More waiting around....

More about the 2nd day... more briefings... included a scheduled one on how to utilise the Oxford car hire scheme (Stable door open, horse bolted). This briefing was subsequently cancelled anyway, so was even less use than it would have been. Terrific.
We had our mug shots taken for the FBI/CIA/NSA/ETC - there is a chance that some of our group may fly on Friday or Saturday this week, but given that it's 4th July next week and we all get Monday and Tuesday off I don't see it happening.
We had our first afternoon of Technical Briefings today too, which were all very basic introductions to airplane controls. Time filling exercise while the TSA approval to fly comes through.
After finishing early I headed back up to the hotel, got changed out of uniform into something a little more comfortable for a 107 degree F heat, then headed out to view an apartment for us to live in for the reaminder of the stay here. After a tour of the facilities at Desert Sage, Clare and I left there suitable impressed. A few pics attached, but worth checking out http://www.desertsageapts.com for more info.
We are told we can be moved in on Friday this week, which is great news.

Headed over to 'Target' store, which is another huge store similar to Wal-Mart. To say Goodyear is out in the sticks, the amount of stores and their content puts most of England to shame. There's certainly nothing like these places within 50 miles of Oxford, even counting the Asda Wal-Mart in Swindon. And let's not get started on the number of fast food places and restaurants...

It's now 21:45 - Clare and Georgia are both fast asleep on one of the hotel beds. Think I'll call it a night too - try and get a few hours kip before a certain little madam wakes at 5am again, yelling 'UP! UP! UP! DADDY!!' :-)

Waiting to fly

Today was our second full day in Arizona, and we are still going through the motions waiting for approval to fly from the TSA. Yesterday was an interesting one: we started the day with a short intro from OATC, before being taken by van up to Goodyear Police Station to have our fingerprints taken. Fortunately everyone made it out alive, and thanks to the efficiency of the local plod, we had a few hours to kill before we were needed back at Goodyear Airport.
Clare had fortunately been and arranged a hire car, so she came down to pick myself and Toddy up, and take us back up to the Best Western Hotel. Toddy and I wandered over to the local shops to get some stuff for lunch, and also called in the car hire place to get some quotes for him to hire a car.
Back at Goodyear that afternoon we had a couple more briefings then called it a day. At this point I headed back up to the hotel, and some of the guys from the course made their way up to the rather large Wal-Mart store just outside of Goodyear.
A couple of hours later Clare, Georgia and I headed up to Wal-Mart to buy a couple of pay-as-you-go mobiles, and found a load of guys from the course hanging around - apparently waiting for Toddy (who had signed out one of Oxford's cars and was ferrying people around) to come back for them.
It later turned out that Toddy had taken a break from Taxi duties and let Lee use the car, but Lee had rather unfortunately been involved in a slight prang, damaging the car. See here for more details. Thankfully no-one was hurt in the crash, but it does mean AP256 have no group vehicle until the car (7 seater Kia Sedona actually) gets mended. Pretty good start all in all.

Getting ready to go

Well... that time has finally come around. We will shortly be leaving behind our recently newly adopted home in Witney, and heading 5000 miles west to try to find a new temporary home in Goodyear, Arizona.

It's been a tough 7 months for all concerned, but now I'm happy to say that all 14 ground school exams are behind me. Having got the results last Wednesday made it easier to relax and enjoy the last few days of the break, and have a nice day with the family on Saturday to celebrate my daughter turning 2 years old. See pic of Georgia trying on her new sun hat!


All packing pretty much done, just a few last minute jobs to do before the morning.

Next stop: Heathrow!