Pilot's Blog

The disk replacement performed on my cervical spine last November helped alleviate my neck and shoulder pain which really bothered me when running or bike riding, but after several months it became apparent that my injuries extended to my right rotator cuff. Yesterday Dr. Azevedo repaired my superspinadus, and today my right arm is completely immobilized. It took me several minutes to type this with my one good hand.

i feel pretty confident that after this heals I will be through with my little chronic pain issues. Then I can double my focus on this family.

Our kids have been having great times with the summer finally here. Carter survived his graduation ceremony and the all night "Safe and Sober" party. I helped out for the first few hours. It was actually quite lavish, as the committee has raised and spent $17,000 on the occasion for about 70 kids. The following Sunday a party was held at our home in Carter's honor. It was outdoors and the weather was spectacular.

Zoe graduated from Pre-school and is ready to begin Kindergarten in August. She is looking to be a very artistic person. Teddy is healthy and strong, but unfortunately has been suffering from the deep emotional swings associated with his tender age. The other kids went through the same stage, so that helps mom and dad not to worry too much.

And then there is Daisy. A heart stealing, hard working, long eye-lashed 10 1/2 month old angel. I will post a video of her within the next two days so you can see just how far she has come.

A little business is better than none at all, and after the worst drought since I started flying for hire, I picked up a couple of nice flights this week. My regular customers must be experiencing a financial pinch, and they have passed that pinch on to me.

My first trip had me picking up three passengers in Chico in the pre-dawn light, flying down the Great Valley to Fresno to drop off two of the three. The third passenger was from Argentina and had business in San Diego before flying back to Buenos Aires, so while the other two attended a meeting, I brought him to Montgomery Field in San Diego.

The first leg was easy, but heading over the mountains into the LA Basin would be a bit more complicated. What SoCal folks call the "June Gloom" had descended upon the South Coast, a thick layer of stratus clouds that forms over the still cold waters of the Pacific, and then blows inland on the sea breeze. I was hoping the clouds would clear out before our 11:00 am arrival, but as we swept down the coastal lowlands towards the Mexican Border at 5,000 feet, a thick blanket of white obscured most of the urban areas, leaving the hills to the east in the clear.

I requested from ATC a clearance to perform an ILS approach into Montgomery Field, which is located a couple miles north of San Diego State University (SDSU.) This would allow me to descend safely though the clouds on a direct approach to the runway. The controller complied and gave me vectors (direction) to start the procedure. He handed me off to another controller in a sector closer in to the city, and this frequency was very busy. I struggled just to get enough airtime to check in with her, and she asked me to turn and fly a couple circles over an area east of the cloud layer. I began circling, and after about 10 circles I began to get concerned about my fuel supply.

The controller was still busy directing other, larger airplanes and had not spoken to me in several minutes. I called and let her know that I had 30 minutes of fuel aboard. She snidely told me that she would get me down in about 25 minutes. Okay, time for Plan B. The weather at the airport was 1400' overcast, which meant there was ample room to fly around underneath the clouds. I checked my chart for obstacles, and noticed that Interstate 8 was just beneath me. I called and cancelled my clearance, and told the controller I would proceed VFR under the layer. I dropped down to 1200 feet and followed the Interstate under the clouds. Using the GPS and visual checkpoints, I lined up and called the tower, and they immediately cleared me to land.

As we set up to land, I noticed SDSU, where Carter will be enrolled in the fall, passing off the left side. After landing, my Argentine passenger was amazed and thankful as he raved to his friend on the ground how I had circumvented the long wait. All in a day's work.

I bought fuel and quickly returned to Fresno to take the other two passengers back to Chico. A great day of flying.

Today I am standing by in Visalia on another charter. Hopefully I can stay busy this summer. It seems that I really only find time to write when away from home. I wonder why? (4 kids, 3 under 6 years old, and a wife working full time)

This past weekend was a busy one. We had a party at our home to celebrate both Zoe's (Now 5) and Teddy's (Now 3) birthdays! Before Daisy was born, we were pretty consistent in entertaining our friends and family, but this year we have just been too overwhelmed to be having parties. So it almost felt like a statement..."We are back!"

There were lots of kids there and several friends we haven't seen lately. The weather was hot, so it became a swim party. I played kid songs on my guitar and we had some games, then later we cooked out and broke out the wine and beer.

I also ran another foot race this weekend. It was a last minute decision, but I signed up for the Masters (over 40) 4 Mile Race. The weather was hot, but I endured and turned in a respectable time of 29 minutes, 13 seconds, coming in 13th out of 62 runners.

A small town 5K run is the perfect place for your first foot race. My nephew, Andrew (15) and I signed up and took the starting line this morning for the Willows Lamb Derby Run. It was Andrew's first ever race, but he is a naturally great athlete, so I knew he would do well.

I asked him what pace he wanted to run for the 3.1 miles. He gave me a puzzled look. I told him I wanted to try to keep a 7 minute-per-mile pace, and he said "Oh. Okay. Yeah, I think I can do that." We took a jog around the block to warm up.

I pointed out a woman in her 30s, wearing black knickers, that I recognized from running the race the year before, "She is pretty fast, if we can hang with her we will be under 22 minutes." And so our strategy was set. Little did this poor woman know that we had placed a target on her back.

The whistle blew and we were off. Black Knickers set out at a quick pace, and I soon began to wonder if it was too fast for me. Andrew seemed fine, and as our breathing settled in, I found I was okay. We paced along a few lengths behind her for the first two miles, then Andrew slowly pulled by her, while I held back. With about a half mile to go, her pace seemed to slow ever so slightly and I passed her. Another block and felt my shoe loosen. I looked down to see my shoe lace whipping around. Dang! Quickly as I could, I stopped, tied, and set out again, but now Black Knickers was at least 30 yards ahead of me!

Meanwhile, Andrew was just barely holding his lead. By now, I could feel my heart was near it's maximum rate and my breathing was deep. Closing the gap seemed unlikely, but I was able to keep it from widening further. Finally, we turned the corner for the two block home stretch. I picked up the pace and saw the gap slowly close. "Maybe she is hurting. Maybe she can't keep it up!" But no, just as I got close enough to read her shirt, she kicked it in and pulled away again, trying to catch Andrew.

Andrew crossed the line in 4th place, Black Knickers in 5th, and I in 6th, with a time of 20 minutes, 55 seconds, a personal best for me.

Sara and I made the trip together with Daisy to Palo Alto this week for her follow up appointment with Dr. Enns, her geneticist. Last time we had seen him, in early December, he gave us pretty grim news about the lipid storage abnormality they had found in Daisy's muscle tissue.

I think when he and another geneticist walked in to the room, after reviewing the file, they expected to find a floppy 9 month old with poor motor skills. Instead they found her sitting up, smiling and cooiing, eating Cheerios and reaching for everything in sight. Dr. Enns' eyes lit up as he interacted with Daisy, checking her development. He told us that only one other patient with a similar malady had done this well that he could remember. He felt that whatever deficiency she had been suffering from, she seemed to be "growing out of it." This was not something that he had found to be common.

Dr. Enns said he couldn't explain it. I asked him, "What about prayer and love?"

I flew over to Shelter Cove recently for a couple days with my two sons, Carter (almost 18) and Teddy (almost 3.) Due to Daisy's condition and all the other craziness of life we have not been able to utilize our dreamy getaway very much. It's a bit frustrating, but I know that as the kids get older spending time out there will be more and more priceless.

We had great weather for the 45 minute flight over the coast range to the Pacific. I plotted a course through the Mendocino Pass on the GPS, which allowed us to only have to climb to 6500 feet. After takeoff, I handed over the controls to Carter, offering him the challenge of holding the heading and airspeed, climbing to the correct altitude, leveling off, and then following the plotted course to our destination. Carter is a stickler for precision, and that trait lent itself well to the task. There was still a little snow on the moutains above 7000 feet, but spring was evident in the lower hills as we gently slid through the pass. With slightly sweaty palms, I coached him through the descent and approach to the runway, managing only the power output myself. He was able to take the airplane to within about 10 feet of the ground, then I took over for the flair. Might be time to buy him a few lessons.

The three Knowles men got settled into the cabin, a short walk from the airfield, We fired up the old Suzuki Samurai I keep in the garage, got the lawn mower out, and while Teddy played with Trucks, Carter mowed the lawn and I changed the oil and filters in the rusty Samurai.

With our work done, we set out for 9 holes of golf-by-the-sea. I brought along a running stroller in case Teddy got tired or cold, but he walked (or ran) most of the course. After the golf, we scoured the freezer for an entree, and to our delight found two big filet mignon steaks that our friends had left behind last summer. I knew there was some good stuff in there, but this was even better than I had expected! Carter broke out the Weber grill and found some dry charcoal, and we were in heaven. It is such a joy to have a big kid. After working so hard to set up the little ones, it is such a relief to have the extra help, pulling his own weight and more. After putting Teddy to bed with a full tummy and a good book, we started a fire and played scrabble until our eyes got heavy.

The next day turned out spectacular and we headed down to the beach early to take advantage of the low tide. One of the beaches at Shelter Cove is legal to drive on, but is only accessible during low tide. We drove out to a sunny, cliff protected spot. The waves were small, but with little wind they were rolling out nicely, so I dawned a wetsuit and boogie board and gave it a shot while Teddy played in the sand and Carter stretched out in the sun and read a book.

Chico has a very popular 100 mile bicycle ride called the Wildflower Century. I have ridden it many times, but missed it last year due to the herniated disk in my neck which had been getting worse over the years. If you read my blog, you'll remember that I had surgery back in November to correct the problem.

I haven't been doing much riding, but a friend and I decided to do the "metric century" option. This is cool way to say we opted for the shorter, 65 mile route. The weather, as has been the rule here in NorCal this spring, was spectacular. Somewhere around 4000 people participated. It was great to get out and spin my legs and to see all the other riders from up and down the west coast.

Today my neck is feeling a bit stiff. There must be some residual scar tissue in there.

I realize that many people have followed this blog because of Daisy. So here she is, in all her glory. Since her last hospital stay in February she has been able to fight off two cold viruses on her own! She now sits and plays and giggles and is even saying mama and dada. Her gross motor weakness seems to be less of a factor all the time.

Sara and I put all the little ones to bed just a little while ago, and after a brilliant spring day with the kids, we contemplated the challenges of the past year. We both agree that no matter how it had panned out, the experience would have been a blessing. But then again, it sure is turning out better than I ever expected. Daisy is a living miracle and she brings grace to this family in a way I can't describe. It's in the way all the kids from 17 year old Carter to 5 year old Zoe to almost 3 year old Teddy cherish her. It's in the way perfect strangers pray for us and people we know through our church or our daily travels ask about her.

These days when I take her out and about, naturally certain people are drawn to cute babies. No longer do I feel the need to tell her story, to explain why she is small for her age, why she has those tubes. I just let her bright eyes do their magic and let her spread a little joy.

If there is anyone still paying attention, I lost access to my blog account and it has taken me a while to get it straightened out. I apologize to anyone who may have been checking in and finding nothing new to read.

Life has been chugging right along. Sara has stepped up her work schedule as my flight bookings have dwindled. Ever since the crash I mentioned in my last writing, my phone has gone completely dead. At this point I am seriously thinking about discontinuing the air charter business. I was building up a decent clientele, but many of those folks have cut back or completely stopped flying.

We have done some fun personal flying lately. We loaded up the whole family, all six of us, for a trip down to San Diego County for spring break. Our destination was a private airstrip called Pauma Valley Airpark, which is very near my sister's home in Valley Center, California. It is a beautiful citrus and avocado growing region about an hour's drive from San Diego.

The flight from Chico usually takes about 3 1/2 hours, but the day of our flight brought brisk north winds, tail winds, to our flight. We climbed up to 11,000 feet to find tail winds in excess of 70 mph helping us along. The GPS on board was clocking our ground speed at just over 225 mph, which reduced our flight time to 2 hours, 35 minutes, and our total fuel burn was less than 35 gallons. That sure beats an 11 hour drive. We arrived to a waiting Ford Expedition to load our kids and stuff into for the 10 minute drive to the Myer's Ranch. We made the flight in the afternoon, which made for a nice sleep for all three little ones, and Daisy was breathing easy all the way.

We enjoyed our time at Myer's Ranch (My sister's place.) My nephew, Max (18), has a beautiful horse named Heavy, and Heavy was gentle enough for Zoe and Teddy to take a ride with Max. After a nice visit with Jennie and Scott, and a pleasant morning run through the orange groves with my niece Maddy (14), we all loaded into a borrowed motorhome and drove down to Mission Bay for a little "camping." We hooked up at Campland by the Bay, complete with beach, heated pool, general store and a whole lot more. We enjoyed the heated pool and hot tubs, but what we were really after was the proximity to the Zoo and Legoland!

This was really the first theme park experience for our little ones. Neither Sara nor I like crowds, but this was an excellent way to introduce them to the experience without going completely overboard. We brought the motorhome to Legoland, and it turned out to be a great decision. The RV parking was only $5 more, and it was very convenient to the entrance so we were able to have lunch, dinner and naps while enjoying the park. Legoland is great for kids under 8 years old, which fit the bill for us just fine.

The Zoo in San Diego is legendary. We had beautiful weather, which perhaps explains why all the large animals were asleep in their caves. Nevertheless it is a great place to spend the day.

Another reason for the trip was to visit San Diego State University. Carter has been accepted, and after visiting the campus, has decided to attend! I don't blame him. After checking out the place I must admit I had a tinge of jealousy. What an exciting time in his life. I am so proud of my oldest boy. He has his head screwed on straight and he is going to learn and experience so much in the next few years.

I'll try to get back into the writing and posting. If you want to hear about anything specific, please make a comment.