Just like Buddy Holly.

I've been asked by Sara the spin the sad tale of my sole experience riding in an airplane. Yes, you read that right, my sole experience riding in airplane. It wasn't an airliner either, it was a single engine private plane. You know, the kind with a propeller. I suppose in this day and age never having ridden in an airliner makes me some kind of freak, but then there's plenty that makes me a freak.

It was the mid 80's and my family was on vacation down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. If you're not familiar with the Outer Banks it's basically a long, eroding sand reef that stretches down the entire coast of North Carolina. People live on it. There's hotels built on it. And it's washing away at a distressing rate, but I digress.

The Outer Banks are probably best known as the place where the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane. From this same location my sister and I went up in a tour plane piloted by a guy who looked like a roadie for the Grateful Dead. I don't know if my parents got a good look at this scraggly-looking guy, but I suspect if they had they may not have let us go up.

Right after we took off he yelled over at me, "You let me know when you want me to loop it!" I think I just said something clever like, "Uhhh....OK." I didn't know if he was serious or not. But, out over the ocean, he put the plane into a mild dive and I felt the G-forces pulling the skin on my face back. I looked over at the pilot and he was looking back at me laughing. My sister was in the back seat oblivious, taking pictures out of the window.

It wasn't all terror. The Outer Banks are called the Graveyard of the Atlantic because of all the shipwrecks in the relatively shallow water. I had no idea you could see underwater shipwrecks from the air. There were two huge ones right in front of our hotel that you'd never have suspected were there unless you saw them from above.

The plane landed safely. I didn't cry, puke, or scream.

All in all it was one of the cooler experiences I've had on vacation, but it was also the last time I ever rode in a plane. I didn't plan it this way, it's just how it ended up. I planned on traveling the world, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.