Heading home

Photos by Stan Rolfsrud

"There goes Air Force One!" Stan remarked to the two strangers heading toward him on the walking path south of Thomas Road. Startled, the couple turned about and sure enough, our nation's leader was overhead.
It was 12:10, and the President had finished his speech at the high school about half an hour earlier, ample time to motorcade to the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport and head home.

Stan had seen a burst of airplane departures as he jogged south along the Coronado Golf Course, but then there was nothing to be seen anywhere in the overcast sky. But after a few minutes, there it was, lumbering along in what seemed to be an unusually low trajectory, compared to the earlier flights, quite unmistakable in its unique paint job.
The blue and white Boeing 747 headed East toward Washington, D.C. and out of sight, giving Stan a chance to get acquainted with the strangers on the path, a couple of snowbirds from Canada, who agreed that indeed, Air Force One would be a fine way to get around.

There it is. Robert and Janice get a glimpse of Air Force One. The wide-angle shot makes it hard to
see in the distance -- the plane is rising to the right of the street lamp.