II don't remember my score...

It was the perfect fall day when our friend Klaus planned on flying us to Palm Desert on a four passenger awesome propeller driven airplane he had bought a few weeks before… not a jet like you might see these days… it was going to be an outstanding day of golf, and flying there and back in a matter of minutes was a heck of a lot better than driving two hours each way…he was a landscape contractor with a lucrative business and he frequently flew to the desert to oversee his projects, some of which our firm had designed…There would be a total of four of us, forty-ish old guys at the time, four good golf friends …we played golf, ate, laughed and traveled together on golfing vacations, but we’d never gone together before on a private plane…

I’m not a big fan of flying even though I had flown on private planes several times before with clients and even once with Klaus when I had flown commercial to Stockton but flew back to Fullerton with him from there…I had flown there to oversee the installation his company had completed on one of our projects ..

That day he planned to land at Fullerton airport, which is not the keenest or safest place to land because there is no tower there, no radio contact with flight controllers, only a wind-sock to show wind direction… a freaken wind-sock!!! had I know before about the restrictions at Fullerton airport I might have taken Air Cal back to Orange County airport but I reluctantly accepted the ride; even landing after sunset was not permitted…after Klaus made a few passes around the airport looking for other approaching aircraft we landed on a super short landing strip that ended a few feet from Commonwealth Avenue…all the while Klaus was laughing like the Red Baron…I had forgotten he lived in Fullerton and this was his home airport…

We met at Orange County airport…in those days it was a small airport that had been a drag strip in the 50’s… Klaus’ plane was parked near other private planes and after loading our golf clubs he had us walk around the plane with him checking tires, the wings and I suppose, propellers and flaps which all seemed to be in the right places…we had been instructed to pack lightly as he said he’d never flown with four guys and their clubs before and didn’t want to overload the plane…not a good feeling…we hoped he was kidding…he even had told us to bring as few golf balls as possible even though we were going to play at a course called the Lakes…most guys carry at least a dozen balls when they play…did you know golf balls are like eggs and you have to buy a dozen every week? We settled on six each and knew we could always borrow some or buy more at the course that day…

The flight was semi-uneventful except for the portion of the flight over the mountains near Palm Springs but it was bumpy and spooky…the Red Baron laughed a lot that day...we all did...I don't recall what anyone shot that day but I know it wasn't close to par...we don't remember scores when we don't break 80...