LA FLORIDIANA Will’s Too Short Trip To Miami - - And Life Is Good  by Will Moriaty
THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW "Elf"  by Mike Smith
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Will’s Too Short Trip To Miami - - And Life Is Good

Prelude - - A Night of Arts and Music
Friday evening on October 24, 2003, Nolan and I started out sitting deck side at Jimmy Mac’s restaurant in south Tampa listening to the smooth sounds of the Tom Kats, a local jazz band ala Wes Montgomery - - exquisite! We then rocketed in the Huntress to the Covivant Gallery on North Florida Avenue where PCR alumnus Vincent Blesi was performing with his avant-garde/techno/new wave group Strange Agents who were staging a reunion concert. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire scene there, as it took me many a decade ago when I would attend gallery openings during my now deceased sister’s most vital and creative living years. I finally put my head on my pillow at 2:30 A.M., unusually late for me, but well worth it! Thanks Nolan, Vincent et al.

The Break of Day and I’m Headin’ To Miami!
At 10:15 A.M. on October 25, 2003, I was on board AirTran Flight 2141 down Runway 36 Left on my way to my annual pilgrimage to Miami for the South Florida Airline Historical Association’s Collectibles show.

In as little as fifteen minutes after we reached velocity rotation our Canadair CL-65 regional jet thrust us up 23,000 feet above the Sunshine State. It was clear and beautiful all the down to the western portion of the Everglades. We skirted the Gulf of Mexico until we were between Fort Meyers and Naples. The landmarks of Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee Counties appeared with stunning clarity. Incredibly, they served drinks and a snack on this relatively short flight.

Only in Miami. The Tamiami Canal separates the Wyndham Miami Airport hotel from the Mel Reese golf course. Tropical Sea Grape and Black Olive trees frame a background of temperate Red Maple trees across the canal. Such a mixture of tropical and temperate plant life in such limited vicinity is extremely rare.

As we headed east over the Glades, I look down into the vast nothingness and even in a plane loaded with fifty other passengers, felt incredibly alone and insignificant. I would survey one or two solitary limestone roads coursing through the wilderness below wondering where these roads led to and why.

The closer to Miami we got, the cloudier it got. As we began our descent I picked out the landmarks I hold so dear on approach to Runway 9 Right at Miami international Airport - - the Tamiami Trail; the Sawgrass Extension of the Ronald Reagan Turnpike; the Dolphin Expressway; the Palmetto Expressway; Milam Dairy Road; the Blue Lagoon; and El Dorado Furniture, and then at 11:10 A.M. the sound of our tires kissing the piano keys - - another safe and enjoyable flight - - life is good! Strangely, the weather was much different here. It was very windy (twenty to thirty knots) and overcast with fast rolling clouds and tropical warmth off of the Atlantic. It was more reminiscent of a summer tropical depression than a clear Fall day.

A First Time For Everything
I had just purchased a new digital camera the day before my trip and anticipated taking lots of pictures for this article. Nolan even reinforced that by saying, “take lots of pictures” when I dropped him off at his house the evening before.

I had packed the new camera in my one piece of Jaguar luggage. After waiting at the AirTran luggage belt it was becoming obvious to me that my luggage must have been lost! Well, there’s a first time for everything. I was thinking in all gratitude that in all of my flights up until now, I had never experienced this before. There was a fellow passenger from the same flight who was in worse straights than me. His cruise ship was leaving the Port of Miami in three hours bound for the Caribbean and he is missing one of two pieces of his luggage.

Al Perry, AirTran Man Superb
I met a wonderful gentleman named Mr. Al Perry who works the baggage claim counter for AirTran at M.I.A. He is the type of man that you would want on your side. Courteous, professional and calm in the line of fire. When I pointed out these admirable traits he countered that he taught elementary school for twenty-five years. God Bless you Al Perry, you’re one of Air Tran’s finest and have touched the lives of innumerable others for the betterment of society. After conducting some research, he said my luggage might come in on the next flight out of Tampa, which was slated for 2:30P.M.

And Now, on With the Show…
An hour and a half late and without my camera to graphically recreate the event, I decided to make the best of a bad situation; after all, I arrived alive and safe - - life is good! And now I would be with wonderful kindred spirits, the “crazed fanboys and fangirls” of the South Florida world of commercial aviation.

I Meet a Living Legend and Florida Folk Hero!
Y’all have heard me previously talk about Florida Folk Hero “Miami Mike” Hiscano. (See La Fla, PCR #154). He was of course there peddling his wares, but a much bigger surprise would await me. His father, Augie Hiscano, was also in attendance. Upon my striking a conversation with this incredible man, I found out that he was the General Manager of Orange Blossom Hobbies in Miami for thirty-six years. Now, anyone who ever grew up in Miami in the past forty years, or even visited and searched for the absolute finest hobby shop in South Florida undoubtedly visited this incredible institution many a time - - I sure did, and it was on my “must do” list when visiting Miami! In addition to this, he has built miniature models of incredible complexity and detail that are not much larger than a dime! We discussed old Miami; how Auggie’s wife would take Mike to MIA in the days when the observation decks were still on the second story of the concourses; and the experiences that his family and my parents had in pre-Castro Cuba. Let me take this time to praise this jovial and genteel man who brought joy to innumerable hobby buffs (including the late-great “Big Wilson”). Suddenly the thought of lost luggage was lost in the gravity of this wonderful meeting - - life is good! The Missing Cosmic Muffin Pilot and The Levine’s and I Lament the Waning Interest in Commercial Aviation As I left the show to phone Al Perry on the status of my luggage, I spoke for a few minutes to Don and Linda Levine, Florida Folk Heroes Supreme and the creators of this wonderful annual show. Linda noticed my Plane Boats t-shirt featuring the Cosmic Muffin (See La Fla, PCR #178) and commented that she thought that its owner and pilot, David Drimmer was “still in the building”. Her husband, Don, went into the salon to find him and reported that he must have left before I got there (now I was getting a little mad at my luggage misfortune). That hurt! I really wanted to meet and thank that gentleman for his help in providing my article on the Muffin in issue #178. Immediately before I left for the nearest payphone at the Wyndham Miami Airport Hotel, Don and Linda were lamenting over the declining attendance of the event over the years. I chimed in that I thought the reason was one that plagues us all eventually - - it’s generational - - the core audience who had an interest in commercial aviation from the late forties through the mid-eighties has started to move on or even pass on.

To Buy or Not To Buy? That is the Question!
There it was, one of the most exquisite models I have ever seen! A beautifully professional 1/100 scale TAMPA Colombia DC-6B amidst other incredible works on the table manned by the staff of Miami’s Atlantic Models, but I was in a bit of a quandary - - I didn’t have any luggage to put this rare masterpiece in (now I was getting a little mad at my luggage misfortune). But I took the gamble and figured if I had to mail it to myself I would! More on this later.

	Miami City Hall at Dinner Key. This historic building was originally a terminal for Pan American World Airways from 1930 to 1946 and is where flying boat service to Latin America was launched.

Al Perry to the Rescue
True to his word Mr. Perry found my baggage on the 2:30 flight so I drove about three blocks west to M.I.A. and picked it up. Reunited and it feels so good! The problem was that it was already 3:30 P.M. by then, not leaving much time to visit anything with so little good daylight left to photograph. Fairchild Tropical Garden was out as it closes at 4:00 P.M., so I opted for visiting one of my favorite spots, Miami City Hall and marina at Dinner Key, followed by an incredible dinner at the Rusty Pelican on the Rickenbacker Causeway in Key Biscayne. The Miami skyline was breathtaking even on this blustery and windy Caribbean day so I snapped one of my few shots before the sun sank on this too short but wonderful day - - life is good.

Brits Cause A Local Hurricane
Once back at the Red Roof Inn at LeJeune Road, located almost immediately across from Runway 9L/27R, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet lumbered dramatically into the night sky over the Coconut Palm laced River Road neighborhood. This British Airways flight was headed for London Heathrow and the aircraft’s incredible weight and mass created a several-second, mini-hurricane poolside at the hotel - - very impressive and somewhat frightening at the same time.

	The marina behind Miami City Hall.

Horns A-Honkin’
Not long after the spectacular take off mentioned above, horns started honking on LeJeune Rd. and nearby N.W. 36th Street. Suddenly my mind was taken back to October 1997 when I stepped outside of the now non-existent Airliner Hotel and horns were honking in celebration of the Florida Marlins first World Series win. I went into the lobby and was informed by the attendants that yes indeed, the Marlins won their second World Series beating the New York Yankees on their own home turf by a score of 2-0 (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/)! Upon returning to my room and reveling in the Marlins' victory, another Sports Legend who I love dearly, Coach Bobby Bowden, had led his Florida State Seminoles to his record 339 victories making him the most winning college football coach in history. The Noles had beat Wake Forest by a score of 48 to 24. Oh, and another good thing about this trip - - it was a bye week for the University of Miami and University of Florida, so I didn’t miss as much of my regular fill of Florida College football. As I put my head on my pillow, I smiled to myself and thought, life is good!

Will’s TAMPA Colombia DC-6B Takes Its First Flight
Guess what didn’t fit into my luggage after all? You guessed it, my beautiful TAMPA Colombia DC-6B model.

Just another day in paradise as the sun begins to sink below the Miami skyline as viewed across Biscayne Bay from the Rusty Pelican restaurant.

In this day and age of overzealous airport security I didn’t know what to expect at MIA as I would take AirTran Flight 2138 back to Tampa (“Hey buddy you could hijack or bludgeon somebody with that model!”), but again I took the gamble that the TSA personnel would understand my predicament. They not only understood, but TSA and AirTran personnel at MIA and then TPA fell in love with it, wondering where they could get a model of such quality - - life is indeed good!

Of course I told them to contact the Atlantic Models web page and consider investing in Roger Jarman’s fine work. My 1/100 scale DC-6B (and I ) sped along at 380 miles per hour at 23,000 feet, something its inspired original would never have been capable of!

Home Sweet Home
At 10:25 A.M. on Sunday October 26, 2003, I was about one thousand feet immediately above one of my best friend’s house on finals to Tampa International Airport.

Denis Lebrun, who is the lead artist for the comic strip “Blondie’ (Remember our exclusive PCR interview?) is on the home page at lives directly beneath the flight path of Runway 18R/36L. After deplaning I stopped by his house to plot out our January trip to Miami so he can pick up some rare corals that he hopes to have shipped to MIA from Kenya.

I then took my prize model and some wonderful memories of some wonderful people back home to Plant City where my lovely wife Karen Cashon and our two cats, Erin and Tezcat, who reside in our 1920 Florida cracker house, were awaiting my safe arrival- - life is good!