1 00:00:01,439 --> 00:00:04,160 [Speaker 0] Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Whatever the 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,319 [Speaker 0] case may be. This is Mike, and this 3 00:00:06,319 --> 00:00:09,280 [Speaker 0] is Mike Dell's World number four thirty two 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:14,474 [Speaker 0] for November twenty six twenty twenty five. And, 5 00:00:14,474 --> 00:00:17,115 [Speaker 0] of course, it's the twenty sixth day of 6 00:00:17,115 --> 00:00:21,675 [Speaker 0] NAPOD promo, national podcast posting month, and I'm 7 00:00:21,675 --> 00:00:23,835 [Speaker 0] on track to actually finish it this year. 8 00:00:23,835 --> 00:00:25,994 [Speaker 0] So and I think I got some pretty 9 00:00:25,994 --> 00:00:29,350 [Speaker 0] good content this year. And, you know, some 10 00:00:29,350 --> 00:00:31,510 [Speaker 0] of it I've covered in the past, of 11 00:00:31,510 --> 00:00:33,910 [Speaker 0] course, but, you know, a lot of my 12 00:00:33,910 --> 00:00:36,710 [Speaker 0] listeners haven't been around that long. And even 13 00:00:36,710 --> 00:00:38,890 [Speaker 0] though I've been doing this for twenty years, 14 00:00:39,110 --> 00:00:41,585 [Speaker 0] a lot of people, maybe not even alive 15 00:00:41,585 --> 00:00:43,585 [Speaker 0] twenty years or at least not listening to 16 00:00:43,585 --> 00:00:47,205 [Speaker 0] podcasts that long. Maybe not this one anyway. 17 00:00:47,425 --> 00:00:50,705 [Speaker 0] I don't know. Anyhoo, today, I'm gonna talk 18 00:00:50,705 --> 00:00:54,305 [Speaker 0] about something not Northern Michigan related directly or 19 00:00:54,305 --> 00:00:59,840 [Speaker 0] even indirectly. I lived in Keflavik, Iceland in 20 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:04,320 [Speaker 0] the early nineties for a entire year. And 21 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:06,080 [Speaker 0] I just wanna tell you some of my 22 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,104 [Speaker 0] memories of the place now. I'm sure it's 23 00:01:09,104 --> 00:01:11,024 [Speaker 0] changed a lot. It's become more of a 24 00:01:11,024 --> 00:01:15,825 [Speaker 0] tourist trap in, for Europe. But, back in 25 00:01:15,825 --> 00:01:21,104 [Speaker 0] the nineties, it was pretty untouched. I mean, 26 00:01:21,104 --> 00:01:23,759 [Speaker 0] you know, there was obviously people there. There's 27 00:01:23,759 --> 00:01:26,100 [Speaker 0] a big city there. Well, big ish city, 28 00:01:26,799 --> 00:01:29,520 [Speaker 0] Reykjavik, which is the capital. And then, of 29 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,840 [Speaker 0] course, I lived in Keflavik, Iceland, which is 30 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:36,560 [Speaker 0] the home of the big international airport and 31 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:41,055 [Speaker 0] the, at the time, NATO base. It was, 32 00:01:41,375 --> 00:01:46,895 [Speaker 0] actually a US Navy, run, air station. You 33 00:01:46,895 --> 00:01:52,200 [Speaker 0] know, Kovvik Naval Air Station, Iceland. And I 34 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,940 [Speaker 0] was, of course, air force, and we had 35 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:58,840 [Speaker 0] a little, little we had a contingent of 36 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:01,080 [Speaker 0] air force people there, plus there were people 37 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:03,660 [Speaker 0] from all the different countries. There were marines. 38 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,040 [Speaker 0] There were obviously a lot of navy. They 39 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,665 [Speaker 0] had a p three wing or squadron or 40 00:02:09,665 --> 00:02:12,145 [Speaker 0] a couple squadrons up there. And, of course, 41 00:02:12,145 --> 00:02:16,225 [Speaker 0] we had a a fighter interceptor squadron, the 42 00:02:16,225 --> 00:02:19,525 [Speaker 0] fifty seventh, the the black knights of Iceland. 43 00:02:20,180 --> 00:02:22,980 [Speaker 0] That's what our squadron patch was. They still 44 00:02:22,980 --> 00:02:24,660 [Speaker 0] have the hat hanging on the wall over 45 00:02:24,660 --> 00:02:29,780 [Speaker 0] here from, the knights. And, of course, I've 46 00:02:29,780 --> 00:02:32,180 [Speaker 0] got my patch collection. One of these days, 47 00:02:32,180 --> 00:02:34,180 [Speaker 0] I'm gonna make a shadow box with all 48 00:02:34,180 --> 00:02:37,535 [Speaker 0] the patches in it and rank and whatnot. 49 00:02:37,595 --> 00:02:41,195 [Speaker 0] But, anywho, I was stationed up there for 50 00:02:41,195 --> 00:02:44,975 [Speaker 0] an entire year, and it was an interesting 51 00:02:45,195 --> 00:02:47,435 [Speaker 0] place to live. Now this, mind you, is 52 00:02:47,435 --> 00:02:52,870 [Speaker 0] before the Internet, and this was before, you 53 00:02:52,870 --> 00:02:58,390 [Speaker 0] know, worldwide almost free calling and, you know, 54 00:02:58,390 --> 00:03:01,130 [Speaker 0] video conferencing and, you know, all the stuff 55 00:03:01,190 --> 00:03:03,850 [Speaker 0] that the Internet brought. This was before that. 56 00:03:05,025 --> 00:03:06,865 [Speaker 0] And, you know, I guess I'll I'll tell 57 00:03:06,865 --> 00:03:11,265 [Speaker 0] you tell you the story from from where 58 00:03:11,265 --> 00:03:13,505 [Speaker 0] it all started. So here I am in 59 00:03:13,505 --> 00:03:16,805 [Speaker 0] Mountain Home, Idaho working on f one elevens, 60 00:03:18,650 --> 00:03:22,670 [Speaker 0] and I get orders to Galena Air Station, 61 00:03:23,610 --> 00:03:28,650 [Speaker 0] Alaska. And Galena Air Station Alaska is right 62 00:03:28,650 --> 00:03:33,364 [Speaker 0] on the Yukon River and, you know, it's 63 00:03:33,364 --> 00:03:36,405 [Speaker 0] Outback Alaska. It is out there. You know, 64 00:03:36,405 --> 00:03:37,845 [Speaker 0] the only way in and out of there 65 00:03:37,845 --> 00:03:40,105 [Speaker 0] is either by the river or by airplane. 66 00:03:40,965 --> 00:03:43,605 [Speaker 0] And it was not even a Galena Air 67 00:03:43,605 --> 00:03:47,720 [Speaker 0] Station. It was Galena Airport, Alaska. It wasn't 68 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,040 [Speaker 0] even an air station, but they did have 69 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,520 [Speaker 0] a fighter interceptor, contingent there. They usually had 70 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,680 [Speaker 0] two or yeah. I think it was two 71 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,355 [Speaker 0] f fifteens, on interceptor duty on call all 72 00:04:00,355 --> 00:04:03,315 [Speaker 0] the time, and that's where I was gonna 73 00:04:03,315 --> 00:04:06,275 [Speaker 0] go. They had put in for a short 74 00:04:06,275 --> 00:04:07,955 [Speaker 0] tour. I always wanted to get out of 75 00:04:07,955 --> 00:04:10,819 [Speaker 0] Mountain Home. I'd been there for seven years, 76 00:04:10,879 --> 00:04:15,620 [Speaker 0] and it was time. And, anyway, for whatever 77 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,800 [Speaker 0] reason, I got those orders canceled. I didn't. 78 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,500 [Speaker 0] The the air force canceled those orders on 79 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,475 [Speaker 0] Monday. And on Tuesday, I had orders to 80 00:04:27,615 --> 00:04:31,535 [Speaker 0] naval air station Keflavik. So they they were 81 00:04:31,535 --> 00:04:33,615 [Speaker 0] bound and determined to send me somewhere cold, 82 00:04:33,615 --> 00:04:36,175 [Speaker 0] which was fine, you know, and come to 83 00:04:36,175 --> 00:04:41,070 [Speaker 0] find out Iceland wasn't that cold. But, that's 84 00:04:41,070 --> 00:04:43,890 [Speaker 0] a whole another story. I'll keep talking here. 85 00:04:45,310 --> 00:04:48,050 [Speaker 0] So anyway, I had to go to school 86 00:04:49,070 --> 00:04:53,250 [Speaker 0] in Florida to, learn the f fifteen electrical 87 00:04:53,310 --> 00:04:57,324 [Speaker 0] and environmental systems, of which I worked on. 88 00:04:57,705 --> 00:05:01,164 [Speaker 0] And so I got to go to school, 89 00:05:01,705 --> 00:05:04,285 [Speaker 0] at Tyndall Air Force Base in the Panhandle, 90 00:05:04,505 --> 00:05:09,510 [Speaker 0] Florida. The only problem was this was, I 91 00:05:09,510 --> 00:05:15,030 [Speaker 0] think, July twentieth or something like that, and 92 00:05:15,030 --> 00:05:17,590 [Speaker 0] I had to report down there no later 93 00:05:17,590 --> 00:05:22,235 [Speaker 0] than August tenth. So I had to out 94 00:05:22,235 --> 00:05:26,315 [Speaker 0] process Mountain Home, get myself down to well, 95 00:05:26,315 --> 00:05:28,235 [Speaker 0] the other the option was to fly to 96 00:05:28,235 --> 00:05:31,615 [Speaker 0] Florida, do the school, fly back to Idaho, 97 00:05:32,235 --> 00:05:35,030 [Speaker 0] out process, move out, and and then, you 98 00:05:35,030 --> 00:05:37,190 [Speaker 0] know, make all the arrangements to have my 99 00:05:37,190 --> 00:05:39,510 [Speaker 0] stuff stored and shipped and blah de blah, 100 00:05:39,510 --> 00:05:41,910 [Speaker 0] you know, all the normal stuff. Well, I, 101 00:05:42,470 --> 00:05:44,070 [Speaker 0] I kinda flipped the script on them. I 102 00:05:44,070 --> 00:05:45,830 [Speaker 0] said, well, let me out process here. I'll 103 00:05:45,830 --> 00:05:48,985 [Speaker 0] drive to Florida with all my stuff, and 104 00:05:48,985 --> 00:05:51,305 [Speaker 0] then I'll ship stuff. You know, I lived 105 00:05:51,305 --> 00:05:52,985 [Speaker 0] in the barracks at the time and all 106 00:05:52,985 --> 00:05:54,764 [Speaker 0] that much stuff. I had a pickup truck. 107 00:05:55,625 --> 00:05:57,224 [Speaker 0] Had plenty of room to put all my 108 00:05:57,224 --> 00:05:59,465 [Speaker 0] stuff, you know, the furniture. Now that I 109 00:05:59,465 --> 00:06:01,639 [Speaker 0] was renting a place, and like I said, 110 00:06:01,639 --> 00:06:04,460 [Speaker 0] it was just, you know, personal stuff. So 111 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,580 [Speaker 0] that's what I did. So I out processed 112 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,560 [Speaker 0] really quick, in Idaho, drove to Florida, did 113 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,335 [Speaker 0] the school, and then, drove home. I took 114 00:06:15,335 --> 00:06:18,215 [Speaker 0] a little leave in between and drove home 115 00:06:18,215 --> 00:06:20,855 [Speaker 0] and stored my truck. And and I had 116 00:06:20,855 --> 00:06:24,155 [Speaker 0] all my stuff shipped from Florida to Iceland. 117 00:06:24,935 --> 00:06:29,020 [Speaker 0] That worked out fine. And, you know, that's 118 00:06:29,020 --> 00:06:31,500 [Speaker 0] how I ended up in Iceland. So I 119 00:06:31,500 --> 00:06:34,220 [Speaker 0] I left Traverse City on a flight to 120 00:06:34,220 --> 00:06:39,200 [Speaker 0] Philadelphia. And from Philadelphia, I flew to Keflavik, 121 00:06:39,420 --> 00:06:44,345 [Speaker 0] Iceland on a d c eight. Even even 122 00:06:44,345 --> 00:06:46,185 [Speaker 0] then, this was, you know, in the early 123 00:06:46,185 --> 00:06:47,944 [Speaker 0] nineties. Even then, a d c eight was 124 00:06:47,944 --> 00:06:51,085 [Speaker 0] an old airplane. In fact, they just retired 125 00:06:51,544 --> 00:06:54,125 [Speaker 0] the final d c eight that was flying, 126 00:06:54,824 --> 00:07:00,130 [Speaker 0] for Samaritan's Purse, which is a, a charity 127 00:07:00,270 --> 00:07:02,510 [Speaker 0] that goes and, you know, helps out when 128 00:07:02,510 --> 00:07:04,670 [Speaker 0] big storms happen or whatever, but they just 129 00:07:04,670 --> 00:07:06,590 [Speaker 0] retired their d c eight. That was the 130 00:07:06,590 --> 00:07:10,155 [Speaker 0] last d c eight flight. Anyway, so I 131 00:07:10,155 --> 00:07:13,435 [Speaker 0] flew seven hours in an airplane that was 132 00:07:13,435 --> 00:07:15,675 [Speaker 0] older than me, which I guess at that 133 00:07:15,675 --> 00:07:19,754 [Speaker 0] point, everything was older than me, but, I 134 00:07:19,754 --> 00:07:22,980 [Speaker 0] froze my toes off and roasted up top. 135 00:07:23,220 --> 00:07:24,660 [Speaker 0] You know, the thing didn't have a very 136 00:07:24,660 --> 00:07:27,720 [Speaker 0] efficient heating system, but, hey. We got there. 137 00:07:28,180 --> 00:07:30,420 [Speaker 0] But the, the funny thing was that it 138 00:07:30,420 --> 00:07:35,460 [Speaker 0] was on Hawaiian Airlines. So you never never 139 00:07:35,460 --> 00:07:38,675 [Speaker 0] think that you're gonna be flying from Philadelphia 140 00:07:38,895 --> 00:07:43,795 [Speaker 0] to Keflavik, Iceland on the, on on Hawaiian 141 00:07:44,175 --> 00:07:49,295 [Speaker 0] Airlines. Oh my gosh. So that was that 142 00:07:49,295 --> 00:07:52,780 [Speaker 0] was quite the adventure. And we took off 143 00:07:52,780 --> 00:07:59,099 [Speaker 0] at seven PM, I think it was. I 144 00:07:59,099 --> 00:08:01,180 [Speaker 0] I don't remember the exact time, but we, 145 00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:04,300 [Speaker 0] we ended up landing in Keflavik at seven 146 00:08:04,300 --> 00:08:06,664 [Speaker 0] AM. And, of course, you know, the big 147 00:08:06,664 --> 00:08:10,104 [Speaker 0] time change. And they kept us up in 148 00:08:10,104 --> 00:08:12,985 [Speaker 0] processing, you know, till, like, two or three 149 00:08:12,985 --> 00:08:14,745 [Speaker 0] in the afternoon before I got to my 150 00:08:14,745 --> 00:08:18,230 [Speaker 0] barracks room, got signed in there, and and 151 00:08:18,230 --> 00:08:20,310 [Speaker 0] got to go to sleep. But I sleep 152 00:08:20,310 --> 00:08:22,310 [Speaker 0] good on airplanes, so I I had plenty 153 00:08:22,310 --> 00:08:25,290 [Speaker 0] of sleep. My day was definitely screwed up, 154 00:08:26,070 --> 00:08:29,050 [Speaker 0] and clearing customs in Iceland was pretty easy. 155 00:08:29,845 --> 00:08:34,404 [Speaker 0] No big deal there. And, yeah. So I 156 00:08:34,404 --> 00:08:40,565 [Speaker 0] was, assigned to the fifty seventh CRS component 157 00:08:40,565 --> 00:08:45,520 [Speaker 0] repair squadron, which, did all the in shop 158 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,640 [Speaker 0] maintenance on the, f fifteens at the time. 159 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,000 [Speaker 0] And, before that was f fours, I guess, 160 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,080 [Speaker 0] but, I was there when the f fifteens 161 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,440 [Speaker 0] were there. And we did, you know, phased 162 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,585 [Speaker 0] inspections and, you know, all all the stuff, 163 00:09:00,665 --> 00:09:04,025 [Speaker 0] all the electrical, all the environmental, all the 164 00:09:04,025 --> 00:09:08,585 [Speaker 0] all the stuff. And but we weren't, we 165 00:09:08,585 --> 00:09:11,865 [Speaker 0] weren't part of the actual on call fighter 166 00:09:11,865 --> 00:09:14,425 [Speaker 0] interceptor squadron except for once in a while. 167 00:09:14,425 --> 00:09:17,330 [Speaker 0] We would have to take our turn at 168 00:09:17,330 --> 00:09:20,370 [Speaker 0] what we called Fisneyland, you know, fighter interceptor 169 00:09:20,370 --> 00:09:24,850 [Speaker 0] squadron, FIS, f I s. And, the area 170 00:09:24,850 --> 00:09:27,090 [Speaker 0] of the base where the alert barn was 171 00:09:27,090 --> 00:09:30,695 [Speaker 0] was called Fisneyland. Of course, you know, the 172 00:09:30,695 --> 00:09:34,295 [Speaker 0] military, we make up names for for, different 173 00:09:34,295 --> 00:09:37,735 [Speaker 0] things. But, you know, all the military stuff 174 00:09:37,735 --> 00:09:40,955 [Speaker 0] was pretty standard except for, you know, Iceland 175 00:09:41,015 --> 00:09:43,895 [Speaker 0] being Iceland. It was a little harder to 176 00:09:43,895 --> 00:09:47,210 [Speaker 0] get parts and a little harder to, you 177 00:09:47,210 --> 00:09:49,950 [Speaker 0] know, keep things flying, but, you know, we 178 00:09:49,950 --> 00:09:52,610 [Speaker 0] did. We had, like, eighteen f fifteens, and 179 00:09:52,750 --> 00:09:55,070 [Speaker 0] everything kept flying pretty good. And we always 180 00:09:55,070 --> 00:09:56,830 [Speaker 0] had four on call, and they would go 181 00:09:56,830 --> 00:10:00,795 [Speaker 0] out loaded, chase bear bombers through the, through 182 00:10:00,795 --> 00:10:04,635 [Speaker 0] the straits there in the Northern Atlantic. But, 183 00:10:04,875 --> 00:10:09,435 [Speaker 0] yeah, nothing too crazy there. And some of 184 00:10:09,435 --> 00:10:11,770 [Speaker 0] the other things that were interesting, that was 185 00:10:11,770 --> 00:10:15,370 [Speaker 0] about the time that computers were, starting to 186 00:10:15,370 --> 00:10:18,090 [Speaker 0] be a thing. And I went to the 187 00:10:18,090 --> 00:10:22,090 [Speaker 0] Navy Exchange there and bought a a two 188 00:10:22,090 --> 00:10:26,905 [Speaker 0] eighty six PC computer with DOS five on 189 00:10:26,905 --> 00:10:29,945 [Speaker 0] it. And, boy, I was styling. I had 190 00:10:29,945 --> 00:10:33,485 [Speaker 0] one megabyte of RAM and a forty megabyte 191 00:10:33,945 --> 00:10:36,505 [Speaker 0] hard drive. And, I mean, that was that 192 00:10:36,505 --> 00:10:39,520 [Speaker 0] was the stuff, man. I would play flight 193 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,200 [Speaker 0] SIP and, SimCity and, you know, we had 194 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,600 [Speaker 0] this drag racing game that I would play 195 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,100 [Speaker 0] and, you know, had some friends, you know, 196 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:49,920 [Speaker 0] a navy guy that lived in the same 197 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:52,000 [Speaker 0] barracks, and another friend of mine lived in 198 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,495 [Speaker 0] another barracks nearby that I worked with. And, 199 00:10:55,495 --> 00:10:57,575 [Speaker 0] you know, we would trade software, and we 200 00:10:57,575 --> 00:11:00,455 [Speaker 0] got a bootleg copy of DOS six. And, 201 00:11:00,455 --> 00:11:02,775 [Speaker 0] oh my gosh, we were we were style. 202 00:11:02,775 --> 00:11:04,955 [Speaker 0] And we could use more than the six 203 00:11:05,015 --> 00:11:08,790 [Speaker 0] hundred and forty k of memory, for primary 204 00:11:08,790 --> 00:11:13,829 [Speaker 0] memory with DOS six, memory manager. Anyway, it's 205 00:11:13,829 --> 00:11:16,550 [Speaker 0] not this isn't a geeky show, but, that 206 00:11:16,550 --> 00:11:19,130 [Speaker 0] was we did a awful lot of, computer 207 00:11:20,069 --> 00:11:23,585 [Speaker 0] stuff, but, you know, no Internet. Whenever I 208 00:11:23,585 --> 00:11:26,225 [Speaker 0] had whenever I made phone calls off the 209 00:11:26,225 --> 00:11:29,925 [Speaker 0] island was, on I would do collect calls 210 00:11:30,145 --> 00:11:32,785 [Speaker 0] or or well, not collect calls. I don't 211 00:11:32,785 --> 00:11:35,925 [Speaker 0] know how that worked exactly, but I would, 212 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:41,360 [Speaker 0] it was a dollar six a minute, back 213 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,720 [Speaker 0] to the states. And, of course, we didn't 214 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:46,560 [Speaker 0] make a lot of phone calls because of 215 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:51,185 [Speaker 0] that, because it was expensive. And, you know, 216 00:11:51,644 --> 00:11:55,725 [Speaker 0] at that time, mail was really important. And, 217 00:11:55,725 --> 00:11:58,045 [Speaker 0] you know, being that Iceland was a pretty 218 00:11:58,045 --> 00:12:00,545 [Speaker 0] boring duty station when you were off duty, 219 00:12:00,765 --> 00:12:02,204 [Speaker 0] we we had a nice club we had 220 00:12:02,204 --> 00:12:06,130 [Speaker 0] nice clubs, and the food was great. Even 221 00:12:06,130 --> 00:12:08,850 [Speaker 0] off base, I I would I would fly 222 00:12:08,850 --> 00:12:11,010 [Speaker 0] to Iceland specifically to get one of their 223 00:12:11,010 --> 00:12:12,770 [Speaker 0] hot dogs. Well, actually, I'd have to get 224 00:12:12,770 --> 00:12:15,570 [Speaker 0] more than one, but, the the Icelandic hot 225 00:12:15,570 --> 00:12:20,245 [Speaker 0] dog is legendary. It's, it's really good. Call 226 00:12:20,245 --> 00:12:26,165 [Speaker 0] it a as I remember it. But, I 227 00:12:26,165 --> 00:12:32,985 [Speaker 0] digress. And what was I talking about? Jeez. 228 00:12:33,125 --> 00:12:35,740 [Speaker 0] Kinda lost my train of thought there. Oh, 229 00:12:35,740 --> 00:12:38,460 [Speaker 0] yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mail being really, really, really 230 00:12:38,460 --> 00:12:42,220 [Speaker 0] important. I volunteered to work at the, base 231 00:12:42,220 --> 00:12:45,580 [Speaker 0] post office. And the funny thing about mail 232 00:12:45,580 --> 00:12:49,260 [Speaker 0] there is it was contingent on what we 233 00:12:49,260 --> 00:12:51,865 [Speaker 0] called the tater or the rotator, and that 234 00:12:51,865 --> 00:12:55,245 [Speaker 0] was that, Hawaiian Airlines d c eight combi. 235 00:12:55,945 --> 00:12:58,025 [Speaker 0] That was, it had cargo in the front 236 00:12:58,025 --> 00:13:00,025 [Speaker 0] half of the airplane and passengers in the 237 00:13:00,025 --> 00:13:02,880 [Speaker 0] back half of the airplane, and that's where 238 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:04,960 [Speaker 0] all the mail came in. So it would 239 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:09,120 [Speaker 0] come in from the States on Wednesdays. So 240 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,800 [Speaker 0] on Wednesday afternoon, I worked second shift. So 241 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:14,880 [Speaker 0] Wednesday afternoon, I'd go over to the post 242 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:17,345 [Speaker 0] office and sort mail for a while and 243 00:13:17,345 --> 00:13:19,025 [Speaker 0] then go to work. And then the next 244 00:13:19,025 --> 00:13:21,265 [Speaker 0] day, finish sorting the mail. I wasn't the 245 00:13:21,265 --> 00:13:23,105 [Speaker 0] only one working there, but it took a 246 00:13:23,105 --> 00:13:25,825 [Speaker 0] day or two to do that. And, of 247 00:13:25,825 --> 00:13:28,385 [Speaker 0] course, that post office was the busiest place 248 00:13:28,385 --> 00:13:31,870 [Speaker 0] on base on Wednesdays and Thursdays. And then, 249 00:13:32,190 --> 00:13:33,790 [Speaker 0] the rest of the week, nothing was going 250 00:13:33,790 --> 00:13:36,110 [Speaker 0] on there, really. People could ship stuff out, 251 00:13:36,110 --> 00:13:38,350 [Speaker 0] but it wouldn't leave until the rotator left 252 00:13:38,350 --> 00:13:42,270 [Speaker 0] on Wednesday afternoon. Or was it Thursday morning? 253 00:13:42,270 --> 00:13:44,725 [Speaker 0] I forget. But, anyway, it was once a 254 00:13:44,725 --> 00:13:46,725 [Speaker 0] week. We do had mail coming in and 255 00:13:46,725 --> 00:13:48,805 [Speaker 0] out, at least from the states. We had 256 00:13:48,805 --> 00:13:51,365 [Speaker 0] another airplane that went back and forth to 257 00:13:51,365 --> 00:13:55,365 [Speaker 0] London that, you would get some stuff that 258 00:13:55,365 --> 00:13:57,560 [Speaker 0] way too. But, for the most part, it 259 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:02,600 [Speaker 0] all came from Philadelphia. And and another thing 260 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,560 [Speaker 0] that was really, really, really, really valuable up 261 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:09,240 [Speaker 0] there was magazines. And and current magazines were 262 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,985 [Speaker 0] even more ridiculously important because it really wasn't 263 00:14:13,985 --> 00:14:18,225 [Speaker 0] a lot of reading material. The library on 264 00:14:18,225 --> 00:14:21,024 [Speaker 0] the base was was busy all the time 265 00:14:21,024 --> 00:14:23,265 [Speaker 0] because, you know, not much else to do. 266 00:14:23,265 --> 00:14:26,779 [Speaker 0] We did have cable TV in the barracks, 267 00:14:26,839 --> 00:14:31,399 [Speaker 0] and we would get, we call it a 268 00:14:31,399 --> 00:14:34,440 [Speaker 0] farts. Yeah. Okay. You know, military. They love 269 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:39,155 [Speaker 0] to have it, but it was armed serve 270 00:14:39,395 --> 00:14:43,635 [Speaker 0] or armed what was it? Armed services radio 271 00:14:43,635 --> 00:14:48,035 [Speaker 0] and television service or whatever. And and that 272 00:14:48,035 --> 00:14:49,475 [Speaker 0] was you know, we had the a couple 273 00:14:49,475 --> 00:14:52,195 [Speaker 0] of AFarts channels. One of them that would 274 00:14:52,195 --> 00:14:56,660 [Speaker 0] play the Today Show, The Tonight Show, and, 275 00:14:56,660 --> 00:14:58,420 [Speaker 0] you know, a few other things, and then 276 00:14:58,420 --> 00:15:00,339 [Speaker 0] they would always have the live sports. Of 277 00:15:00,339 --> 00:15:03,720 [Speaker 0] course, live sports when you're on GMT time, 278 00:15:04,500 --> 00:15:06,740 [Speaker 0] was at oddball times of the day. But 279 00:15:06,740 --> 00:15:08,839 [Speaker 0] I, you know, I work second shift, so 280 00:15:09,195 --> 00:15:11,435 [Speaker 0] I'd get home in the morning, and The 281 00:15:11,435 --> 00:15:14,655 [Speaker 0] Tonight Show would be on. And then about 282 00:15:14,715 --> 00:15:16,955 [Speaker 0] noon, The Today Show would come on, something 283 00:15:16,955 --> 00:15:19,275 [Speaker 0] like noon, one o'clock. So if I was 284 00:15:19,275 --> 00:15:21,755 [Speaker 0] still up at that time, I would watch 285 00:15:21,755 --> 00:15:25,550 [Speaker 0] The Today Show. But, yeah, it was, you 286 00:15:25,550 --> 00:15:27,550 [Speaker 0] know, TV and radio. And then we had, 287 00:15:27,550 --> 00:15:30,430 [Speaker 0] like, two or three other stations. We had, 288 00:15:30,990 --> 00:15:34,930 [Speaker 0] BBC out of England, and we had RTL 289 00:15:35,230 --> 00:15:37,790 [Speaker 0] four out of the Netherlands, and that was 290 00:15:37,790 --> 00:15:41,245 [Speaker 0] in Dutch mostly. And then we had Sky 291 00:15:41,245 --> 00:15:45,085 [Speaker 0] News and Sky Sports. So, you know, there 292 00:15:45,085 --> 00:15:47,665 [Speaker 0] was, like, four, five channels, something like that. 293 00:15:47,805 --> 00:15:51,245 [Speaker 0] So that was another pastime. Plus, you know, 294 00:15:51,245 --> 00:15:54,250 [Speaker 0] we had day rooms in the barracks, and 295 00:15:54,250 --> 00:15:56,410 [Speaker 0] we had, on the second floor was a 296 00:15:56,410 --> 00:15:58,330 [Speaker 0] full kitchen. So if you wanted to cook 297 00:15:58,330 --> 00:16:00,830 [Speaker 0] your own stuff, you'd go over the commissary, 298 00:16:01,130 --> 00:16:03,210 [Speaker 0] get stuff, and cook it down there. But, 299 00:16:03,370 --> 00:16:05,875 [Speaker 0] of course, that was always crowded, and I 300 00:16:05,875 --> 00:16:07,475 [Speaker 0] didn't do that much. I just eat a 301 00:16:07,475 --> 00:16:10,755 [Speaker 0] chow hall. Chow hall was good. We also 302 00:16:10,755 --> 00:16:14,834 [Speaker 0] had a Wendy's on the base of all 303 00:16:14,834 --> 00:16:17,475 [Speaker 0] things. Or I would go over to the 304 00:16:17,475 --> 00:16:20,459 [Speaker 0] barbershop. There's a little barbershop there, and, there 305 00:16:20,459 --> 00:16:23,100 [Speaker 0] was also a hot dog stand. Well, guess 306 00:16:23,100 --> 00:16:25,100 [Speaker 0] what I eat a awful lot of was 307 00:16:25,100 --> 00:16:29,260 [Speaker 0] Icelandic hot dogs. That, but, you know, for 308 00:16:29,260 --> 00:16:31,019 [Speaker 0] breakfast, I'd go over to the chow hall. 309 00:16:31,019 --> 00:16:32,779 [Speaker 0] And the navy food wasn't as good as 310 00:16:32,779 --> 00:16:35,645 [Speaker 0] the air force food, but it was okay. 311 00:16:35,705 --> 00:16:38,105 [Speaker 0] I didn't mind it. When I was pulling 312 00:16:38,105 --> 00:16:40,425 [Speaker 0] alert duty over on the air force side, 313 00:16:40,425 --> 00:16:43,705 [Speaker 0] you know, at Disneyland, they they had a, 314 00:16:44,025 --> 00:16:46,745 [Speaker 0] chow, air force chow hall over there, so 315 00:16:46,745 --> 00:16:50,070 [Speaker 0] the food was better. You know, again, military 316 00:16:50,210 --> 00:16:53,250 [Speaker 0] food, not terrible, but, not, you know, not 317 00:16:53,250 --> 00:16:55,650 [Speaker 0] top notch. And then, of course, you know, 318 00:16:55,650 --> 00:16:58,130 [Speaker 0] eat at Wendy's, and there was also a 319 00:16:58,530 --> 00:17:00,290 [Speaker 0] well, in the air force, we call it 320 00:17:00,290 --> 00:17:05,465 [Speaker 0] AFE's. Army Air Force Exchange Service had a 321 00:17:05,465 --> 00:17:07,545 [Speaker 0] snack bar, but I forget what the navy 322 00:17:07,545 --> 00:17:10,825 [Speaker 0] called it in the navy exchange. But it 323 00:17:10,825 --> 00:17:12,345 [Speaker 0] was, you know, a snack bar. You know, 324 00:17:12,345 --> 00:17:15,645 [Speaker 0] you can get a slice of pizza, hamburger, 325 00:17:15,865 --> 00:17:17,820 [Speaker 0] hot dog, or whatever. They didn't have the 326 00:17:17,820 --> 00:17:19,980 [Speaker 0] Icelandic type hot dog, so I never ate 327 00:17:19,980 --> 00:17:23,500 [Speaker 0] hot dogs there. But, again, are you sensing 328 00:17:23,500 --> 00:17:25,840 [Speaker 0] a theme? I like the Icelandic hot dog. 329 00:17:27,660 --> 00:17:31,105 [Speaker 0] But, yeah, it was, it was cool. Iceland 330 00:17:31,105 --> 00:17:32,705 [Speaker 0] was one of the few places on the 331 00:17:32,705 --> 00:17:36,145 [Speaker 0] planet I remember that had handrails on the 332 00:17:36,145 --> 00:17:40,225 [Speaker 0] sidewalks. And the reason for that, we would 333 00:17:40,225 --> 00:17:44,630 [Speaker 0] have crazy straight line winds across the North 334 00:17:44,630 --> 00:17:48,330 [Speaker 0] Atlantic. We were kind of right in the 335 00:17:48,389 --> 00:17:51,110 [Speaker 0] jet stream or the, what do they call 336 00:17:51,110 --> 00:17:54,230 [Speaker 0] that? Not the jet stream, but, where the 337 00:17:54,230 --> 00:17:57,684 [Speaker 0] ocean currents come north. And that kept the 338 00:17:57,684 --> 00:17:59,945 [Speaker 0] island a little warmer than you might think. 339 00:18:00,485 --> 00:18:03,044 [Speaker 0] The winters here in Traverse City, especially in 340 00:18:03,044 --> 00:18:05,924 [Speaker 0] nineteen seventy eight, but, in the nineties, it 341 00:18:05,924 --> 00:18:10,404 [Speaker 0] was often warmer in Keflavik, Iceland near the 342 00:18:10,404 --> 00:18:14,049 [Speaker 0] Arctic Circle in the winter than it it 343 00:18:14,049 --> 00:18:17,270 [Speaker 0] was here in Traverse City. You know, I 344 00:18:17,490 --> 00:18:19,909 [Speaker 0] had my weekly call with my folks, and 345 00:18:20,770 --> 00:18:22,610 [Speaker 0] and, you know, they were always saying, oh, 346 00:18:22,610 --> 00:18:24,370 [Speaker 0] well, it's twenty degrees here, and, you know, 347 00:18:24,370 --> 00:18:27,805 [Speaker 0] it'd be thirty five degrees and windy and 348 00:18:27,805 --> 00:18:30,365 [Speaker 0] really windy, but those handrails on the sidewalk 349 00:18:30,365 --> 00:18:33,165 [Speaker 0] keep you on the sidewalk. It was not 350 00:18:33,165 --> 00:18:35,725 [Speaker 0] unusual in the middle of the night. You 351 00:18:35,725 --> 00:18:37,725 [Speaker 0] know, I lived in a, you know, barracks 352 00:18:37,725 --> 00:18:39,645 [Speaker 0] building, and there was another barracks well, a 353 00:18:39,645 --> 00:18:41,805 [Speaker 0] three story barracks building, and then there was 354 00:18:41,805 --> 00:18:45,460 [Speaker 0] dumpsters in between. It was not uncommon for 355 00:18:45,460 --> 00:18:48,100 [Speaker 0] the wind to blow the dumpsters over at 356 00:18:48,100 --> 00:18:52,180 [Speaker 0] night. You just hear this big crash. And 357 00:18:52,180 --> 00:18:53,860 [Speaker 0] I remember one time we had a high 358 00:18:53,860 --> 00:18:56,020 [Speaker 0] wind warning, and that's really odd for up 359 00:18:56,020 --> 00:18:57,780 [Speaker 0] there because it's always high wind, but this 360 00:18:57,780 --> 00:18:59,915 [Speaker 0] was really high wind. It was a hundred 361 00:18:59,915 --> 00:19:03,995 [Speaker 0] and three miles an hour sustained for over 362 00:19:03,995 --> 00:19:07,515 [Speaker 0] two hours. And it literally it had snowed, 363 00:19:07,515 --> 00:19:08,875 [Speaker 0] and there was a little ice on the 364 00:19:08,875 --> 00:19:11,595 [Speaker 0] parking lot at the barracks, and all the 365 00:19:11,595 --> 00:19:13,675 [Speaker 0] cars blew to one end of the parking 366 00:19:13,675 --> 00:19:16,210 [Speaker 0] lot. It blew the cars around in the 367 00:19:16,210 --> 00:19:19,169 [Speaker 0] parking lot. It was, yeah, crazy wind. Jeez. 368 00:19:19,169 --> 00:19:21,650 [Speaker 0] We talked about that yesterday with the blizzard 369 00:19:21,650 --> 00:19:25,110 [Speaker 0] of seventy eight, but, yeah, similar wind conditions, 370 00:19:25,410 --> 00:19:27,945 [Speaker 0] but a lot less snow. We didn't get 371 00:19:27,945 --> 00:19:30,345 [Speaker 0] a lot of snow there, which, like I 372 00:19:30,345 --> 00:19:32,105 [Speaker 0] said, being near the Arctic Circle, you would 373 00:19:32,105 --> 00:19:35,625 [Speaker 0] think you would, but, we didn't. Being that 374 00:19:35,625 --> 00:19:38,025 [Speaker 0] it was in the well, Gulf Stream, that's 375 00:19:38,025 --> 00:19:41,150 [Speaker 0] what I'm thinking. Not not the not the, 376 00:19:41,530 --> 00:19:42,970 [Speaker 0] oh, was that is that what I said 377 00:19:42,970 --> 00:19:45,610 [Speaker 0] the first time? Oh, Jet Stream. Yeah. Jet 378 00:19:45,610 --> 00:19:47,610 [Speaker 0] Stream's in the air. Gulf Stream's on the 379 00:19:47,610 --> 00:19:50,330 [Speaker 0] ground or in the water. And we were 380 00:19:50,330 --> 00:19:52,410 [Speaker 0] right in the we were in probably both, 381 00:19:52,410 --> 00:19:56,305 [Speaker 0] but, yeah, it was it was crazy. But, 382 00:19:56,705 --> 00:19:59,025 [Speaker 0] another thing that that I remember was really 383 00:19:59,025 --> 00:20:01,825 [Speaker 0] popular was the USO club, and that happened 384 00:20:01,825 --> 00:20:03,745 [Speaker 0] to be, you know, kind of in between 385 00:20:03,745 --> 00:20:07,345 [Speaker 0] the two barracks buildings where I lived. And, 386 00:20:07,665 --> 00:20:10,520 [Speaker 0] they used to have fish fry over there 387 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:15,720 [Speaker 0] on Friday nights. And that Icelandic cod was 388 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:18,840 [Speaker 0] swimming earlier that day. Yeah. So it was 389 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,100 [Speaker 0] probably the best fish fry I've been to. 390 00:20:21,265 --> 00:20:23,745 [Speaker 0] I'm traveling on my food on my, I'm 391 00:20:23,745 --> 00:20:27,184 [Speaker 0] traveling on my stomach here. I do remember 392 00:20:27,184 --> 00:20:29,424 [Speaker 0] eating there. They also had a really good 393 00:20:29,424 --> 00:20:31,825 [Speaker 0] half pound hamburger, so I did eat a 394 00:20:31,825 --> 00:20:34,705 [Speaker 0] lot of meals there at the USO or 395 00:20:34,705 --> 00:20:37,380 [Speaker 0] the USO. Of course, you know, military gotta 396 00:20:37,380 --> 00:20:42,260 [Speaker 0] have names for stuff. And, another thing that, 397 00:20:42,580 --> 00:20:44,740 [Speaker 0] you know, most people didn't bother with getting 398 00:20:44,740 --> 00:20:46,500 [Speaker 0] a car up there, but I wanted to 399 00:20:46,500 --> 00:20:50,115 [Speaker 0] do some exploring. And there was a gal 400 00:20:50,115 --> 00:20:52,595 [Speaker 0] in my shop that, was rotating back to 401 00:20:52,595 --> 00:20:55,955 [Speaker 0] the states, and she had a car called 402 00:20:55,955 --> 00:20:59,794 [Speaker 0] a Skoda, Skoda one twenty. It's a really 403 00:20:59,794 --> 00:21:02,900 [Speaker 0] weird looking little, square box car, like some 404 00:21:02,900 --> 00:21:04,900 [Speaker 0] sort of Fiat, but the engine was in 405 00:21:04,900 --> 00:21:06,660 [Speaker 0] the back, but it had a radiator up 406 00:21:06,660 --> 00:21:10,500 [Speaker 0] in the front. It had, studded snow tires 407 00:21:10,500 --> 00:21:12,420 [Speaker 0] on it, and she sold it to me 408 00:21:12,420 --> 00:21:15,355 [Speaker 0] for six hundred dollars. I drove that thing 409 00:21:15,355 --> 00:21:18,315 [Speaker 0] for probably eight or nine months. And then 410 00:21:18,315 --> 00:21:19,995 [Speaker 0] when I got ready to rotate out, I 411 00:21:19,995 --> 00:21:22,795 [Speaker 0] sold it for six hundred dollars. And it 412 00:21:22,795 --> 00:21:25,535 [Speaker 0] was really interesting in Iceland with the cars. 413 00:21:26,155 --> 00:21:28,315 [Speaker 0] You had to leave your headlights on all 414 00:21:28,315 --> 00:21:31,409 [Speaker 0] the time. And if you were on an 415 00:21:31,409 --> 00:21:35,730 [Speaker 0] international driver's license instead of an Icelandic driver's 416 00:21:35,730 --> 00:21:37,730 [Speaker 0] license, your car had to be modified to 417 00:21:37,730 --> 00:21:39,090 [Speaker 0] have the lights on all the time. And, 418 00:21:39,090 --> 00:21:41,169 [Speaker 0] of course, that wasn't common back then. It 419 00:21:41,169 --> 00:21:43,835 [Speaker 0] is now. But, back then, you had to 420 00:21:43,835 --> 00:21:45,595 [Speaker 0] have it modified. And, of course, this one 421 00:21:45,595 --> 00:21:48,174 [Speaker 0] was already. So anytime you started the car, 422 00:21:48,554 --> 00:21:50,875 [Speaker 0] you know, the headlights were on. That car 423 00:21:50,875 --> 00:21:52,394 [Speaker 0] was pretty good. And, you know, it got 424 00:21:52,394 --> 00:21:54,634 [Speaker 0] me around, and it was a little better 425 00:21:54,634 --> 00:21:56,235 [Speaker 0] than riding the bus. They did have a 426 00:21:56,235 --> 00:21:58,430 [Speaker 0] bus service on base, and, plus, we could 427 00:21:58,430 --> 00:22:00,670 [Speaker 0] go off base. The weird thing, when you 428 00:22:00,670 --> 00:22:02,750 [Speaker 0] went off base, you had to go through 429 00:22:02,750 --> 00:22:05,790 [Speaker 0] Icelandic customs. And then when you came back 430 00:22:05,790 --> 00:22:08,370 [Speaker 0] on the bay base, you would, go through 431 00:22:08,750 --> 00:22:11,630 [Speaker 0] navy security, and they were really weird about 432 00:22:11,630 --> 00:22:14,885 [Speaker 0] certain things coming off the base. You couldn't 433 00:22:14,885 --> 00:22:17,445 [Speaker 0] bring any gas cans. You could just have 434 00:22:17,445 --> 00:22:20,325 [Speaker 0] the gas that was in your car. You 435 00:22:20,325 --> 00:22:23,544 [Speaker 0] couldn't you could have one pack of open 436 00:22:23,765 --> 00:22:27,304 [Speaker 0] cigarettes and one pack of not opened cigarettes, 437 00:22:27,365 --> 00:22:30,560 [Speaker 0] but no more than that. And for some 438 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,440 [Speaker 0] weird weird reason, you couldn't bring cassette tapes. 439 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,380 [Speaker 0] So if your car had a tape deck, 440 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,500 [Speaker 0] you're SOL. You could not bring cassette tapes 441 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,760 [Speaker 0] off the base. I I have no idea. 442 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,435 [Speaker 0] Well, that was their three big bugaboos. And 443 00:22:44,435 --> 00:22:46,535 [Speaker 0] the reason being is, you know, gas prices 444 00:22:46,675 --> 00:22:50,035 [Speaker 0] off base was, I think, at the time 445 00:22:50,035 --> 00:22:52,615 [Speaker 0] was two dollars a liter or the equivalent 446 00:22:52,755 --> 00:22:55,075 [Speaker 0] of that, which would make it, like, eight 447 00:22:55,075 --> 00:22:56,771 [Speaker 0] dollars a gallon. And, you know, in the 448 00:22:56,771 --> 00:23:01,770 [Speaker 0] early nineties, that was ridiculous. I think, on 449 00:23:01,770 --> 00:23:04,090 [Speaker 0] base was a buck forty five the whole 450 00:23:04,090 --> 00:23:05,850 [Speaker 0] time I was there, and that was that 451 00:23:05,850 --> 00:23:08,410 [Speaker 0] was a bit higher than than what was 452 00:23:08,410 --> 00:23:11,845 [Speaker 0] average at that time in the states, but, 453 00:23:11,845 --> 00:23:13,524 [Speaker 0] you know, it was a lot cheaper. So 454 00:23:13,524 --> 00:23:15,684 [Speaker 0] that was that part. Same thing with the 455 00:23:15,684 --> 00:23:17,365 [Speaker 0] cigarettes. You know, I could buy a carton 456 00:23:17,365 --> 00:23:20,664 [Speaker 0] of Marlboros for six dollars at the exchange 457 00:23:20,804 --> 00:23:23,365 [Speaker 0] and sell them for twenty dollars a pack 458 00:23:23,365 --> 00:23:26,250 [Speaker 0] off off base, but, you know, nobody did 459 00:23:26,250 --> 00:23:28,190 [Speaker 0] that or I didn't do that. You know? 460 00:23:28,409 --> 00:23:30,570 [Speaker 0] And I didn't smoke that much. You know, 461 00:23:30,570 --> 00:23:32,250 [Speaker 0] I did at that time, I believe I 462 00:23:32,250 --> 00:23:34,970 [Speaker 0] was smoking, but I've been quit for many, 463 00:23:34,970 --> 00:23:38,010 [Speaker 0] many years. But back then, everybody smoked. That 464 00:23:38,010 --> 00:23:42,795 [Speaker 0] was kinda normal. So, again, you know, showing 465 00:23:42,795 --> 00:23:46,155 [Speaker 0] my age here. But let's see. Some of 466 00:23:46,155 --> 00:23:49,275 [Speaker 0] the other cool things about Iceland, we went 467 00:23:49,275 --> 00:23:53,800 [Speaker 0] to the Hard Rock Cafe in, in Reykjavik. 468 00:23:54,580 --> 00:23:56,260 [Speaker 0] It was in a in a mall down 469 00:23:56,260 --> 00:23:58,760 [Speaker 0] there. It it's gone now. I'm I understand. 470 00:23:58,900 --> 00:24:03,480 [Speaker 0] But, at the time, they they were collecting 471 00:24:04,180 --> 00:24:07,915 [Speaker 0] US license plates to tack on the ceiling. 472 00:24:07,915 --> 00:24:12,955 [Speaker 0] Well, I had customized, Idaho amateur radio license 473 00:24:12,955 --> 00:24:15,055 [Speaker 0] plates with my call sign on it, and 474 00:24:15,275 --> 00:24:17,355 [Speaker 0] I had my dad, take one off my 475 00:24:17,355 --> 00:24:20,500 [Speaker 0] truck and send it to me and go 476 00:24:20,500 --> 00:24:23,460 [Speaker 0] into Hard Rock Cafe in Reykjavik, and, they 477 00:24:23,460 --> 00:24:25,620 [Speaker 0] give you a free meal for donating a 478 00:24:25,620 --> 00:24:28,500 [Speaker 0] license plate. So for the longest time, my 479 00:24:28,500 --> 00:24:32,420 [Speaker 0] call sign license plate was, nailed to the 480 00:24:32,420 --> 00:24:38,085 [Speaker 0] ceiling in the Reykjavik, Hard Rock Cafe. But 481 00:24:38,085 --> 00:24:39,924 [Speaker 0] like I said, I do believe that's gone 482 00:24:39,924 --> 00:24:42,885 [Speaker 0] now. They had a really cool door or 483 00:24:42,885 --> 00:24:44,325 [Speaker 0] a thing around the door. They had a 484 00:24:44,325 --> 00:24:49,370 [Speaker 0] fifty nine Cadillac standing on its nose, and 485 00:24:49,430 --> 00:24:52,950 [Speaker 0] the door going into the place was through 486 00:24:52,950 --> 00:24:56,070 [Speaker 0] the Cadillac. I you know, they had just 487 00:24:56,070 --> 00:24:58,070 [Speaker 0] had, you know, had it cut out, and, 488 00:24:58,070 --> 00:24:59,930 [Speaker 0] you know, it was a normal door, but 489 00:25:00,195 --> 00:25:02,774 [Speaker 0] that was, I do I do remember that. 490 00:25:03,075 --> 00:25:04,595 [Speaker 0] You know, of course, it was inside a 491 00:25:04,595 --> 00:25:07,715 [Speaker 0] mall. So you know? And the other thing 492 00:25:07,715 --> 00:25:09,955 [Speaker 0] I remember the most about it was driving 493 00:25:09,955 --> 00:25:12,595 [Speaker 0] in Reykjavik. It was the first time I'd 494 00:25:12,595 --> 00:25:15,414 [Speaker 0] ever seen a traffic circle or a roundabout. 495 00:25:16,490 --> 00:25:18,490 [Speaker 0] Now they're all over the place. I should 496 00:25:18,490 --> 00:25:21,370 [Speaker 0] do a whole episode about roundabouts here in 497 00:25:21,370 --> 00:25:26,730 [Speaker 0] northern Michigan, but I probably won't. But, that 498 00:25:26,730 --> 00:25:29,054 [Speaker 0] was the first place I'd ever dealt with 499 00:25:29,054 --> 00:25:33,235 [Speaker 0] roundabouts. And then in London, a Piccadilly circle 500 00:25:33,455 --> 00:25:36,575 [Speaker 0] or Piccadilly Circus, of course, that roundabout there 501 00:25:36,575 --> 00:25:40,335 [Speaker 0] is, way bigger. And, you drive the wrong 502 00:25:40,335 --> 00:25:41,774 [Speaker 0] side of the road and the wrong side 503 00:25:41,774 --> 00:25:44,410 [Speaker 0] of the roundabout, and I never did drive 504 00:25:44,410 --> 00:25:47,690 [Speaker 0] through it, but, saw it. Pretty crazy. But, 505 00:25:47,690 --> 00:25:50,810 [Speaker 0] anyway, and, you know, when I was telling 506 00:25:50,810 --> 00:25:52,570 [Speaker 0] you about that airplane that flew back and 507 00:25:52,570 --> 00:25:55,610 [Speaker 0] forth to London, you could, hop a flight 508 00:25:55,610 --> 00:25:57,790 [Speaker 0] on that airplane. It was a p three 509 00:25:58,010 --> 00:26:00,284 [Speaker 0] Orion, which is is a navy aircraft, but 510 00:26:00,284 --> 00:26:03,325 [Speaker 0] it was set up like an airliner. And 511 00:26:03,325 --> 00:26:05,245 [Speaker 0] you could hop a flight on there. I 512 00:26:05,245 --> 00:26:07,485 [Speaker 0] think it was twenty bucks round trip, and 513 00:26:07,485 --> 00:26:09,804 [Speaker 0] they'd, you know, leave Kevlovic at seven in 514 00:26:09,804 --> 00:26:13,390 [Speaker 0] the morning and get to London about you 515 00:26:13,390 --> 00:26:14,670 [Speaker 0] know, it was an hour and a half 516 00:26:14,670 --> 00:26:18,190 [Speaker 0] maybe, something like that, and, stop in Shannon, 517 00:26:18,190 --> 00:26:21,950 [Speaker 0] Ireland. And then, somewhere near London, I don't 518 00:26:21,950 --> 00:26:24,370 [Speaker 0] remember what base it was, Milton Hall maybe. 519 00:26:25,135 --> 00:26:27,695 [Speaker 0] But, we'd we'd land there, and then you 520 00:26:27,695 --> 00:26:30,975 [Speaker 0] could, you know, grab a bus into London 521 00:26:30,975 --> 00:26:33,934 [Speaker 0] or train or whatever it was and spend 522 00:26:33,934 --> 00:26:35,615 [Speaker 0] the day there. And then if you were 523 00:26:35,615 --> 00:26:38,495 [Speaker 0] back, to the airplane by ten o'clock at 524 00:26:38,495 --> 00:26:41,400 [Speaker 0] night, they would head back. So it was 525 00:26:42,660 --> 00:26:46,900 [Speaker 0] pretty cheap to, travel to to, London and 526 00:26:46,980 --> 00:26:50,179 [Speaker 0] or shot Shannon. You know, sometimes jump off 527 00:26:50,179 --> 00:26:52,740 [Speaker 0] at Shannon and spend the day there or 528 00:26:52,740 --> 00:26:54,660 [Speaker 0] spend a night there usually and then come 529 00:26:54,660 --> 00:26:58,965 [Speaker 0] back. But, yeah. So it was it was 530 00:26:58,965 --> 00:27:04,085 [Speaker 0] definitely a a cool place, and, you know, 531 00:27:04,085 --> 00:27:08,565 [Speaker 0] cool and as in cool, man, not cool 532 00:27:08,565 --> 00:27:11,040 [Speaker 0] as in cold. Although it was cold, it 533 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,840 [Speaker 0] it never got above sixty five degrees and 534 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,360 [Speaker 0] never really got below twenty degrees the entire 535 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:21,620 [Speaker 0] time I was there, not counting wind chill. 536 00:27:22,505 --> 00:27:25,385 [Speaker 0] And the sun, that was the other one, 537 00:27:25,385 --> 00:27:27,625 [Speaker 0] is this time of year up there, the 538 00:27:27,625 --> 00:27:30,745 [Speaker 0] sun may may come up just slightly above 539 00:27:30,745 --> 00:27:33,145 [Speaker 0] the horizon and then go sideways for a 540 00:27:33,145 --> 00:27:35,650 [Speaker 0] couple hours and then drop right back down. 541 00:27:35,650 --> 00:27:37,650 [Speaker 0] So it was mostly dark, and we weren't 542 00:27:37,650 --> 00:27:39,730 [Speaker 0] above the Arctic Circle. So the sun did 543 00:27:39,730 --> 00:27:43,650 [Speaker 0] actually come up for a little bit. And 544 00:27:43,650 --> 00:27:45,730 [Speaker 0] then in the summer, you know, like in 545 00:27:45,730 --> 00:27:48,965 [Speaker 0] June and July, the the sun never really 546 00:27:48,965 --> 00:27:51,524 [Speaker 0] set. It would go just slightly below the 547 00:27:51,524 --> 00:27:53,365 [Speaker 0] horizon, and then you could see it kinda 548 00:27:53,365 --> 00:27:56,485 [Speaker 0] go sideways across the horizon and then pop 549 00:27:56,485 --> 00:27:59,044 [Speaker 0] right back up. It was very weird coming 550 00:27:59,044 --> 00:28:00,325 [Speaker 0] out of the bar at two in the 551 00:28:00,325 --> 00:28:02,270 [Speaker 0] morning and have to put your sunglasses on, 552 00:28:02,270 --> 00:28:05,870 [Speaker 0] but, you did. And, you got used to 553 00:28:05,870 --> 00:28:08,669 [Speaker 0] it. I did I don't remember much of 554 00:28:08,669 --> 00:28:11,230 [Speaker 0] the language. I did learn enough of it 555 00:28:11,230 --> 00:28:15,150 [Speaker 0] to get by, but, Icelanders at that time 556 00:28:15,150 --> 00:28:18,404 [Speaker 0] even, and it's probably even better now, had 557 00:28:18,404 --> 00:28:21,924 [Speaker 0] a higher literacy rate in English than the 558 00:28:21,924 --> 00:28:25,465 [Speaker 0] US. So, you know, that was a required 559 00:28:25,524 --> 00:28:29,865 [Speaker 0] language, although they they spoke more British English, 560 00:28:29,924 --> 00:28:34,240 [Speaker 0] but close enough. You know? But, anyway, that's 561 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,620 [Speaker 0] just my remembrances of Iceland in the nineties. 562 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,840 [Speaker 0] I did, do an episode of all about 563 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,720 [Speaker 0] Iceland or oh, no. All things Iceland. I'll 564 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:46,159 [Speaker 0] have a link in the show notes over 565 00:28:46,159 --> 00:28:49,335 [Speaker 0] at mike dell dot com. This post, there'll 566 00:28:49,335 --> 00:28:51,335 [Speaker 0] be a link to my episode there, which 567 00:28:51,335 --> 00:28:53,815 [Speaker 0] was in May of twenty twenty. I was 568 00:28:53,815 --> 00:28:57,255 [Speaker 0] interviewed, about being on the NATO base in 569 00:28:57,255 --> 00:29:00,419 [Speaker 0] Iceland back then, and, you know, who knows 570 00:29:00,419 --> 00:29:03,139 [Speaker 0] if I contradicted myself? That was, you know, 571 00:29:03,139 --> 00:29:06,100 [Speaker 0] almost six years ago. So or at least 572 00:29:06,100 --> 00:29:12,100 [Speaker 0] five. That was six. Anyway, math again. But 573 00:29:12,100 --> 00:29:15,195 [Speaker 0] go check that out. She's still doing that 574 00:29:15,195 --> 00:29:19,475 [Speaker 0] show. I understand she's gonna become a mother 575 00:29:19,475 --> 00:29:22,195 [Speaker 0] here soon. It's just I haven't listened to 576 00:29:22,195 --> 00:29:24,275 [Speaker 0] it in a long time. But, anyway, check 577 00:29:24,275 --> 00:29:29,410 [Speaker 0] that out. All things Iceland, May of twenty 578 00:29:29,410 --> 00:29:34,370 [Speaker 0] twenty. And, I'll be back tomorrow. And what 579 00:29:34,770 --> 00:29:37,330 [Speaker 0] forget what I'm gonna talk about tomorrow. Let 580 00:29:37,330 --> 00:29:41,825 [Speaker 0] me see. Oh, yes. Thanksgiving. I'm gonna talk 581 00:29:41,825 --> 00:29:44,385 [Speaker 0] a little bit about how Traverse City is 582 00:29:44,385 --> 00:29:48,305 [Speaker 0] kind of a small town still. So, I 583 00:29:48,305 --> 00:29:51,205 [Speaker 0] look forward to that, and hopefully, you'll listen.