Space A adventure

So as I metioned in a previous post, Rowdy and I tried our hand at Space A flight. This is a one of the things Rowdy gets to take advantage of because of his job with the government. Basically, military bases pretty much everywhere have different missions that fligh in and out of the base. A lot of the time they are to ship cargo from place to place. Sometimes they are for refueling other planes and some are medical flights. Anyhow, quite often there are also a few, or sometimes a lot, of passenger seats open on these flights. Therefore, the military opens up these seats to people who are military and military retires and their dependants. Depending on your status and how long you have been on the flight list, you are eligible for a seat. It is a mystery to a lot of people, even military, because people are so scared to try it because it is unpredictable. If you are willing to be patient and flexible with your plans, it is well worth your trouble because flights are free (within the US, you do have to cover custom fees traveling internationally). As most of you know, Rowdy loves a good deal, so we decided to take a chance. We dropped the kids off in Twin Falls and we drove to Travis Airforce base which is about 30 minutes from San Fransisco. We loved it because we knew if we didn't get on a flight, we could have a fun trip to California. There were 2 flights on Sunday, which we didn't make it on. The next flight was on Monday night so we played in California all day Monday and got on the flight that night. They had a problem with the plane so the flight was delayed until Tuesday. We spent some time in Hawaii and then had no problem getting back when we were ready. We stayed right in the housing on the bases, so it made our trip very easy, cheap and fun. The flight was very cool. There were about 10 passengers that were flighing Space A, besides the 15 or so crew. The seats in the plane are backward facing. There are some just normal airline seats (about 20 on the flight we were on) and then there were cargo net seats up against the side of the plane. The crew we flew with were very laid back and fun. In fact, one of the flights, there were two boys, about 9 and 11, who got to do just about eveything the crew did. They wore the head gear and listened to all the crew. They got to hang out in the cockpit with the pilot during the flight and take a nap in the crews bunk beds. When the plane landed, they got to go to the hatch and look out while they were checking all the landing gear. It was awesome and someday I want to take our boys.