Arts DEVO

Operation “Freedom Eagle” If you’re like me, you’ve been closely following the Chico E-R’s riveting multipart series, “Plane Rides on Truck,” which has chronicled the week-long highway journey of a retired F-15 Eagle as it was driven from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to the Chico Air Museum.

With the E-R completely blanketing the Plane Rides on Truck beat, Arts DEVO just steered clear of its airspace. But now that the fighter jet is safely at rest in its new home, and I’ve had a chance go back and savor the E-R’s series and relive the glory of the loading, the highway haul (apparently, special permits were required) and the unloading, I feel it’s my journalistic duty to fill in the gaps in their coverage. Though they would have you believe that the F-15 traveled for a mere seven days solely by way of a flatbed truck on an eight-state ride, AD has uncovered secret government photos that show that the plane was possibly involved in an adventure far longer and more grueling and exciting than the E-R could ever have imagined.

Day one: F-15 Eagle is loaded onto an old-timey steamship and dragged over the Smoky Mountains by locals.

Day 10: After mistakenly hitching to the cab of an Ice Road Trucker, a dogsled team rushes the plane back to the lower 48.

Day 16: The F-15 is diverted to the American Southwest to aid in fighting the drug cartels along the border before hooking up with a mule train.

Day 51: Almost home: After a month-long foodie/craft-beer tour of the Bay Area, Chico’s F-15 makes a symbolic pass under the Golden Gate Bridge thanks to a couple of dope chicks he met at the pier.

DEVOtions

• Give it up: Raise a glass for AD BFFF and former CN&R Arts Editor Mark Lore, who just had his interview with indie god Steve Malkmus published in the new Spin! (Oh, there’s the added bonus that he and his fiancée, Alexis Harmon, are getting married this weekend.)

• More-better Bard: No more Shakespeare in a tent at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. For those holding off on visiting Ashland, know that the crack in the support beam in the beloved Angus Bowmer Theatre has been repaired and all scheduled performances have returned to the space.