The Enroute Saga

Doesn't that bed look inviting? Imagine how inviting it looked after a day like this:

10-16-07: Up at 6:30 with a short laundry list of things to do. Packing is about finished, but there are always those few odds and ends to wrap up, either with the packing or with the house or the food or anything else that might suffer if it wasn't handled pre-vacation.

Our flight is scheduled to leave at 6:40 the following morning. From OKC we'd fly to Denver and after a short layover, on to Seattle, where we'd arrive a little after 10 in the morning and have the rest of the day to play. Therefore the finalized plan was for my sisters and my mom to come by and pick me up at 4:15 in the morning to head to Will Rogers World Airport. 4:15. AM.

10-17-07: When I hit midnight I figured there really wasn't much point in sleeping. I could do that on the plane and not force my sister to pound on the door and wake the entire house when I slept through my alarm. An alarm at 4:15 in the morning is, to my mind, a nightmare--something to sleep through.

Ds#2 thinks this is a grand idea. It's been a long time since we've shared a stay-up night. So we watched TV until there was nothing worth watching, then played dueling computers especially when I started to fade big time. I logged on on the home line, he on the computer line and whenever my typing slowed he'd nudge me on the live messenger and wake me up and laugh.

Finally it was time. My ride arrived, my luggage was stowed, final hugs and yes, we are really truly embarking on our great adventure.

We didn't know how much of an adventure.

Security wasn't a problem, though there were many more people there than I thought would be at that hour of the morning. We patted ourselves on the back for not listening to all the people who told us we didn't have to get there as early as we did, because we weren't the ones panicking at the back of the line. We sat at the gate for awhile, debated about whether or not we were hungry, laughed and watched the people come and go. Then we boarded and yay! we're all in the same row. Everything is grand. We didn't even mind that little announcement that said there was a small mechanical problem with the plane and as soon as it was taken care of we'd be on our way.

The small mechanical problem required another apologetic announcement or two before they told us ever so kindly that we were welcome to get off and have some breakfast, please stay near the boarding area for further announcements, and oh--take your luggage with you. At which point my sister became a prophet. "We're not getting back on this plane," she said.

We got some breakfast and went back to the boarding area to talk with a rather harried, but still amazingly good-natured employee who informed us that the mechanic wouldn't arrive until that afternoon, and we were welcome to wait and see if the plane took off then, but if we wanted to work with the airline to make alternate travel arrangements, then we'd have to go pick up our checked bags and then go to the ticket counter and they'd do what they could.

What they could do was an hour and a half wait in line. We started getting punchy at this point, especially the three of us girls, and you have to keep in mind that I have now been awake for over 24 hours. Lordy.

We get to the counter--literally the next to be helped--and the computers go down. Thankfully that was a short-term glitch. Every flight out of Oklahoma City is full because it is fall break. Which means the next best thing is being shuttled to Dallas--a 3 1/2 hour drive--and then flown out on a different airline on a non-stop flight to Seattle. Yay. The flight would take off at 7:30 that evening. From Dallas. To Seattle. Yay. Hey we were losing an entire day, but not an entire trip, so in the interests of keeping things upbeat, we packed in a blue airport shuttle and smiled.

We found ourselves grateful for the cell phone, so that we could call relatives and they could sit and wait at home instead of at the airport all day. We squished into the shuttle van with a businessman who talked on his phone most of the time through his headphones. I don't know if I'll ever get used to people looking straight ahead and carrying on a conversation with what looks like nothing. And we had another little lady passenger who sounded like she was from the Philippines, who was rather disgruntled with the whole process and didn't mind saying so. As if none of the rest of us were.

I think I fell asleep mid-complaint, because next thing I know we're getting off near Gainesville so the driver can fill up. Next stop is the airport. The headphoned businessman in the front seat had to tell the driver where to go; he'd never been to the Dallas airport before.

Finally! We find our way to the ticket counter. Of course they can't seat us together, but other than that, the bags get dropped off and we get in the security line and voila! Another adventure. Mind you we've changed airlines and there are after all four of us, probably wholly capable of taking out the airline crew and pilot, and by this stage in the game I'm sure we looked like terrorized terrorists. How many hours has it been now since I've been horizontal? I don't think I can count that high. Oh, wait, maybe I can while they pat me down and search every individual thing in every carry-on item I have. Times four to get all of us through.

In the interests of time, let's say we helped my sister get rid of a nasty headache, ate dinner at TGIF, and got on our plane, made it to Seattle in one piece. Out comes the trusty cell phone, and we're told to look for a blue Suburban circling the airport. On the ground of course. Oh, how good it was to see a familiar face.

The familiar face got us lost on the way home in the dark. By the time we got our luggage inside and up the stairs, and said goodnight, changed clothes, it was 2:00 AM Pacific Time. Translating to 4:00 AM our time. Which means it's been 24 hours since I started the travel part of the ordeal, 25 hours for them, and add to that my brilliant idea to stay up the night before. We laughed at dark, we were so fried.

My sisters elected to sleep on the two cots that were tucked into the room with the bed pictured above, which left the two oldest ladies, Mom and me, with the bed. Aren't they the sweetest sisters you'd ever want? Of course they are.

They just wanted comfortable seats for the show.

The bed--now go look again at how inviting that bed looks even when you're well rested--was too high off the ground for me to get into! It's tough to see in this picture, but the storage under the bed raises that thing close to four feet off the ground. Far too tall for me to swing a leg up onto then push off with the other. It was torture--inches away from blissful horizontal sleep, and yet so, so far away. Collapsing in giggles that made me weak wasn't helping much.

Mom wasn't faring any better. Our hostess had long since joined her spouse in a room somewhere in the house that we had no idea where it was. I finally used my suitcase to stand on, praying I didn't crush the thing and took a less-than-grateful leap, while my sisters helped Mom from behind, chanting, "Tuck and roll, Mom!"

There you have the most recent time I've laughed myself into a coughing fit. Every time I'd start to get control, I'd look over and see my mom shaking with laughter, and it would start up again. I fell asleep hiccupping. And praying I wouldn't need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.