As we travel the country we get little vignettes of life in many geographic regions. One of the more real-life differences between places is the food. In Yankton, South Dakota we discovered "chislic" (sheep butt on a stick) and in Maine it was all about lobsters. In Philadelphia, the town where I was born and raised, the food has a very personal meaning.
Philadelphia is the home of the Philly cheese steak sandwich, with sauce. There is no sandwich in the universe which can compare, and it seems that it can be made properly only in Philadelphia. Today I had the chance to sample a real life Philly cheese steak sandwich with sauce and it was sublime. Although I almost never eat red meat, this was an exception. This was not eating meat as much as it was a trip down memory lane.
Another great Philadelphia treat is TastyKake cakes and pies. These have been a Philly tradition for as long as I can remember. When I was a paperboy I would park my Schwinn in front of the corner grocery store after a long day of delivering papers, and spend my earnings devouring TastyKake Jelly Krimpets, Butterscotch Krimpets, Chocolate Cupcakes, and several bottles of Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink, and some Dad's Root Beer. The best part was the TastyKakes, and they are just not available outside the Philadelphia area. As soon as I got to Philly, I raced to the nearest 7/11 and bought a bag full of them.
Tomorrow I'll get one of those giant soft pretzels that you buy from anonymous strangers on street corners while your car is stopped at a red light. Warm and salty, with lots of mustard. Yum. And I'm still looking for a proper bowl of snapper soup. This stuff is patented Philly Phood, and you haven't experienced Philadelphia if you haven't tried it.
The weather today was the same as yesterday. Unflyably hazy, foggy, low ceilings, very humid, calm air. The kind of weather that forced man to invent air conditioning. (Not available in open-cockpit biplanes!)
What do biplane pilots do when they are stuck on the ground? Go visit airports, naturally. We drove up to the Willow Grove Naval Air Station and viewed the vintage warbirds they have on display for the public. It is mind-boggling to contemplate the incredible diversity of aircraft that have been built and flown in the US. One of the more extraordinary ones sits just inside the fence at Willow Grove: the Sea Dart, a Navy mach 1.0 jet powered delta wing seaplane. It didn't have floats, it had retractable skis! Five were built in the early Fifties. Only three were flown. What a great rush it must have been to take off and land at jet speeds, on the open sea!
Later, we spent some time looking over the new JVC digital video camera, which is almost small enough to fit in your pocket. I'm looking for a way to take pictures and upload them to the Web site (http://www.etal.com) on a daily basis. If I use this camera I can take stills as well as video, but need some special hardware on my laptop which would have to be special ordered and sent to me..... where? I never know where I'm going to be from one day to the next. Another choice is to forego the video option and get a digital camera that takes stills only. I understand that the camera comes with all the stuff, including software, that I need to upload pix to the web site.
So here's the question: Would you visit the Web site if you knew there were current pictures there? Would you prefer to have a picture as an "attachment" to your emails? Do you have any experience with digital cameras and the process of taking pictures and using them on a website? If so, I sure would like to know about your suggestions for how to do this the best way.
Another thing you could do to make this a more enjoyable trip for you and for me is to take a moment to send me an email from time to time. It could be about anything that seems appropriate.... suggestions on where to go, what to see, places to stay, the people, the food, whatever. It would be even better to hear about your personal experiences in some of the places we have been, or will be visiting.
Many people have made the suggestion that these emails could be made into a book, and I have received many email replies from people who have shared their experiences in some of these places we visited. Many of these stories are so good that I would like to include them into the book. In any case, it would be good to hear from you so that we have something to read during those long hours on the ground when the weather is yucky and I start getting thoughts of the clear skies over California, and consider turning west.
Thunderstorms are heading into the Philadelphia area tonight. High winds and possible hail. The planes are parked on the ramp, unprotected. The hangars are full. The biplanes are especially vulnerable to hail, which can easily pierce the delicate fabric covered wings and fuselage. Tonight I will not sleep well.
:(