of work for just a little piece of meat.

7. Snow crab - I love, love, love snow crab.  Usually when served, you get one of those crushers, like you're cracking walnuts.  You also get a bowl of hot melted butter.  Can't you hear your arteries clogging just reading about it.  There are four claws with all the food inside.  Crack them open, use the tiny, tiny fork to get the white morsels of goodness out and dip in butter.  Then repeat.  The meat of the snow crab is so sweet.  Wish I had some in front of me right now

8.  Mahi-mahi - This is an ugly green fish with a yellowish head.  But it tastes so good.  Well, actually the taste is kind of plain, but it does a great job of absorbing the spices of whatever you are cooking it in.  You see mahi-mahi a lot in fish tacos.

9.  Grouper - There is a hole-in-the-wall restaurant here in HHI called "The Sea Shack", and it is just that.  The menu is written in different colored markers on a white board.  They get stuff fresh off the boats in the morning and cook it for lunch and dinner.  My favorite item they serve is the blackened grouper sandwich. (email me for a pic).  A nice slice of fish that has been grilled with all those blackening spices.  I usually ask for extra blackening.  Served on a roll with lettuce, tomato and onion, it is the best sandwich on the island.

10. Ahi tuna - I mentioned this earlier, I had some last Friday as tacos.  The steamed flour tortilla contained the ahi tuna, sashimi slaw, wasabi aioli, avocado and sesame seeds.  Oh. My. Goodness.

11.  Scallops - Scallops are just ok.  They taste somewhat like shrimp.  But they are my mom's favorite, so she makes me promise every time I go to the beach I will have some scallops for her.  Ok mom, I did.

Ok, my list of seafood on this trip to the beach.  There is still time for some gator or oysters, maybe some swordfish.  We will just have to see.  Thanks for reading,

A Tale of Two Pizzas

 It's eight o'clock on a Friday night on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  M and I arrived here yesterday and will be here for the next couple weeks enjoying the Low Country, one of the prettiest regions not only in the South, but the entire country.  No, the local chamber of commerce did not pay me to say that.

Normally when we are in this part of the world, my mind races to seafood.  What shall I have, where shall we go.  A few years back on a different two-week stay, I had 15 different types of seafood in 14 days.  Yes, 15!  I kept a list, and you thought I ate nothing but shrimp and oysters.  I know, I need serious professional help.

But for the purposes of this blog, we are going to leave seafood behind and visit another of our favorite foods.  Pizza.  More specifically, we are going to talk about two of my favorite pizza places.  Frank and Helen's in University City, Missouri and The Noble Fox in Loretto, Tennessee.

If you read this blog, you know a few days ago I wrote about my genealogy.  If you read between the lines, you realize I do not have any Italian blood in my DNA.  None.  Of course, when I cook something Italian at home, especially if M likes it, I stick an "I" on the end of my name and call myself "Daltoni."  That kind of sounds Italian doesn't it?

I honestly can't remember when we didn't eat pizza in our family.  Not often mind you, but maybe once or twice a month, we would go to one of our favorite pizzerias and pretend we were sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Torino.  (That's a story for another blog.)  Mom would even buy those Chef-Boy-R-Dee pizza and we would craft it and cook it at home.  It wasn't the same.  It never was.

During my early teen years, when it was a Church of Christ rule that you had to have a Sunday evening service, we would frequently go out for pizza after church, more often to Frank and Helen's on Olive Street Road in U City, which had been serving pizza since 1954, (Quick note, U City is where Nelly is from).  Sometimes it was just the four of us, Dad, mom, me and my brother Barry, or sometimes my parents' best friends, Don and Ann, along with Bob and Mona would go along with us.  At the time Don and Ann had one daughter, Paige, who loved to torment me and Barry.  Bob and Mona had three kids, two older sons, who were usually too busy doing other things to attend, and a daughter Lisa, who was a year younger than my brother.

When we arrived, we would push a table or two together.  The parents generally sat on one end and us four kids at the other end.  Another quick note, I know these things just come to me, I must be getting old.  Another bonus of going out for pizza was Barry and I would get to order a Coke.  That's Coke, not Pepsi.  Even on a school night we loaded up with sugar.

But back to the pizza.  

Like most St Louis pizza parlors some things were standard.  The pizza shells were thin.  Communion wafer thin.  The argument was, do you want to eat bread or toppings.  Made sense to me.  The sauce of course was always a deep red, slightly sweet and spicy at the same time.  Rarely were the kids entrusted to pick their own toppings.  We usually had to share a small (are you serious?) pepperoni pizza, but being the nice, angelic kids that we were, we gladly accepted whatever was ordered for us.

I almost forgot, the cheese.  For most of you, the cheese of choice, and this includes Miss M, is mozzarella.  A fine cheese, it does the job, but taste wise is nothing spectacular.  Another St. Louis tradition is provel cheese.  You will find most neighborhood pizza places only top their pizza with provel.  What in the world is provel you ask.  Well I'm glad you did.  Provel was invented in the 1940 s by a pizza owner in St. Louis who wanted a cheese with a clean bite (not stringy) and something that would melt well.  Provel is actually a hybrid.  It is a mixture of provolone, cheddar and swiss, and has a gooey, buttery flavor.  In a word, it is glorious.

When your pizza was done, it was brought to your table.  The first thing you notice is your pizza is cut into squares, not triangles.  Who says you can't do geometry while eating pizza.

When we got older, our church youth group would go there A LOT.  Seems like it was everybody's favorite place to go.  I also remember it was a good place to sit next to the girl you wanted to ask out, but were too shy to ask.  But again, that's another blog for another day.

Finally, I haven't lived in St Louis since 1995, but anytime I would go back, I would try to get to Frank and Helen's and I would not get aa small pepperoni.

Ok, let's move 370 miles or southeast to Loretto, Tennessee.  Our good friends, Jess and Kim Eastep (imagine, more church friends) live near the Alabama/Tennessee line and would go there on occasion.  Kim would post incredible pictures of their Artisan pizzas.  No plain pepperoni here.  The topping combinations must have been made up during a bad LSD trip.  Figs?  Goat cheese?  Wild honey?  Feta?  Ground lamb?  Buffalo sauce?  Spiced pears?  Spinach?  I think you can see where I am going.

We finally set a date with Jess and Kim and met them at this Holy Grail of pizza places.  I had no idea what to order, but when it comes to food, I can be adventurous, so I confidently ordered "The Noble Pie."  It had roasted tomatoes for a base, followed by piles of prosciutto, figs, yes figs, goat cheese, topped off with a hot honey drizzle.  

I am here to tell you that in my 67 trips around the sun, it was one of the best things I ever put in my mouth.  I'm serious.  I'm so serious, every time we went back, I ordered the same thing.  Nathan and Tara Jaynes would join on occasion as well, and the six of us woofed (Woofed, Noble Fox, get it?) down four or five or six pizzas.  There was rarely enough to take home.  We would make the 40-mile drive back to Tuscumbia very happy with full bellies.

I told you all of that to tell you this.  In the last five days, both of these establishments announced they were closing.  For good.  Frank and Helen's had been a St. Louis fixture for 70 years.  The Noble Fox had been in Loretto for only three or four.  Still it's stunning.  I was in St. Louis two weeks ago but did not go by.  They are closing in early December.  Maybe I'll get a chance to sneak back up.  I'm not sure about the Noble Fox.  They may already be closed.

No, I do not talk about food all the time, but there are times when you just have to.  Thank you, Frank and Helen's and Noble Fox, you have made this scribe very happy over the years, but this week, you've made him sad.