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Flyover: This Land is Our Land
As our Southwest Airlines 737 lifted off from Ft. Myers on Thursday, it was a sparkling clear day and I had a window seat on a geography lesson. But the first landmark I recognized was Doug and Matt's condo community as we flew almost straight over it. Here it is above; their unit is in the building at the end of the lagoon.
I could make out many familiar features below. Here, the Six Mile Cypress slough cuts a green swath through Lee County. We hope to visit the boardwalk and tour the visitor center there next time we are in the neighborhood.
Twin bridges carry US 41 across the wide Caloosa- hatchee River between downtown Ft. Myers and North Ft. Myers. The I-75 bridge is at the top of the picture.
Inland we saw huge truck farms like this one. Growing in these rectangles are all kinds of crops including strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, and various citrus crops. Recent freezes have damaged some of them.
For a while we were flying mostly up the Gulf Coast. One familiar landmark, seen at left, is Wacca- ssassa Bay. The green area is the Gulf Hammock Wildlife Management Area, or so the map tells me.
We crossed the Florida Panhandle and a corner of Georgia before entering Alabama air space. I'm not sure if these fields were in GA or FL, but their amazing geometry was worth a picture, albeit from 32,000 feet. The haziness proves that even on a clear day, we have smog aloft.
This river was striking even from over 5 miles up. After studying the map, I think it is a portion of the Chatta- hoochee River, which forms the border between Georgia and Alabama. At least I'm calling it that for now. If someone knows better, please let me know. 
Halfway through the flight, the pilot told us we had just passed over Birming- ham, AL. Soon I could see this broad snaky waterway far to the north. Clearly it's a lake formed by damming a river. After checking the maps, this would be Lake Wilson on the Tennessee River in Northern AL.
Still Lake Wilson/ Tennessee River, and a bridge leading to the small town of Elgin, a few miles south of the Tennessee- Alabama border. Of course, borders don't show up on maps; rivers and roads and fields and towns do.
It seemed like only a few minutes before we had crossed Tennessee and a tiny corner of Kentucky and voila-- the confluence of the Ohio and MIssissippi Rivers was below us. Lots of barge traffic on the Ohio and some on the Mississippi as well.
Through history, the Mississippi has changed course many times, leaving horsehoe (make that oxbow--JL3/7/10) lakes like this one behind. I'm sure this one is famous and has a name, but I can't find it on my maps. It's between Charleston and Cape Girardeau, though.
Here we are over The Cape. I think the wooded area along the bend at the top of the picture is the Trail of Tears State Park, which Norm and I visited a couple of years ago.
The bridge connecting St. Mary, MO and Chester, IL. It's the only bridge over the Mississippi between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau. We crossed this a few years back when we visited Ste. Genevieve. This was such a marvelous flight, being able to recognize a lot of landmarks and getting to learn about new ones.
Here's a sight I've seen many times as our plane completed a 90- degree turn on approach to Lambert Field. This is looking north on the MIssissippi, with the Chain of Rocks navigation canal at the far right. Mosenthein Island is in the center. I think I can see a slight curve to the earth on the horizon, can you? Also, some smog-- although the day looked so clear from the ground.
We are really losing altitude quickly now. I can make out the stores in the Buzz Westfall shopping center (formerly known as Northland, to you old-time St. Louisans) as well as the Glen Echo country club gold course.
Several years ago the airport bought out a large area of the towns of Berkeley and Kinloch for noise abatement and expansion. The shadow of our plane races across the empty lots, marked off by the deserted streets. We are seconds from touching down on the runway, back home after our wonderful Florida vacation.
As our Southwest Airlines 737 lifted off from Ft. Myers on Thursday, it was a sparkling clear day and I had a window seat on a geography lesson. But the first landmark I recognized was Doug and Matt's condo community as we flew almost straight over it. Here it is above; their unit is in the building at the end of the lagoon.
I could make out many familiar features below. Here, the Six Mile Cypress slough cuts a green swath through Lee County. We hope to visit the boardwalk and tour the visitor center there next time we are in the neighborhood.
Twin bridges carry US 41 across the wide Caloosa- hatchee River between downtown Ft. Myers and North Ft. Myers. The I-75 bridge is at the top of the picture.
Inland we saw huge truck farms like this one. Growing in these rectangles are all kinds of crops including strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, and various citrus crops. Recent freezes have damaged some of them.
For a while we were flying mostly up the Gulf Coast. One familiar landmark, seen at left, is Wacca- ssassa Bay. The green area is the Gulf Hammock Wildlife Management Area, or so the map tells me.
We crossed the Florida Panhandle and a corner of Georgia before entering Alabama air space. I'm not sure if these fields were in GA or FL, but their amazing geometry was worth a picture, albeit from 32,000 feet. The haziness proves that even on a clear day, we have smog aloft.
This river was striking even from over 5 miles up. After studying the map, I think it is a portion of the Chatta- hoochee River, which forms the border between Georgia and Alabama. At least I'm calling it that for now. If someone knows better, please let me know. 
Halfway through the flight, the pilot told us we had just passed over Birming- ham, AL. Soon I could see this broad snaky waterway far to the north. Clearly it's a lake formed by damming a river. After checking the maps, this would be Lake Wilson on the Tennessee River in Northern AL.
Still Lake Wilson/ Tennessee River, and a bridge leading to the small town of Elgin, a few miles south of the Tennessee- Alabama border. Of course, borders don't show up on maps; rivers and roads and fields and towns do.
It seemed like only a few minutes before we had crossed Tennessee and a tiny corner of Kentucky and voila-- the confluence of the Ohio and MIssissippi Rivers was below us. Lots of barge traffic on the Ohio and some on the Mississippi as well.
Through history, the Mississippi has changed course many times, leaving horsehoe (make that oxbow--JL3/7/10) lakes like this one behind. I'm sure this one is famous and has a name, but I can't find it on my maps. It's between Charleston and Cape Girardeau, though.
Here we are over The Cape. I think the wooded area along the bend at the top of the picture is the Trail of Tears State Park, which Norm and I visited a couple of years ago.
The bridge connecting St. Mary, MO and Chester, IL. It's the only bridge over the Mississippi between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau. We crossed this a few years back when we visited Ste. Genevieve. This was such a marvelous flight, being able to recognize a lot of landmarks and getting to learn about new ones.
Here's a sight I've seen many times as our plane completed a 90- degree turn on approach to Lambert Field. This is looking north on the MIssissippi, with the Chain of Rocks navigation canal at the far right. Mosenthein Island is in the center. I think I can see a slight curve to the earth on the horizon, can you? Also, some smog-- although the day looked so clear from the ground.
We are really losing altitude quickly now. I can make out the stores in the Buzz Westfall shopping center (formerly known as Northland, to you old-time St. Louisans) as well as the Glen Echo country club gold course.
Several years ago the airport bought out a large area of the towns of Berkeley and Kinloch for noise abatement and expansion. The shadow of our plane races across the empty lots, marked off by the deserted streets. We are seconds from touching down on the runway, back home after our wonderful Florida vacation.
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