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Here I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international mushroom consultants. MEMOIRS about husband Pieter Vedder, who was a SCIENTIFIC PIONEER in Commercial Mushroom Cultivation Education. His practical handbook is in 9 languages and is called the MUSHROOM BIBLE: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2020/08/modern-mushroom-growing-2020-harvesting.html

Friday, June 11, 2021

Yep, both of us have been TRUE DARE DEVILS!

 On January 18, 1994 we just had come home from India, the previous day at 16:00 o'clock after two weeks of consulting work there, see link below: My 4th Consulting Trip to India after HUGE Landslide.
Guess we were getting some serious DANGER TRAINING...
We drove to the Atlanta airport on the 18th by 13:15 but there was no flight to Philadelphia because the airport was covered in ice and snow. We had to do another training seminar for mushroom growers as a courtesy of Full House from Campbell Soup.
So we slept at the airport Sheraton in Atlanta...
On January 19, at 7:00 we flew to Philadelphia but our flight to Reading got cancelled; the weather was too bad!
We called back and forth with Jack McDaniel from Full House and he directed us to a special phone within the airport, that connected us to a private pilot with whom he'd already arranged to fly us in a small Piper Cub to Reading...
Remember, there was NO INTERNET YET!
The pilot handed us his card (see above) and he assured us that this small plane was safer to fly, due to absolute no ice on its wings as it stood inside Hangar # 1.
There we went with a small Piper Cub, the three of us, including the pilot, who must be some kind of a stuntman for daring to fly.
The sight of a totally white Pennsylvania beneath us, gave us a sense of hyperbolically not being right in the head...!
We made it down, rough and bumpy on the ice and in the snow. 
Tom Richard, Jack's colleague was there to meet us and he helped us with our carry on; that's all we had, over a mount of frozen snow that got pushed to the side. That's how we made it into his car.
Bitter cold and mirror smooth roads with ice and snow!
We made it JIT = Just In Time for our Full House Seminar for Campbell Soup.
A number of participants could not make it, coming from Canada or else.
January 20, we continued with our seminar at Kenneth Square, riding with Tom Richard over still icy roads!
We also met with Juan Carlos Fuentes, one of the Monteblanco staff in México, he'd flown in earlier, and didn't face these severe weather problems.
My Quality Picking demonstration at the South Mill mushroom farm for 11:00 got cancelled due to being unreachable because of too slippery roads.
Pieter gave his Grower Workshop from 13:00 - 17:00 at the Red Rose Inn, Jennersville, PA.
Followed by a buffet and Tom Richard did drop us both off at the Piladelphia airport where we spent the night at the Holiday Inn.
January 21, Indeed a very short night as we had a 7:00 flight back to Atlanta. How convenient for traveling only with carry on! Then our 2.5 hour drive home...
On January 22, we again went to Atlanta with our carry on (changed of course!) for our next flight to Amsterdam, Manchester UK and then Dublin, Ireland.
 Often certain connections were cheaper.
Our landing in Manchester got disrupted due to an aircraft being on the runway!
Almost touch down and then steeply up again; there was a moment of absolute silence...
Such an alert pilot!
With this manoeuvre however, we had missed our Air Lingus flight to Dublin, Ireland.
Just waiting FOUR hours till the next available flight.
BUT, recalling the Tenerife runway collision where 583 lives were lost; we felt grateful!

Related posts:
My 4th Consulting Trip to India after HUGE Landslide | We just were home 1 day from this trip...!
Red Rose Inn | The Historic Red Rose Inn being restored thanks to Jim from The Road to Parnassus for this happy update!

22 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Cara Olga,
      Grazie e anche tutti voi buon fine settimana!
      Abbracci,
      Mariette

      Delete
  2. Hello Mariette, Even all these years later, your and Pieter's adventures with the airplane flights are scary to read about! The Red Rose Inn, obviously centered on on an old building, looked so attractive that I decided to look it up. It apparently went through some bleak times, but now is owned by the government and has been restored to its original, Colonial look: https://www.penntownship.us/about/pages/red-rose-inn
    Be sure to scroll past the dismal boarded-up photos to see its appearance today.
    --Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Jim,
      That was a very scary way of reaching our destination for giving a seminar! Glad we lived to tell its story.
      Thank you ever so much for finding this happy update, I knew about their efforts to raise funds but this link is perfect. Did add it at the very bottom. So happy about it!
      Loved the painted image that I'd found and used here as it showed exactly the snow situation in which we arrived there.
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  3. Small planes kind of freak me out! I have known to many people who have died or been injured in small plane accidents. Thanks for the title correction. I often write at night when the kids are in bed which also means that I am usually beyond exhausted. I fixed the error! Yes, another week till summer officially starts which is such a weird thing because we have now been out fo school for three weeks. The poor kids here in Germany are going till mid-july because of Corona delayment. The heat is definately announcing that summer is around the corner. It was so hot here yesterday. Probably more recognizable since we have no air-con. Have a great summer! Hope their are a few BBQs in the plan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Kelleyn,
      Well, having done so much traveling and then teaching in a foreign language I know exactly how you felt at the end of such a day. So many impressions and speaking another language really floors one! Glad you enjoyed Wiesbaden.
      True about those small planes and I recall many times when I'd cooked Pieter's favorite meal for him coming back home from his Campbell Soup training. When he'd flown such a 'flying shoe-box' as Pieter called them, he barely made it home as it made him always so air sick. So he walked passed me and straight to bed to lie down and no food...
      Our boss from Canada, with whom I shared the function as co-pilote, he crashed and that in front of his daughter's eyes... And John Kennedy Jr. with his wife and on and on.
      The missing of an air conditioner above all is that you don't have the re-conditioned air where all the moisture has been removed! That is the 'best' function of it, aside from cooling.
      Hugs and enjoy further your stay!
      Mariette

      Delete
  4. You are very brave flying in such a small aircraft in such weather. Today, with the Internet, you could have held the Conference on-line via Teams or Zoom or such-like.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Victor,
      Both of us never have been scared but it was not something you would love to repeat over and over doing.
      It was not a conference as such but ours were mostly 'hands on' practical training, alternated with theoretical explanations. Different from any usual meeting and not so ideal for a Zoom concept!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
    2. I am scared of all flying.

      God bless.

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Dearest Anne,
      Yes, it was a kind of a fight against the vagaries of mother nature!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  6. Siempre he volado en aviones de pasajeros. No he volado a ningún lugar que haya nieve, y que evito vistar en invierno, ciudades en que haya demasiado frío.

    Besos

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Querida Antónia,
      Ambos preferimos volar con aerolíneas también, pero para llegar a nuestro destino de trabajo, no había otra opción aquí ... ¡Desafiante!
      Abrazos,
      Mariette

      Delete
  7. These memories are very good. These are things that stay forever.
    xoxo
    Coisas de Feltro

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Christina,
      Exactly, such memories you never ever forget!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. Dearest Jo-Anne,
      Luckily we both have never been scared of anything and we were together!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  9. Like you and Pieter, I board aircrafts with no fear whatsoever. And like you I have had a few close calls. I love that painting of the Inn!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Helen,
      We're blessed for not having any fear otherwise we could not have done our job.
      It can be scary, but even more often when inside a car in heavy traffic!
      That painting is so well done and it resembled best our winter scene when we got there. So glad it is being fully restored!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  10. Oh my gosh this would have been like a nightmare for me Mariette, I never used to be terrified of flying when I was younger but over the last six or seven years it really is getting so much worse. You were very brave indeed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Grace,
      Well, we both have never been scared but Pieter got so motion sick in such small planes... Not a good feeling when going to work!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete

Thanks for your visit and comment.

Mariette...

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MARIETTE'S BACK TO BASICS © 2009. All rights reserved - Text and images may not be copied for distribution or sale.

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