THE TRIP WEST

My nephew...Kim...and I flew west to San Francisco to see my brother, Dave, today. Our goal...was to get on a couple of jets...get westward...and spend a few days with Dave before coming back east after a long weekend of visiting.

Our goal...was met...because we got there...but the journey was...more than we expected.

Kim and I met up at the Indianapolis airport early this morning...6am. Kim drove up from 'the homelands'...Owensville...and I drove down from Lafayette. Neither one of us had slept very well...I think I had one eye open all night...just fearful that I might miss the alarm. Finally...I got up at 415 and took a shower. When I looked outside I saw...snow...although light...had fallen during the early morning hours and had the ground covered. I was on the road before 5 and met Kim in the terminal a little after 6. We got through security quickly and found our gate and waited for our 8am flight.

Our jet was a small one...80 seats...and about 75 of them were taken. Once we got in the air...it was cloudy and after looking down on the fluffy clouds...I closed my eyes and tried to catch up on some sleep for the 2+ hour trip to Salt Lake City.

I don't think I ever slept...I just rested my eyes. I opened 'em up every once in a while and looked out the window...just to see the tops of the clouds...and no ground. About 1/2 hour out of Salt Lake...I looked out to see the tops of the clouds again...or so I thought. I kept looking...and realized I was looking at the Rockies...covered with snow...not the tops of the clouds. The mountains were beautiful. We may have been flying at 30,000 feet...but the mountains were 10,000 feet closer to us than our Indiana flat land...so it looked like we were flying close to the ground. It was a beautiful sight.

Salt Lake must be in a valley with all the mountains surrounding it...because it was a beautiful sight coming in for a landing at the airport.

We were to change planes in Salt Lake after a 2 hour layover...and be on our way to Oakland, California. That's when the fun began.

About 10 minutes after we were to be boarding our plane...they came over the speaker to say the plane was having some 'maintenance problems' and we might be a little delayed in departing. Our 1115am departure time...became 1135. Soon...it was changed to 1200 noon. When 1200 came and went...it changed to 1230. Then they asked us all to move 4 gates down the terminal to wait and they were bringing a new plane from the hangar and we would be taking off at 100pm. Next...it changed to 130 as they were having trouble getting the plane from the hangar. At 210pm...minutes after they said the plane was on the way from the hangar...a jet from Los Angeles landed at our gate and after all the people got off...they decided this would be our new plane to Oakland.

My guess was...that this was their plan the entire time...there never was a plane in the hangar...they just 'teased' us so no one would demand to switch to another airline and fly away!! After finally boarding and being told we should be under way at 245...we left at 315.

As you can imagine...there were not many smiling faces on the plane. Everyone wanted the stewardesses and pilot to SHUT UP and QUIT APOLOGIZING...and just get us the hell on the way to California.

Soon...I forgot all about the hassles as I watched more of those beautiful Rocky Mountains...as we flew on our way to Oakland International Airport.

It didn't happen the way we wanted it...but the end result was...we got to California...and we are visiting my brother...and THAT'S...what we wanted.

Now having a good visit with Dave.


Dan