Travel Tales

Well, I'm back from California. 10 wonderful days of great weather, loving family, new friends and wonderful food!

There was so much interesting that happened, I don't know where to start so I will start at the beginning.

My flight out to California by way of Texas left North Carolina at 5:50 am Friday morning. I have not flown since before 9/11 so I had not experienced travel in it's current configuration. Concerned about missing a damn o'clock flight, I arrived 2 hours before boarding. There was no one in the terminal! Hmm, ok. I needed to get a lock for my bag so we went to Wal-Mart. Wandered around there for a little bit and took the long way back to the airport.

I was so excited about getting on the plane that I didn't want to sleep. So I didn't! I drank an entire pot of very strong, very tasty coffee and kept it moving.

I made it through airport security well enough. I hopped on a small plane that made me feel that I should have worked harder to get more weight off, but I was pleased that I had lost some weight all the same. I had to change planes in Dallas and boarded a larger plane, I felt more secure that an unexpected fart would not blow us out of the sky. I don't know what the PC term for them is, but the flight attendant, or one of them was freakishly skinny! When I see people like that I think, "Eat something!" I don't advocate an unhealthy lifestyle, but come on! This woman made an average height to weight proportioned woman look like a fat cow! To top it off she was unpleasant. I could only think that the poor woman was hungry and that is why she was so ill spirited. As I departed the plane, I looked at her and thought, "Have a nice day and retire girl! Go get some steak or something!"

I walked out of the terminal and as the LA sun poured into the windows, I see my wonderful brother-in-law. I hugged him and we headed off to wait for my bag. I packed more clothes than I needed, but I wanted to be prepared for whatever and my sister told me that she was going to send some stuff back with me so my checked back was very light. He tossed my bags in to the back of his truck and we headed off to find some food. Mexican! or something like that. We got something to eat, gassed up the truck and we were off to Ft. Irwin! Even though I napped on the planes, I was still sleepy. The ride to Ft. Irwin was a blur of cars and the brown expanse of the nothing that the base is in the middle of.

I will post another entry about the food.

On the trip back the airline had to make a passenger leave because he was trying to start a fight with another passenger. I never realized how the inside of a plane dampened noise until some drunk butt hole tries to make a scene and I can't hear what he is saying from six feet away. I could only see his mouth moving and some ill-chosen profanity he decided to spew. I didn't realize that the flight included a floor show. the unfortunate person beside me did not seem amused. My attempts at polite conversation went without response. Eh, I had 9 days worth of memories to flip through while I rode.

When the plane landed in NC, I was happy to be home. I peaked out of the door to take my first breath of NC air, a snow flake passed my face! "Oh Snow!" I squealed like a child. "I hope I don't slip." I thought. It was good to be home. My daughters really rose to the challenge while I was gone. My Blessing made sure they were kept in line. I was really happy that I brought them something back.

More to come!