AOPA Pilot Blog: Reporting Points

I received an e-mail today about my video interview clip reporting on the Mud ‘n Fun morning after the soaking rains on Sunday.

The question:was: “Can you tell us what the nationality and halting accent of that female interviewer is on the morning after views of the muddy camping tiedown area? We have a pool going with most insisting she is foreign and most of those saying Scandinavian but I think it could be Pennsylvania Dutch.”

Wow, I’m part of a pool! This is getting exciting! So, let’s see what hints I can give you…
I was born in Wellington, New Zealand, but it was not my native country. As the child of a diplomat, I lived throughout the world, although only one country, to which we returned periodically, was my family’s home and the origin of my accent. Water, flowers, and the Golden Age culture defines that country.

So, what do you think? Where am I from? Take a look at the video, to see if you can place me.

AOPA Pilot creative director Mike Kline and I walked around the Sun ‘n Fun campground Monday morning to find a dozen airplanes sunk in the mud. We noticed small tents perched under their airplane’s wing while still tethered to submerged anchors, and their owners wringing out clothes, and collecting drifting coolers. Take a look at our video and an interview with folks who had left their Cessna 172 parked in what had been a prime spot a week earlier, only to find their 172′s wheel pants submerged in the murky pond that now covered their camping spot. They and other fly-in campers braved fire ant attacks to pull their winged chariots to higher and dryer ground.