Where there's air, there's a road

Bryan Phillips has come a long way from his middle school days in Medford, Ore., where he and a buddy built their first hovercraft, a wooden contraption that kept taking on water and sinking.

Today Phillips, 40, is the lead designer and builder of 14-foot-long and 22-foot-long air-cushion vehicles that he manufactures and sells from the headquarters of his company, Amphibious Marine Inc., in rural Mason County.