Theres gold in them there hills......

Today was a better day. No admin! I say no admin, what I meant was none for me. Lyn spent the best part of the morning trying to get reconnected to the Virgin phone network after two months away. Anyway, still no connection.

Yesterday I drove to the local airport of Vernon, a place which 13 years ago was my place of employment and pleasure. There I got chatting over a coffee with one of the many old fellas hanging about the flying clubhouse. His name was Ginter or Kermit or some suchlike name suggesting a European heritage from way back but I found him gushing with knowledge on almost every subject I threw at him. 

He told me all about disused gold mines in the area which I found rather exciting and suggested I return in the morning for an aerial tour of said secret locations. 

I presented myself at 9am, strapped myself into his rather small Vans RV 7 and off we jolly well went!  The commentary was endless, all manner of facts from how much gold had been extracted to how many Chinese labourers had been killed in the process some 100 years ago. Bearing in mind we were flying at about 10,000 feet above sea level but were in the mountains at about 100 feet above the ground!  A bit too low for my liking. However, amongst the carpet of trees I did manage to see some evidence of said mine workings and a bear. Herman the German did say that although these mines were a secret, he felt happy in the knowledge I would never be able to find them again should I feel the need to. I think he was probably right.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, a demonstration of how well the plane could climb, a few stalls and spins, well away from the mountains I might add then back to the airport for more coffee and chitter chatter. All in all, a bleddy good mornings work leaving me feeling maybe I ought to fly again, after all, I still have my Canadian licence, shame to waste it........no way says Lyn!