“Certainly dear, as soon as you have your pilot’s license.”
“Can’t I hire a pilot?”
“You know you are not allowed to ride with strangers.”
“But I would be flying, and I could take a bodyguard along.”
“I suppose so, go ahead and draw up a budget and present it to your Mother.”
I don’t know if Dad is a coward or just plain brilliant. I’m going with brilliant yellow. This took the wind out of Mary’s sails. She thought she had him cornered.
Meanwhile, I was scarfing down the last of my breakfast so I could go see my new plane.
I was in a hurry so I drove the jeep over. It was a new addition to our growing fleet of cars but was the best choice for the back way to the Forest Service airport.
Unlike the last time I was there, the only welcome I received was a wave from one of the Rangers I had met on my last trip. Apparently, the idiot with a gun was gone. I guess that left me as the only idiot with a gun. At least, I didn’t throw the weight of my badge and pistol around. Still, I’m an idiot, at least around girls.
My hangar doors were closed. I say my hangar because the whole building had been painted in British racing green with my coat of arms on the large door. Going through the normal-sized man door I turned on the lights.
There sat a beautiful brand new Cessna 320 with the same paint job as the one in England. The inside of the hangar had been done up and there was a complete setup for the minor maintenance required. Anything major would go into the Cessna service center at the dealership.
I had to get inside and check everything out. It was identical to my British aircraft. I thought about taking it up for a flight but realized that I didn’t have time at the moment.
Returning home, I thanked my parents profusely for thinking of buying the plane. Once more I thought it was really nice to have money.
We talked about my proposed trip around the US and what cities I would visit. The list covered every major city and a lot of the minor ones in the entire country. It would take several years to visit all of them. I decided that I would do a southern route with the last stop being in Philadelphia before heading home.
I would fly from LA to San Antonio, followed by New Orleans, Miami, Savannah, Washington DC, and then Philadelphia. There would be fuel stops between some of the cities. I would have to plan those out.
As all this conversation was occurring, Sharon Wallace walked in. She was there to talk to me and Mary about the premiere. When she caught up with what we were talking about she made a suggestion.
“As you visit each city you could invite your local fans to a special showing of ‘Over the Ohio’. I can take care of getting it all set-up. That would really help the ticket sales. Also, it is time you made the news again, plus the whole trip could be charged off as a tax deduction.
I had never given much thought to tax deductions until I got involved with my businesses. Now I realized the impact that not having them would make on my income. I didn’t mind paying the legal amounts but didn’t want to pay any more than that. I think I got that from Dad.
Then Dad brought up the fly in the ointment.
“How are you going to get around in each of those cities? You can’t rent a car.”
We considered the options. I could just drive the trip, that would take too long. I could rent a limo and driver at each stop. I could have the company buy me a car for each town, that was the most far-out suggestion.
While these ideas were being bandied about the question of security came up. While I wasn’t wild about the thought I knew that if I was going to appear in a large crowd I would need security.
For the film showings, we would hire a local firm with multiple personnel for crowd control or if available, off-duty policemen. The off-duty was what I wanted, it gave the men in blue a chance at extra income. They certainly deserved it.
Mum insisted that I have even closer in protection, even if it was just one man. I had the bright idea of hiring an off duty US Marshal. I thought of it as I was wearing a sport coat with my shoulder rig and it was starting to chafe a little. It had become part of my clothing as much as wearing shoes and socks.
So it was settled on hired car and driver, local police off-duty for the showings, and a US Marshal at all times. This didn’t include the advance party of one of Sharon’s employees to take care of having everyone at the right time and place, advertising, and arranging the film showings, plus hotel rooms.
I was reminded that the local newspapers and TV people would want interviews and school would be out if the politicians got involved.
I began to have second thoughts about the trip. We continued to talk about the logistics of the trip through lunch. What had started as me on a sightseeing tour had turned into a full publicity blitz.
After many phone calls over the next couple of days, and many a conversation it worked out that I was going to visit the cities that I listed. Sharon Wallace would meet me in every city by a chartered plane. She would have a car waiting for me. It would be rented in the company name and I would be listed as a driver.
The studio would
