Yahoo! I'm Back in Texas!

Best flight ever. Everything went well. I had no trauma during the going through the security ordeal. No alarms went off. No body cavity searches. Nothing flying off a conveyor belt. No pants falling down. No oranges rolling all over.

Absolutely problem free. I attribute this to my little baby sister delivering me to the airport in a totally stress-free manner. That started it off good.

I was in Position 33 to board on my Southwest flight. My strategy for the first leg was to head to the back of the plane. I figured if it wasn't a full flight, that back seats had the best chance of having no annoying person sitting next to me.

However. It was a full flight. But the young lady who ended up sitting next to me was quite pleasant. So, the leg to Salt Lake City was easy.

That's the takeoff view of Puget Sound you see in the first photo. When we landed in Salt Lake City my plan was to move to the front of the plane. When I saw the entire front row was empty I took the window seat. Huge leg room. No pull down tray. No big deal. I can handle my little 4 ounce cup of Coke with no serving tray.

Eventually some sports jock guy took the aisle seat, leaving the middle seat empty all the way to Albuquerque. I was in flying heaven.

On the first leg we got a bag of cheese nips and a bag of pretzels with our 4 ounces of Coke. For the next leg, to Albuquerque we got 2 bags of peanuts with our 4 ounces of Coke. So, my protein needs were being met.

Below is the view of Salt Lake City whilst landing. It was the roughest, funnest, most roller coaster landing I've ever had. Great fun. I loved all the screaming.

In the below photo you see me enjoying my leg room in my seat at the front of the plane. This was the view during the leg from Salt Lake City to Albuquerque.


Below is looking at the Rio Grande River as we landed at Albuquerque. Albuquerque was not as green as the month before. The best leg of the trip was the final leg that ended in Dallas. Details below.

So. When we landed in Albuquerque I decided to switch to the left side of the plane. At the front. This turned out to be a good move. As the new people boarded this hilarious lady bound for Little Rock took the aisle seat. She did GREAT witty repartee'. I've been sort of missing GREAT witty repartee'.

I told the Little Rock bound one that our goal was to keep the middle seat empty. We successfully did so til there were only 2 seats left and 2 people looking for them.

So, this totally beautiful blonde bound for Dallas takes the middle seat. I expressed my umbrage and told her she would need to hold our drinks due to taking the seat and our seat location lacking pull down trays.

She then whipped out a bunch of Southwest Airline freebie drink tickets and asked if we used those if she could get out of drink holding duty.

This eventually turned into a very fun flight to Dallas. Her name was Nancy. Like my very big sister. She has a vacation house in Taos that she and the husband go to about once a month. We shared our mutual admiration of the concept of having a buffer from relatives. She has the opposite situation from me. She lived in Alaska for years, with a buffer, and then ended up in Dallas, through events beyond her control, in the town where her mom and dad and several siblings live. She wants her buffer back, in a large part due to the pain the lack of a buffer puts her husband through.

The landing at Love Field was after dark, so the Metroplex was lit up. Big Ed showed up to pick me up, almost on time. The Dallas skyline was looking cool, not quite Seattle cool, but cool nonetheless. Lightning was flashing all around. Rain had been falling. The temps were in the 70s. Gas has fallen to $3.36 a gallon. And I'm finally where I'm not cold. But I did have to turn the A/C down when I got in this place. It felt hot in here. Way hotter than my deluxe living quarters in Tacoma.

Nice to be home. Thanks Michele and Kristin and Blue and Max. See you kids in 2018!