This morning Landon & I were playing in the living room. I had the Today Show on when our local news channel broke in to broadcast the arrival of President Bush in Oklahoma City. President Bush landed at Tinker Air Force Base & was only going to be in OKC for about four hours this morning. He was passing out a few awards, & raising money for the McCain Campaign at a luncheon in NE OKC. The media followed President Bush as he was escorts throughout the city & I noticed that there were people along the highway waiving to him as his brigade of cars passed by.
Around 11:00 am I thought I would take Landon up to the base in hopes to get a glimpse of President Bush driving by & to watch Air Force One take off. Out of all days, Jeff needed my camera. I ended up stopping at the store to buy a disposable camera, PLUS I picked up a few America Flags.
When I arrived at the base, I noticed several people sitting out in front of Oklahoma Welcome Center which is directly in front of Tinker A.F.B. AND to top it off, there is a playgroup next to the welcome center. It was perfect! Landon played on the playground while we waited for President Bush to drive by. You couldn't park on the same street as the base. There were police officers & fire fighters lined up all long the access road.
Around one o'clock the east bound lane on I-40 had stopped, & moments later, here came nearly 30 police motorcylce officers, 3 black limousines waiving the American Flag, tailed by several police cars, white SUV's, & EMSA. There's an 8 foot fence that protects the park from the passing cars on the hwy, so I handed Landon the American Flags that I purchased this morning, & we ran up to the fence to waive at President Bush as he drove by. Landon waved his flags & shouted out "Hi President Bush!" hahahaha! He was so precious.
We walked back to the other end of the welcome center & a few moments later, Air Force One took off. The plane was off in the distance, but there's no mistaking what plane was taking off...Air Force One is massive!
One of my memories of growing up in Wichita involves the Air Force One. Obviously Wichita is known for it's aircraft, & when I was in grade school & part of junior high, Boeing was building the current Air Force One back in the late 80's. Before it was painted, the plane's steel was like a mirror & it was green! Air Force One would do touch & go's over Wichita. It would start out at McConnell A.F.B. & land at Wichita's, Mid-Continent airport. My grade school was close to the airport & I can still remember playing outside during recess & watching Air Force One fly over our school's playground. The plane was fairly low to the ground because it was approaching the airport, & I remember my school mates & I could see ourselves (like looking into a mirror) from the mirror-like steel on the Air Force One, expect we were green. hahahaha!
I told Landon today that his Great Grandpa John, & his Mr. Randy (my dad) helped build Air Force One. He looked a little puzzled when I told him that. hahahaha!
One the way home Landon kept asking me repeatedly, "Where did President Bush go?" hahaha!
I look forward to sharing with Landon when he gets older, that when he was 2 years old, he waved at an American President.
Pictures will follow soon....
fw:re:
13 years ago
1 comment:
Mr Landon,
When NeeNee was 10 (on her 10th B-Day) President Johnson's plane flew over my house in Derby. Now we have something else in common.
Love you,
NeeNee
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