So is Spokane a good place to live?

Back in either 1980 or 1981, I covered an air show and aircraft display at the Air Force base next to Tucson.

One of those I talked to that day was a member of a B-52 crew visiting from Fairchild Air Force Base. I’m not sure how I remember that. But I do, and the archives of the Arizona Daily Star would back me up.

Though I am certain I brought up the fact that my father had flown in B-52s well before the Fairchild officer’s time, I don’t remember one thing we said. Maybe we talked about the heat.

But I have wondered about that guy a time or two. Did he retire here? Do I know one of his children? Have I talked to his wife on the phone? Did he start a business that I have visited? Does he own rental property I go past evey day? Has he flipped me off in traffic?

You know those movie plots that hinge on a chance encounter that sets off a cascade of unforeseeable events? I wonder about that, too.

Perhaps he was the first person to wise me up to the fact that Spokane’s weather isn’t at all like Seattle’s.

And maybe…maybe I need to try harder to track down the clipping that would tell me his name.