By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dave Gaskell is so finicky about how his hair is cut that he commutes 500 miles to his barber.
About once a month since he started working for US Airways in September, Gaskell boards a plane in Cincinnati, rents a car and gets a haircut from Donald Stoops Jr. in New Bloomfield in central Pennsylvania.
"Why not?'' said Gaskell, 54. “He gives a great haircut. I'm kind of particular about haircuts.''
Gaskell, who retired from a 30-year teaching career last year, left Cincinnati around 6 a.m. Tuesday. Four hours later, his gray locks were being snipped at Stoops Barber Shop.
He's been going to Stoops for decades. Stoops' father, Donald Sr., cut Gaskell's hair when Gaskell was a cadet at Carson Long Military Institute in New Bloomfield. "I have yet to find another place that cuts hair like I like it,'' said Gaskell, who served 17 years in the military and likes his hair cropped just a certain way.
As a US Airways ramp agent, Gaskell's plane travel is cheap -- he pays just $80 a year for unlimited flights. He said he's flown to Orlando, Fla., and Seattle just for lunch.
To Stoops, who has been cutting hair since 1955, Gaskell's trips aren't unusual. Customers return from South Carolina and California for haircuts and good conversation - all for $5, he said.
"You'd be surprised where people come from,'' Stoops said.
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