Reunion

REUNION - September 28, 2007.
I would like to invite you along to experience my 12 hour day:
I am about to head for Cleveland to attend my 71st high school reunion. I am able to go, first of all, because my daughters, Joan and Sue, agreed to alternate staying with Marie, while I was gone for nearly four days. Too, my health (at 88) permitted me to undertake the long and tiring trip - plus I could afford the moderate -travel expense.
I left the house at 0930 Friday morning (9/28/07), and drove to the Courtyard Hotel in Vallejo to catch the 10 A.M. Evans Airporter - (fare $29 each way). The Courtyard charges $5 per day ($20 per week) to park your car at the hotel. It I a cool and cloudy day.
We arrived at Stop 4E at the Oakland Airport at 1100. The airport was quite crowded, which didn’t surprise me being a “get-away” afternoon, and it had been three years since I last flew out of there. The long lines through Southwest ticketing and Security, wind back and forth paralleling each other. For a minute, I thought that I was in Disneyland! The sign said “e-ticket line”. In that I purchased my ticket on-line, I got in this line. Soon, a Southwest employee told me that I had to get in another line - “for age verification!” Thirty minutes for age verification, to check my suitcase and get my boarding pass.
Then, on to the next adventure. I took off my white-Rocsports and grabbed a bin to put them in - along with my jacket and sweater. Then, scrounged another bin for my “carry-on” bag (which Mary had given me) - a quart zip-bag, holding my meds, and another quart baggie holding my watch and car keys. In 20 minutes, I cleared Security, and re-dressed. But, I was in no hurry, Flight 2639 wasn’t scheduled to leave until 1445 - time to get, and eat, a ham and cheese sandwich, and to visit the Men’s Room a couple of times. No matter where I go - or what airport I use, my Gate is always the last one on the concourse. Today is no exception! - Gate 32!
It is surprising how many people travel with their pillows! One guy had to kneel on his suitcase - pushing his pillow inside as he struggled to zip it closed. Southwest doesn’t have “assigned seating” so it’s one big scramble for position, at the boarding gate - “first come - first served”. Your boarding pass assigns you to a row - A,B or C. About an hour before the scheduled departure time, the gate attendants permit the passengers to sit on the floor - to stake out their place in the boarding line. Before the magic hour, the boarding area is practically empty. Then, they come out of the woodwork and the place is jammed full! People preferring to sit and wait, have to maneuver around the “floor people” like an obstacle course. Cattle have more room in their environment! The “floor people” spend their time eating, drinking coffee, on their cell phones or using their laptops.
An interesting sight! A tall-thin young guy is running out to Gate 32. He is carrying his shoes, and wears an Afghan cap (similar to the Taliban!). It is two minutes before the scheduled departure time!
It is now 1500, and I still haven’t moved. It has been five hours since I boarded Evans. I decided to pre-board, because all the flights are running at least 90 % full - only a few middle seats unoccupied. Besides, I don’t own a laptop. I asked the gate attendant if she wanted to see my health letter, and she said she would take my word for it. (I had asked my Congestive-Heart Case Manager if he would prepare a letter explaining my health condition - which he did. I took this with me when I was going to the A’s games as I was using the VIP and handicapped elevator.) I hesitated to pre-board before, but at 88 I feel that I need the privilege. So, the parents with kids - the disabled in wheel chairs, and I board first. Nice to have your choice of seats, plus not getting hit with the wild -passengers boarding with huge shoulder bags! A young lady in one of the wheel chairs is paralyzed. An attendant wheels her to the end of the boarding ramp, and stop. The rest of the pre-boarders are lined up in the jet way behind her. Two airline employees lift her out of the wheel chair, and sit her on a little stool with wheels. (Apparently the wheel chair wouldn’t fit through the cabin door.) They wheel her in to the plane and lift her from the stool, and place her in a bulkhead-aisle seat, and strap her in. I couldn’t help but wonder what will happen if she has to use the rest room during our long flight to Chicago.
We push back from the gate at 1530. The plane is almost full - with many infants and small kids aboard. We taxi out to the runway and are number one for take-off. Away we go! Wheels up at 1537 - after a 30 second take-off run - about 30 minutes late. We’ve taken off to the North. The pilot makes a 90 degree turn to the right and starts his climb. We pass through the overcast quickly, as it is only about 2,000 feet thick. We level off and the pilot comes on the P.A. And said that we will be cruising at 39,000 feet. (With most of our bombing runs at 25,000 feet, this seems very high to me.) He says that we are 1460 miles from Chicago, and estimates our arrival at Midway at 4P.M. CDT. He also said that we are 40 minutes late but estimated an on-time arrival! There must be a good tail wind. Southwest estimates the flying time for the outbound leg - Oakland to Cleveland at 5 hours and 25 minutes. Yet, they estimate the time for our return flight at 7 hours! The difference in the two flight times is due to the Eastboud tail wind from the jet stream, which will be a headwind on the return trip. Another difference is the one stop outbound at Midway in Chicago is almost directly on course. Where the one stop on the return flight is in Phoenix, which is quite a way off from a direct flight from Cleveland to Oakland.
The sky is clear as we approach the desert. The flight attendants passed out little snack boxes, and our drink of choice. The Chip Ahoy cookies, dried fruit mix, peanuts, crackers and cheese spread hit the spot.
At 1710 PDT, the pilot said that we were 875 miles from Chicago, and we had made up half of the twenty minutes that we were late. Starting to get bumpy, so the seat-belt sign is back on.
At 1945CDT, we were 600 miles from Chicago, and still 25 minutes behind schedule. We are over NE Colorado and NW Nebraska.
At 2010 CDT, we have 360 miles to go to Chicago - about one hour. At 2130, we start our descent into Midway - 20 minutes away. It is interesting to see all the lights from the many cities in the Midwest, from above. As the lights of Chicago appear on the horizon, one doesn’t appreciate the large area of the city until you see it from the air. My Mother was born here, on September 6,1892. Her aunt Nellie (her Mother’s sister) lived in Chicago most of her life.
We are on our letdown, and the little kids are screaming bloody murder. Their ears plug up because of the small canals in their young ears. Unless you have flown with a cold and had your ears plug, you cant imagine the excruciating pain. It happened to me during the Korean war. I was flying a night mission out of Mather Field in Sacramento, and had a head cold. I was in such pain when I landed that they put me in the compression chamber. They reduced the pressure to that of 10,000 feet and slowly increased the pressure back to sea Mather’s ground elevation. My ears felt better, but even so, I still broke an ear drum.
We landed at 2100 CDT. We took off for Cleveland at 2155. We were supposed to be on the ground for only 40 minutes. We were almost full out of Chicago. The flight attendant said that our 737 held about 135 people. The pilot came on and said that the computer put us in Cleveland at 2342. It was a pretty moonlit night. We flew over the southern end of Lake Michigan and across Southern Michigan. I calculated that we were very near Hillsdale (where I was born) on our flight path. About 2330 EDT, I could see Toledo off to the left. The city has certainly grown since I was last there. We touched down at Cleveland at 2345 - 35 minutes late.
I had trouble contacting the Hampton Inn hotel in Middleburg Heights for a ride back to the hotel. I Didn’t get to bed until I:30 A.M. (10:30 Vallejo time.).