The Wandering Disciple

The large steeple of First Baptist Church rises high amongst the quaint shops of Main Street in downtown Sarasota. The congregation was founded in 1902 with the current church being built in 1920. (Photo: January 1, 2005)

Tucked away behind the shops of the island of Venice sits the Venice Little Theater. The community theater opened in 1950 and boasts a full schedule of shows that will entertain the whole family. (Photo: December 20, 2004)

Engine 71 of the Englewood Fire District is seen here on the scene of a vehicle fire in their district. The Englewood Fire District is a fire department on the west coast of Florida that serves south Sarasota and west Charlotte County. They provide fire suppression and first responder service out of six stations. (Photo: July 9, 2004)

Boise, Idaho: For over twenty years, Xtra Airways has served its customers with both charter and commercial flight services. Their small fleet serves the Eastern and Central United States and goes “Beyond what is expected”. The airline was founded in 1987 as Casino Express Airlines to provide charter service to the Nevada casinos. In 2005, the company changed names to their current name Xtra Airways following a partnership with XL Airways UK. That partnership continued until 2008 when XL UK ended operations. By then, Xtra was an independent airline and was able to continue operations unaffected. The Xtra Airways headquarters is located in Boise, Idaho. They currently operate a fleet of four active aircraft and one seasonal aircraft. The four primary aircraft are Boeing 737-400 series. The seasonal aircraft is a Boeing 737-800 series. The aircraft are based at Charlotte County Airport, Myrtle Beach International Airport, Miami International Airport and San Antonio Internation...

Appleton, Wisconsin: Air Wisconsin is a regional airline that provides flight service for US Airways and ground services for United Express. They provide service to over six million passengers in seventy destinations throughout the United States and Canada. Founded in 1965, Air Wisconsin is the pioneer in the regional airline service and code sharing. They first entered a code share agreement with United Airlines followed by mergers with Mississippi Valley Airlines in 1985 and Aspen Airways in 1991 to make them the largest regional airline in the United States. Today Air Wisconsin provides code share/flight services to US Airways while maintaining ground services for United Express at Dulles International Airport and 22 airports nationwide. The Air Wisconsin fleet is comprised of 71 Canadair CRJ-200 jets flying under the US Airways Express brand. The CRJ-200 can accommodate 50 passengers. They fly to 70 destinations in North America with hubs based at Philadelphia International Ai...

Although classes are no longer held in the historic Sarasota High building, the history of the building lives on. Built in 1926, it is the oldest school building in Sarasota. Classes were held here until the late 1990’s. Today it is being renovated to house the Sarasota Museum of Art. (Photo: December 12, 2004)

The 400th E-Jet is seen on departure from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. Embraer rolled its historic 400th E-Jet off the assembly line in June of 2008. The E-175 ordered by Republic Airlines and flies as a US Airways Express partner. Republic Airlines features the largest fleet of E-Jets with 110 in their fleet alone. (Photo: December 20, 2011)