BG Barnstormer, my pen name
I am Robin and have chosen to write under my pen name, BG Barnstormer. Here’s what my pen name stands for:
B is for Birdie
This is a nickname my older brother gave me growing up. As a dutiful older brother, I was his favorite sibling to pick on. I’m sure I had the best reactions (screams and freak outs!) to his pranks. I will share more of these stories as I share my story.
G stands for Galleta
(pronounced )“Guy-ehhh-tuh)”
This is the nickname that my kids call me. I love to bake, eat, and enjoy cookies with my family and friends. Often I can be found baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies to enjoy and my kids started calling me “cookie” one afternoon while I was baking. When we began learning some words in Spanish, they asked what cookie is, hence my new nickname of Galleta.
Barnstormer
In the 1920’s, it was a term for pilots who traveled from place to place and preformed stunts for entertainment. As a pilot by trade and avid traveler, this term encompasses my love of aviation and travel. We have traveled by land and air for many years, including full-time RV travel for over 2 years.
As defined from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Barnstorm
Definition
Intransitive verb
- To tour through rural districts staging usually theatrical performances
- To travel from place to place making brief stops (as in a political campaign or a promotional tour)
- To pilot one’s airplane in sightseeing flights with passengers or in exhibition stunts in an unscheduled course especially in rural districts
Transitive verb
- To travel across while barnstorming
Barnstormer is a term that I hold dear to my heart. I have been involved in aviation for a number of years. When I think of the term barnstormer, I think of a person who is traveling and potentially performing stunts in an aircraft. Early barnstormers gave rides, and performed stunts such as wing walking or aerobatics. In aviation in the 1920s, barnstorming literally took off. This article states, “Barnstorming earned its name from the aerobatic pilots who would land their light planes in fields and use local barns as venues for their impromptu airshows.”
In relation to me, I am a barnstormer in a sense that I am a person who goes from place to place. I live to travel. We are an aviation family who started traveling by small aircraft, then by airlines, and now fulltime in an RV (recreational vehicle, not to be confused with an RV aircraft.) This is not a page about travel exclusively, although I will share some things about our journeys. I will share thoughts I have discovered through my adventures, lessons, and life.
I am a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) with a handful of other ratings. Just like one would take driving lessons in a car, I am qualified and certified to teach people to fly an airplane. I am married to my husband, who is also a pilot and we have three children. I am passionate about everything aviation related and continue to stay connected to my aviation community and mentor others in their dreams of flight. Even though currently I am not professionally flying, I dabble in aviation. I keep my licenses up and continue to live vicariously through my friends that fly professionally. I take nearly any opportunity to hop along on a flight for fun. I have always felt most peaceful and at home in the air, listening to the hum of the engine and looking out the window at the endless welcoming sky above and peaceful earth below.
Friends, welcome to my blog, my thoughts, and my life.
Signing off,
-BG Barnstormer