It started in 2008 when George Sydnor acquired four of the blades from the 7x10 Wind Tunnel demolished that year at NASA Langley. George and Jim Corliss wanted to give one of the 450-pound Sitka Spruce blades to Pete Zell, but didn't know how to transport it across the country. Enter Mike George, aka Bigturnip, and his Chevy pickup truck.

Mike left California on February 7, 2013, and headed east to George's farm in the Northern Neck area of Virginia. He spent several days, including his birthday, with a group of good friends at the farm, and then he and Pete loaded the Blade onto the pickup truck, seriously testing the truck's load capacity, and embarked on a homeward-bound road trip.

An assortment of memories follows on the next four pages.