Pensacola Ride

On Friday, May 18, I got an early start for Pensacola, Florida.

Fwy 65 runs from Chicago to Mobile, AL, and I made good time on this road. Just south of Montgomery I passed a large Hyundai assembly plant. Alabama has attracted a good deal of manufacturing in the last 15 years or so by offering attractive taxation, having generally non-union labor, and by working with manufacturers on acceptable environmental standards.

South of Montgomery the hills flattened out, and by the time I crossed into Florida, there was only a gentle roll to the terrain. The deciduous trees gave way to tall, skinny Sugar Pines, and the dreaded Kudzu Vine became more evident. This prolific vine, with larger leaves than a Morning Glory, spreads aggressively through out the South, covering the ground and strangling trees. Its leaves are edible both raw and cooked, so one is never far from salad fixings. Most people, however, would gladly do without its presence.

Due north of Pensacola, I turned south on Hwy 113/29 and did the last sixty miles into this beautiful city on the Gulf of Mexico. Pensacola is one of the earliest European settlements in North America. Its Escambia Bay is nearly the size of San Francisco Bay, and numerous other small bays and estuaries penetrate its shoreline. The movement of wind and water has created a line of off-shore Gulf islands which lie just off the mainland. The water between the mainland and these off-shore islands creats a protected Inter-coastal Waterway. Where the waterway did not exist, the Corps of Engineers dredged a canal, making barge commerce viable throughout Florida and up the East Coast of the United States. Pensacola was a beneficiary of this waterway, and with its natural protected harbors, became important for both shipping and Naval operations.

Not only did I do much of my Navy officer and flight training in Pensacola, after my first sea tour, I returned with my new bride, Pat, as a flight instructor at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. It was a great place to start a marriage. We had good friends and with all the sugar white beaches and ample camp grounds in Florida and Alabama, the time went quickly. Pat is a nurse and she enjoyed working in the children's unit of Sacred Heart Hospital.

So, as I rode into Pensacola, my head was on a swivel as I saw many familiar sights. I was actually surprised at how much the city had not changed in the last twenty years. I rode the Pensacola Bay Bridge, a five mile bridge, across Escambia Bay to Santa Rosa Island and then on out to Pensacola Beach. I counted about ten high rise hotels on the beach, less than I was expecting. Again, I was pleased that Pensacola Beach seemed much the same.

The sand in this part of Florida has a very high silica content and it is as white as sugar. When I rode up to the Best Western Hotel, where the reunion activities would take place, I was refreshed to again see the white sand and turquoise water. Almost immediately I saw a dolphin leap clear of the water, spin, and plunge back in.

Most of my time in the Navy was spent flying the A-3 Skywarrior, the largest jet aircraft to fly off of aircraft carriers. This reunion brought together pilots, navigators and crewmen who had flown this airplane. It was a relatively small community, as each carrier only carried three A-3s. It is fair to say the the A-3 was the hardest aircraft to bring aboard. Its wing span was nearly as long as a Boeing 737, and on the smaller carriers, there was only 30 feet between the wing tips and the planes parked along side the landing area. With a jet engine hanging under each wing, there was always some asymmetrical thrust, so lining up with the center-line was critical and required the most focused attention. The plane's length also meant that the hook was closer to the ramp at the back of the ship, so being on glide slope, always important, required even closer tolerances with the A-3. The plane was the heaviest to come aboard, and landing a bit fast would pull the arresting wire beyond its limits causing it to snap, with usually fatal results. When the A-3s came aboard, it was not unusual to see off-duty sailors up on vultures row, enjoying the spectacle. I did two major cruises in the A-3 on the USS America and the USS Forestall. Later I did a cruise aboard the USS Nimitz in S-3 Vikings. Over the years, I got landing qualifications on nearly all the Navy's carriers. (See several pages of pictures here: http://www.a3skywarrior.com/photos13.htm )

Of the 167 who came to the reunion there were about a dozen I had worked with, some very closely. As you can imagine, many good stories were told over the weekend. We spent much of Saturday in the National Naval Aviation Museum, a first rate museum containing perhaps 60 fully restored Navy airplanes and much other memorabilia.

On Sunday, I retraced my path to Doug and Jojo's house in Jacksonville, Alabama. The first half of my Pensacola ride is over. I'll return in mid-September to work my way back to Anacortes, WA. My plan is to go up the east side of the Smokey Mountains, cut over to Chicago and Minneapolis, and then head west, either through Montana or Canada.

Many thanks to those of you who hosted me along the way. I really enjoyed each of those visits. It was much of the reason that I decided to do this ride.