Wednesday, August 21, 2013

8/21/2013 We’re Lea-vin’ On a Jet Plane

(Wilmington, DE – Atlanta, GA – Arizona City, AZ)

…and we DO know when we’ll be back again.  Next summer or the minute my mom needs me/us.

Our shuttle was supposed to come for us 9:45a.m. but showed up at 9:30 instead.  We were ready but I wasn’t happy about losing that 15 minutes more I could have had with my mom.

Bob said his so long’s and once again it was just me and mom.  She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Snookie, I’m not going to cry!”  I sucked it up and replied, “Neither am I!”  We hugged each other tight and I told her that if the winter got to be too much for her alone to call me and I’ll be home for a two week visit anytime she wants me.  With that I went out the door.  I’m so glad she walked down a few steps and that my last view of her wasn’t framed by the doorway.   I would have never left if that was the case.

We made it to Philly airport in record time.  Our shuttle driver was just delightful and kept a conversation going all the time so the time just seemed to speed by.

I had booked us aisle seats going back to Arizona and the plane didn’t change so we were comfortable on both legs of our trip back to Arizona. 

On our way to Atlanta I sat next to this fellow who was very nice and talkative.  On several occasions I made mention of him going back to school or being on summer break.  Finally he laughed and said, “Just how old do you think I am?”  I looked at him good, taking into consideration his Phillies baseball cap and the T-shirt that said I Grew Up on Tastykakes!  Mid-Atlantic state residents will “get that”.  I told him that I would guess his age at 21 or 22.  He then said, “YOU are my new best friend!”  He proceeded to tell me he was 44.  I called him a liar.  He showed me his driver’s license.  I was beyond dumbfounded.  This guy came from a family with not good, but GREAT genes!  He told me he gets carded all the time when he goes to bars.  I have no doubt.

We had an hour and a half layover in Atlanta and my seat buddy went on for his connection to Washington state.  Our time in Atlanta was uneventful and passed quickly.

The last leg of our trip,  Atlanta to Phoenix, was a smooth flight and had an even smoother landing.  When we were in Philadelphia they asked for volunteers to check bags so the overhead storage areas wouldn’t be so crowded.  We jumped at that because its really a pain to get your carryon luggage up in the bins, and down again, especially if you have to change planes like we were.  Let them worry about our luggage.  Little did we know that everyone we were traveling with and who had checked their luggage had black and navy blue luggage with no distinguishing  tags or such for easy retrieval….just like us.  Baggage finally claimed, I called our shuttle person who was waiting in the cell phone lot for us to call.  Within minutes we were on way back to Quail Run.

We let ourselves into the park model and immediately looked at our indoor thermometer.  Ninety six degrees!  Bob set to task to get our AC uncovered and up and running.  We knew the AC wouldn't shut off all night.  And it didn’t.

By the time we went to bed it was a cool 88 degrees in our house.

We also didn’t have anything to eat.  No bread, nothing in the freezer we could throw in the microwave.  Nothing.  Oh well, its not like we were going to die if we missed a meal.  Unfortunately, we hadn’t eaten anything all day, not since we grabbed a donut and bagel this morning in Philly airport.  A trip to the grocery store will be in order tomorrow!

It’s good to be home,,,,I guess

 

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