Leigh bought plane tickets from Austin, Texas to Los Angeles, California for us. So we drove from Houston and spent the night in Austin. Boarded a Southwest Airline Plane early morning of December 30, 2001. Southwest boarded us first because Caro has to use an electric scooter. The airline ground crew were fabulous because they had to man-handle the scooter into the baggage compartments since they could not get it broken down. And they smiled when they told us “Have a great trip”.
I learned on the flight to and from the CRUISE on Windjammer to fly light so I checked the digital camera and video camera. For this I will have eternal regrets! Leigh still had to almost strip to pass through the security points in Austin airport. The rest of us breezed thru. She had to take off her shoes. I don’t understand what triggers such tension. Maybe it is because a beautiful young woman is traveling with an old fat man.
Wayne Laviolette was remarkable. He kept us focused and moving. In some ways traveling in my family is almost like “herding cats”. He had the tickets and made all arrangement for transfer of the cart. We will be forever indebted for his kindness. He obviously motivates the three grandkids towards excellent travel etiquette.
The takeoff from Austin was uneventful and on time. The pilots on Southwest Airlines are, in my limited opinion, the most human and attentive pilots in the air. Our pilot and co-pilot kept us entertained with occasional bits of humor and jokes about each other. The flight attendants were attentive and especially kind to Caro and the grandkids. She sat in the first row of seats with Brooke. Kellie sat with me. The grandkids act like seasoned travelers. The girls entertained themselves. Case kept watching “Shrek” on a portable DVD player. His demand was “What about Shrek!”. Cool Kids.
On the way we flew above the clouds of course. Occasionally I thought I saw a complete circular rainbow and pointed it out to Kellie. We got intent and spent almost the entire flight staring out the window. Several times the rainbow circle looked like it was hooked on a mountain top. And of course!!! My digi was in the baggage compartment in the bottom of the plane. I knew, theoretically, that the phenomena existed but I had never seen it.
The closer we got to LA the more anxious I got. All my life I had heard horror stories about the California freeways. Steadily, over the recent years, the Houston freeways have begun to fill me with dread. Oh how much worse were the LA freeways going to be? Would I be able to drive or would I kill Caro and I in a flaming pileup on US 1? Could I really drive a van at 100 mph? How lost could I get?
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