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>Sam and became friends from the time I played on his >album on Gilley's Records and spent a lot of time >together during the course of that record. > >While we were doing that recording we needed Sam to >fly up from Corpus to Pasadena to do some vocals. Mike >Taylor (the producer) was a pilot and talked Sam into >letting us (Mike and me) fly a single engined plane >down and bring him back. Sam was hesitant but agreed >so Mike and I rented a Skyhawk (small 4 place single >engine) in LaPorte TX and headed down the coast to >pick up Sam. > >We had to spend the night in town that night and we >left the next morning for the airport and loaded up >and took off to fly back to LaPorte which was just >down the road from Pasadena. > >Mike was in the left front seat (pilot), me in the >right front (co-pilot) and Sam was lounging in the >back seat. As we approached LaPorte and made the turn >we were horrified to see a huge thunderstorm closing >in on the airport. We were at about 500' and on the >final approach. We could feel the storm catching up to >us and tossing the little four place plane around. > >As we were coming over the end of the runway the storm >caught us and blew us nose down straight down the >runway. We thought we were going to die for sure and >it took both Mike and me (and some luck from God) to >straighten the little plane out. We skidded to a stop >in the mud and grass at the end of the runway with the >nose of the plane hanging out over the highway. >Luckily no one at the airport saw this because they >had gone inside the hanger when the storm hit. > >I looked over at Mike and saw that Sam had his hands >around Mike's throat. I started laughing (nervously >since we had almost been killed) and Sammy said, > >"Mike there's no way the crash would have killed you >because I would have choked you to death before that >for talking me into taking this trip." > >It was always hard to know with Sam but I have always >thought he was serious about that. Sam told me later >that he wasn't worried until he saw me turn white as a >sheet and start pulling back on the wheel with Mike. > >We laughed about that trip a lot over the years. Doing >that record with Sam is something that made me very >proud since I was already a fan when I met him and >being his friend has been one of the highlights of my >life. > >-=Tabby Crabb

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