House of Burgess

I just want to make it clear that I didn't throw up at any point when I was in CALSTAR IV's helicopter Friday.
I will say though that I made sure Sarah, our photo assistant, show me where the plastic shopping bags tucked near the front of the craft were before we took off though.
I wasn't even worried about "talking to the dinosaurs" as my friend and former roommate Jonathan used to put it, before our pilot, Paul G. Likens asked us about our tolerance for motion sickness.
It was odd though, as soon as he mentioned it my stomach did a small flip.
I was invited along with Sarah to take a ride when we visited with the base's flight nurses in connection with the front-page story we were doing for a Saturday concerning a presentation they were giving at Willits High School. I don't really have a fear of flying normally and most of my complaints regarding airplanes have to do with the shrinking portions of food and drink we usually get served.
It was when we had just taken off and Mr. Likens pulled the helicopter backwards in midair that I found new complaints about air travel I hadn't previously thought of.
"You can't do that in the airplane," he told us, laughing.
I think at this point I must have made a noise that betrayed my wish to not be doing what we were doing at that moment.
"I thought you wanted an adventure," he said, over the in-flight intercom.
I pushed the small button connected to the cord of the headset I was fitted with.
"I don't believe I ever said that," I said in a small voice.
We then cut across Ukiah and circled Lake Mendocino to Sarah's trailer on Black Bart Trail where we buzzed her sister's house. Sarah waved to her sister, niece and Rio the Boston Terrier as they looked up, confounded as to why the CALSTAR helicopter was circling their house.
On the way back over Lake Mendocino we made a sharp turn and I think I made another noise I didn't mean to make.
"You're not going to wuss out on me now," he said.
I once again applied pressure to the small box connected to my headset.
"I don't believe I ever said I was tough either," I said.
After buzzing my apartment and snapping some pictures, we made our way back to the base, lunch intact.
The final scare came after we had landed and I overheard our pilot on his cell phone describing a problem he had with the craft while we were in their. I was terrified for a moment, until I found out a moment later that it had only been a gauge that had malfunctioned.
All in all, I had a fantastic time and I want to thank the wonderful employees of CALSTAR who volunteered their time to entertain a queasy journalist.