More Flying Stories

1974 while in the USAF as an Air Traffic Controller, I had the opportunity to fly on a KC-135 Air Refuel Tanker during a refuel mission for a B-52 and 2 F-106's. Here are some of the pictures I took of the B-52 during that flight.

Blog History and Summary

Blog History

I started writing my blogs for several reasons.

#1       For as long as I can remember, until my dad passed away in 2015, he would tell me stories of his childhood during the depression and especially about his time in the Navy during World War II. He was a diesel mechanic on submarines in the Pacific against Japan and was on 8 war patrols based out of Perth, Australia. His war patrols were all over the area around the Philippines and even Japan. I heard these stories so many times they feel like I lived them. I’ll write some blogs about his war adventures sometime in the future.

#2       I have 4 kids that are although they are adults, probably have very little memories of their fathers adventures (and mis-adventures). This is probably due to the fact that most of my adventures happened after they were young adults and moved on to start their own lives. This is my way to pass my stories on to my kids.

#3       I use my Blogs to share pictures and details of my adventures with my friends who have similar interests.

You will find that my Blogs (stories) jump around several different subjects; i.e. airplanes, sailing, white water rafting, motorcycles, etc. I’ve lived a pretty interesting life and over the years I would live through events that eventually became a story I would tell to friends and family. In fact, I listed all of these events one day and they numbered well over 100 stories. Most would not be very interesting to everyone but surprisingly (to me anyway) many are entertaining to my blog readers. At last count I’ve had over half a million blog views so maybe they’re not entirely boring. BTW I have been accused of being too “wordy” so you have been warned.

My blogs are based on my real world experiences and I have taken special care to provide details that are accurate and truthful although my wife says I embellish my stories occasionally to make them more entertaining. I do provide comments occasionally of what I was thinking at the time or my interpretation of the events so that could be considered embellishment I guess.

Blog Summary

I have at last count 24 blogs that are listed below. As I add new blogs I will add to this list. I’ve also included a short summary of what the blog is about so you can decide if it has any interest to you. My blog address is the same for all the blogs with the only difference being the 3 digit number; i.e. rvrrunner-000.blogspot.com.

Rvrrunner-001.blogspot.com – General information for all my blogs

Rvrrunner-002.blogspot.com – Greenland Story. I spent a year above the Arctic Circle in Greenland while in the Air Force and this is some details about that experience.

Rvrrunner-003.blogspot.com – Greenland Story 2. This describes a close call I had while flying a private airplane in Greenland.

Rvrrunner-004.blogspot.com – Airplane Story 1. This describes a mid-air collision I witnessed (no one got seriously injured). I’ve actually seen 2 mid-air collisions and the 2^nd one did not turn out well for the pilots. I wrote about this in Blog 016.

Rvrrunner-005.blogspot.com – Sailing Story 1. My experiences while sailing a 42 ft sailboat to the Bahamas.

Rvrrunner-006.blogspot.com – Airplane Story 2. My experiences while flying a 1938 J-3 Cub airplane to the biggest airshow in the world; Oshkosh, WI.

Rvrrunner-007.blogspot.com – Airplane Story 3. The story of rebuilding my 1946 Cessna 120 that was damaged by a falling hanger during a tornado.

Rvrrunner-008.blogspot.com – Airplane Story 4. How I taught myself how to fly aerobatics in my rebuilt Cessna 120. Flying a WWII Spitfire from Biggin Hill Airfield, UK 2025.

Rvrrunner-009.blogspot.com – Air Force 1. My interaction with Air Force 1 while flying my Cessna 120.

Rvrrunner-010.blogspot.com – Alaska 2012 Motorcycle Trip (AK1). One of several blogs on my trip (or attempted trip) to Alaska on a motorcycle.

Rvrrunner-011.blogspot.com – Alaska 2014 Motorcycle Trip (AK2)

Rvrrunner-012.blogspot.com – Middle Fork of the Salmon River Raft Trip. My adventures oar-rafting one of the premier white water rivers in the world which is in Idaho, USA.

Rvrrunner-013.blogspot.com – Misc River Trips. Details on several other white water river trips.

Rvrrunner-014.blogspot.com – Grand Canyon 2010 Trip Report. Details and lots of pictures of our Grand Canyon rafting trip.

Rvrrunner-015.blogspot.com – Sailing Story 37 ft Ketch. My adventures helping shuttle a 37 ft sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rvrrunner-016.blogspot.com – Air Traffic Control Stories. Several stories about my time as a USAF and FAA Air Traffic Controller. 2nd Mid-Air. ATC strike.

Rvrrunner-017.blogspot.com – AK2 Motorcycle Trip to Alaska 2014. Details on my finally successful trip to Alaska and on to the Arctic Circle.

Rvrrunner-018.blogspot.com – C-130 Simulator. A short story about the flight simulators I supported for over 30 years.

Rvrrunner-019.blogspot.com – Trans-America Trail (TAT) 2016. One of several blogs on my coast to coast ride on a dual-sport dirt bike.

Rvrrunner-020.blogspot.com – TAT 2017

Rvrrunner-021.blogspot.com – TAT 2018

Rvrrunner-022.blogspot.com – TAT 2020

Rvrrunner-023.blogspot.com - Mike & Liz 2019 Adventures

Rvrrunner-024.blogspot.com - Flying stories.

Disclaimer – I’m sure this appears to be stories all about me in my attempt to brag or appear like some great adventurer. This is far from the fact, I’ve just always been drawn to the unusual endeavors. I have no bucket list because I’ve always done everything I’ve found interesting. Enjoy!

General Information

Hi, I'm Mike Stanley. I'm starting this Blog to capture events in my life I would like to share with my friends and family. I am also using this Blog to post my future adventures with my wife Liz. Hope you enjoy them.