Greetings,
Today I am travelling from Kokomo, Indiana to Roseville, California. There are no direct flights so my journey first takes me to Dallas, Texas. At the time that I am typing this I am about 1 hour away from landing in Roseville. My ears hurt (more about that in a bit) so I thought I would take out the laptop and catch y’all up on my journey thus far.
My flight from Indianapolis was not until 2:40 pm (local time) so I did log into work for a few hours this morning before driving about 75 minutes to the airport. Technically I rode since the wife was driving but that is beside the point. We told the kids that we would do lunch at Don Pablo’s before sending Daddy off for a few days (I return very late Thursday). We had an uneventful van ride and a nice lunch. We (as usual) ordered (2) adult entrees and split with the kids. The son (who will turn 12 next month) is beginning to get near that “are you going to eat that” phase where I no longer am ensured that 1/2 of the adult platter will be mine. That, and his fondness of tacquitos forced me to eat the taco that the wife / daughter did not finish. While we were waiting for the womenfolk to return from the restroom I explained to him that some people actually complete that whole platter without sharing it with someone. This boggles the son’s mind (no offense to those of you who do like to polish off one of these combo platters).
The dropping off at the airport was met with a few tears (what can I say, I am a popular attraction at home and will be sorely missed). There was about a 45 minute line to check in at the American Airlines terminal. I could not check in online due to the 2nd flight being overbooked and the website would not let me select a seat. I am sure this makes sense on some level but I had to kill time anyway, so standing in line is not the worst way to do it. Besides, I did entertain myself commiserating with the other passengers. Once I got my boarding pass it was on to security where my one carry on bad was promptly flagged as suspect. It seems my toothpaste says it contains 6 ounces and airline regulations only allow 3.4 ounces. I was able to keep the toothpaste since it was a used tube. I think I will leave the remainder of the toothpaste in the hotel trash can before coming home though.
The flight to Dallas was overbooked and they gave the normal “entice you with $300 in travel vouchers to catch the next flight” routine. Finally enough people took the bait and we were departing on time. I had an aisle seat and tried to engage my fellow row 14 travelers in their conversation but did not make any headway (they were even talking about the national bowling stadium in Nevada, but no dice). I then realized that in my haste to make sure I had plenty of music and videos on my new Sansa player, I neglected to pack headphones. So I read the in flight magazines and my copy of Watership Down that I brought along. I did buy some cheap headphones at the Dallas airport (hence the reason why my ears hurt as these are really low quality and it is hard to hear my player unless you literally screw the buds into your ears). Call it an $11 (plus pain) penalty for not packing thoroughly. As I was taking the headphones out of their package, an 80 year old lady sat down next to me and we struck up a conversation. She was returning from a get together with all (3) of her sisters (all were widows and over 80). It was the first time in 10 years or so that they had all been together. The decided (she said) that since they were all 80, they had better do the reunion soon. I smiled and nodded as I thought, “Good plan!” We boarded the plane but she is a few rows behind me so I don’t know if I will see her again. This flight too was overbooked and the bidding got up to $400 before enough people opted to take a later flight.
I am in the middle seat on this flight and sitting between (2) ladies that appear to be younger than me. I have not spoke to either one yet as they seem pretty interested in their books (Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and some book called the Secret of Bliss). I saw the Ali author on The Colbert Report a few weeks back and I was interested in her books (she has a few). The clock here (I think) says 5:45 pm (8:45 pm according to my watch and stomach [I have not had dinner yet]) and we are scheduled to land in about 35 minutes so I had better wrap this up before the pilot asks us all to turn off our electronic devices. I would not want my blogging to interfere with a good landing.
Jon
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