Airplane Friends: Dan

Airplane Friends: Dan

On a flight from Syracuse to Chicago I met my latest airplane friend, Dan.  Truth be told, I wanted to sleep on this flight because it was at 5:15am but then I coughed and Dan said, "sounds like you've got what I've got."  We both laughed and I realized Dan was DTT...down to talk.Dan is originally from a town just outside of Whitewater, Wisconsin...about 2 hours from anything you have heard of. He grew up very poor and did not have much given to him.  In his teens he realized that he could make a little money fixing cars so he started doing that.  A handful of years later Dan and his brother opened their own auto mechanic shop. They ran it for 17 years until dealing with insurance companies became more hassle than it was worth. He loved working on cars but wasn’t a speed freak. His first car and his first love was a 1968 Buick Special and he spoke about her fondly. Dan met his wife shortly thereafter and with his earnings he bought her a beauty shop in town and they lived a fun life being storeowners.While Dan owned his mechanic shop he also had a side hustle, which, if you have ever seen my “Finding Your Third Place” work/life balance speech, you know I am all about. His side gig was quite random… he was a teacher/salesperson for a company that specialized in confined space rescues – more on that in a bit. When it came time for him to sell his mechanic shop Dan decided he wanted to be a fireman. He applied and tested in the city of Milwaukee and, much to his surprise due to his age, he got in!   Since he was now a city employee he and his wife had to move 2 hours northeast to the city. They sold his wife’s beauty shop and his shop and made the move to Milwaukee.Dan was a fireman for 18 years in Milwaukee.  During that time his wife worked as a phlebotomist, which could be one of the most fun words to say ever. He said he worked long enough to receive a pension but the city began to wear on him and his wife. He spoke harshly about people who were “taking advantage of the system,” and said he finally had had enough. Dan and his wife moved back to their hometown and settled in to partial retirement.I say partial because the reason Dan was on our flight was because he just came from teaching the emergency response and facilities teams at Cornell University how to perform confined space rescues. Friends, Dan is the man. He is probably in his late 50s and to make some side money he teaches different companies and municipalities how to strap on some ropes, hook up carabineers, and save people who get caught working in cramped spaces around the world. The company he works for is CMC Rescue and feel free to click on the link to see what they do.   In a couple months he is going to spend a week in China, next week he is going to Vegas, and just got back from a trip to a hydroelectric damn in Washington State.In his spare time Dan likes to ride his Harley and has dreams of restoring an old Chevy Pick-up and a 60’s Pontiac GTO.   Here’s to hoping we are all as badass as Dan is when we get to our late 50s, but in the meantime I am glad he and I are airplane friends.If you liked this story, and want to read more like it, feel free to check out the rest of my Airplane Friends posts.  Click on this link and scroll down!