FIRST CATCHUP DIARIES

October 28 - After a one year wait, we finally headed to Florida to visit Mike, Corinna, Christina, Zachary and Caleb. We are using $99 Southwest Airline fares Mike found us a year ago, when we planned to visit the "kids" on Thanksgiving. However, Mavis' gall bladder defugalty, diverticulitis abscess leading to colon surgery, interspersed with a minor surgical procedure on yours truly, delayed the trip a year.

It seemed that the departure date would never come, with another minor defugalty surfacing a few days before when Mavis came down with a severe cold and throat congestion. While she rested, drank liquids, read and slept, I started taking a product called Airborne, which is supposed to help protect against getting sick, and so far, as of 10/30, I have escaped.

We were scheduled to depart at 1:25 on the 28th, and since I needed to get a bulkhead seat so my knees had room to stretch out, we were told to arrive by 11:25 AM. Kevin was supposed to drop us off at the airport since he works in that general area, however, things went south on him and Kim. The are licensed foster parents and with virtually no warning, an abused 3 1/2 year old child was dropped off. He didn't want to eat, had almost no clothes or personal effects, and cried most of the first night. In addition to this Kim was recovering from a severe back sprain she suffered at work. In addition to this, the second night their son Rivers got sick and threw up all night the 27th. So, Kevin really had his hands full so we asked the Dotter if she might take us to the airport, and since we needed to drop off MISI the morning of the 28th, she agreed to ride up with us and bring the Suzuki back to her place. This worked out well because the hound loves to ride in the car she is familiar with and Suz felt uncomfortable leaving MISI at her home when she had to leave.

I know this is lots of personal detail of little interest to most readers, but sets the stage for a very long travel day. We left Suzy's around 10:30 AM and got to the airport a little early, with poor MISI watching us apprehensively as they drove away. I have allowed the dog to get SO attached to me, and perhaps vice versa, that I was quite worried how she would react being separated from me, even though she has the perfect place to stay at Suz & Barn's, with two other dogs, a large fenced yard and lots of attention.

Got checked in with no problem but going through Security was a bitch. Holy Moses! I knew we would have to take of our shoes, and shouldn't carry anything over 3 oz. of liquid, but what we DIDN'T know was that a large number of items had to be placed in clear plastic bags. i.e. shaving cream, after shave, toothpaste, eye drops, hand lotion, lipstick, cold cream, etc. etc. Fortunately a nice lady behind us helped us through the process. And, since my suspenders set off all kinds of alarms, I got the total wand treatment. Mavis got particularly stressed because she had so much stuff in her cosmetics case. But, we eventually got cleared and took the LONG WALK to gate B-10, arriving an hour and a half before scheduled departure.

Oh, forgot one early defugalty, even though I carefully checked my check list for last minute things to do. i.e. turn off hot water heater, unplug the water dispenser, secure windows, unplug the computer and T.V.'s, etc., a few miles from home we remembered we had not turned the thermostat down. So, as we often do, called neighbor Donald and asked him to take care of it.

Waiting for departure I made arrangements to get on "pre-boarding" so I could get a bulkhead seat, and they didn't question it, as I went to the kiosk with an obvious limp. Then they announced that the gate number was changed from B-10 to B-14, because they had a "sick" airplane sitting at B-10. No problem, however, shortly later they announced the flight had been delayed an hour, until 2:20. Called Mike to alert him, and continued to sit and wait. Mavis bought an over-priced sandwich at Starbucks, that was dry and most unsatisfying, but, we knew there was little food on the flight.

As it grew closer to departure, and our plane finally landed and passengers debarked, more and more people in wheelchairs and with canes (I should have brought one) gathered at the gate, and I assumed the six bulkhead seats would be history. We finally started loading around 2:30, and to my surprise, we DID get two bulkhead seats, and, and window, with is mandatory for me. Finally took off a little before 3:00 PM, but the Captain announced we would make up some of the lost time during the flight, and the short layover at Kansas City would be shortened.

We were on a Boeing 737-700 which was a smooth, quiet plane, and the flight was uneventful, providing us a great, smokey view of all the major Washington volcanoes. Really a lot of smoke and haze in the air which made a lovely sunset behind us. We left K.C. only 45 minutes behind schedule, which is about the delay in arriving in Orlando, which was almost 11:30 PM their time. What a lovely airport, just huge, and baggage claim was a couple miles from the airplane, which we got to by shuttle train, horizontal escalators (is there such a thing?) and walking. there was Mike and little Caleb to meet us, a welcome site to very tired travelers who had been over 12 hours airport to airport. The thing that made it tolerable was that our bodies were still on West Coast time, only 8:30 PM.