Sled Driver

No aircraft ever captured the curiosity & fascination of the public like the SR-71 Blackbird. Nicknamed "The Sled" by those few who flew it, the aircraft was shrouded in secrecy from its inception. Entering the U.S. Air Force inventory in 1966, the SR-71 was the fastest, highest flying jet aircraft in the world. Now for the first time, a Blackbird pilot shares his unique experience of what it was like to fly this legend of aviation history. Through the words & photographs of retired Major Brian Shul, we enter the world of the "Sled Driver." Major Shul gives us insight on all phases of flying, including the humbling experience of simulator training, the physiological stresses of wearing a space suit for long hours, & the intensity & magic of flying 80,000 feet above the Earth's surface at 2000 miles per hour. SLED DRIVER takes the reader through riveting accounts of the rigors of initial training, the gamut of emotions experienced while flying over hostile territory, & the sheer joy of displaying the jet at some of the world's largest airshows. Illustrated with rare photographs, seen here for the first time, SLED DRIVER captures the mystique & magnificence of this most unique of all aircraft.

MUSH! is tailored to sled doggers of all levels of interest and experience. The beginner will appreciate the clear cut instructions for assembling his own equipment. The "old pros" will find its encyclopedic format of great and lasting value.

African American explorer Matthew Henson had been traveling with Robert E. Peary and his team in the arctic by dog sled for weeks. The temperature was almost sixty degrees below zero. After years of trying to reach the North Pole, would their quest end because of frigid conditions? And who would receive acclaim for being the first person to accomplish such a difficult goal? Henson was born not long after the Civil War, when life in the United States, especially for African Americans, was changing quickly. As a young man, he toured the world while working on a boat, where he experienced freedom and kindness from the captain, but faced racism from crew members as well as other people on shore. After leaving seafaring behind, Henson was to meet Lieutenant Robert E. Peary, a man who would alter the course of his life forever. He would accompany Peary on dangerous, exciting expeditions to Nicaragua, Northern Greenland, and finally the perilous North Pole. Book jacket.

Have you ever wondered as you drove across this great country of ours, who were those guys who wrested this continent from primeval forests, the raging and untamed rivers, the desolate and seeming unconquerable deserts? In short, a threatening, inhospitable and uncivilized land, unexplored, with untold terrors awaiting those foolish enough to take that next step into that vast wilderness. Who were those courageous, fearless frontiersmen who never hesitated to take that next step. This historical novel seamlessly follows a family, the Bantas, through twelve generations, nine of which lived their lives as frontiersmen on the edge of civilization on the North American continent. It is based on historic facts and human figures which the author, through deductive analysis, brought to life. Names, places and dates in this narrative are as historically accurate as the author's knowledge and sources permit. Most quotations other than those that are indented are imaginary. From the progenitor of the Banta family name, Epke Jacobs, who arrived in Vlissingen, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, in 1659, through Theodore Parker Banta (T. P.) of the eighth generation on this continent, there was a constant movement by each following generation to the frontier´s edge. They were always pushing the edge of the envelope in its odyssey of two?hundred and forty-one years across a new continent from Flushing on the Atlantic coast to the Imperial Valley fifty miles from the Pacific Ocean. Part I of this book follows the first seven generations. It begins telling Epke Jacobse's story of his and his family's migration in 1659 from Minertsga on the dike protected lowlands of the Rhine River's delta in Friesland, the northern province of Holland, and continues with his arrival into the Dutch colony of New Netherland to operate an inn on Long Island. It concludes with seventh generation Frederick Banta's, migration to Hanging Grove Township near Rensellear, Indiana, where he bought land from the United States government and carved a farm from hillocks in its swampy land. During these seven generations, each following generation reached out and settled the continents newest frontier. T. P. of the eighth generation, along with his wife and sons were the last of these generations of frontiersmen. His story, part II of this book, is the story of the conquering of the last frontier in the contiguous United States of America. His frontier was the delta of the Colorado River, named the Colorado Desert - the most God-forsaken and dead world imaginable. He and his wife Carrie, along with their three sons, were the fourth family to settle in the desert under its new name, the Imperial Valley. Who, in their wildest dreams, could foresee that this desolation could be made to bloom through irrigation water from the Colorado River in an abundance of luxurious green which caused it to become the vegetable garden of the nation. Starting one hundred and seventeen years before the American Revolution, this book tells a continuous story in human terms of the building of our great nation, the United States of America. This historical novel takes you from the delta of the Europe's great Rhine River, where dikes held back the North Sea from flooding the lands, to the delta of North America's great Colorado River consisting of nothing but a sandy desert crossing the Gulf of California. It does this by following one line of one family that never left the frontier for over 242 years.