Northward Migration - Saturday, June 11, 2016

Today I left work 1-1/2 hours early to go home, change my clothes, pack last-minute items for the vacation, say good-bye to the kitties, and then Bob drove me to the airport where I said, "See you in ten days. I'm going to miss you. Wish you could be with me. I love you." He'll be holding down the fort and taking care of the kitties while I'm gone.

When I did my online check-in for Southwest Airlines 24 hours before the flight, I was happy to learn I would board in San Antonio in the A group, and in the B group when I transferred planes in Denver. It makes me a happy lady when I can sit on the aisle or by a window. I can't stand getting on a plane late in the C group and having to sit between two people I don't know.

When Bob printed out my boarding passes for both legs of the flight, I was overjoyed to see I had TSA pre-check on my ticket. That meant I didn't have to go in the security line where you take off your shoes, your coat, and you don't have to take out your computer or your bag with the 3 oz bottles of liquid. Hallelujah!

I had plenty of time to buy and eat my dinner. It was hard finding healthy food. One place had a lovely Mediterranean salad, but they were sold out. I ended up with a turkey and cranberry/blackberry sauce sandwich. Terrible sandwich. It had mayonnaise on it which I was able to get rid of because a soggy cucumber blocked it from soaking into the turkey. The cranberry/blackberry sauce was pretty much non-existent. I saw what looked like a 1/4" area where someone had cleaned a minute amount of the cranberry/blackberry sauce off of a knife onto an edge of the bread. I would not order that sandwich again. I ate the turkey and the soggy cucumber (after I got rid of the mayonnaise and half of the soggy toasted bread).

Just as I was boarding the flight from San Antonio to Denver, I had a call from my son, Michael, who was going to pick me up at 10:50 p.m. in Portland. I had missed the call and got his message just as they were closing the jet doors. I was able to listen to the message. His car had broken down at the grocery store parking lot and he wouldn't be able to pick me up. I tried to call him back, but as soon as his phone rang and he picked it up, they flight attendants started their safety talk and my phone shut off (forced airplane mode).

The San Antonio flight flew out on time. Most of the ride was smooth, but we did have a bumpy section when the pilot asked the flight crew to sit down. As we flew into Denver, thunderhead clouds loomed over the mountains. Uh-oh. Would we be delayed?

To transfer planes, my next gate was directly across from the flight I just exited. I didn't have to tour the whole Denver airport to get to my next gate. I had a seat facing the windows and read some magazines. When I looked up, it was pouring rain outside and I noticed they were loading our luggage onto the plane. Uh-oh again. Then we had thunder and lots of lightning. The line of people waiting to get on the plane was antsy. People were shifting from one foot to the other, watching the weather, keeping an eye on the departure time board to see if our flight would be delayed.

I called Michael from Denver to see if the status of his car had changed. He was able to get it started and get home, but he didn't want to tempt fate by trying to pick me up at the airport.

Plan B. My brother who lives in Vancouver, Washington (across the river from the Portland airport) had told me if I needed a ride to give him a call, so I did. My brother, Frank, is  just getting over walking pneumonia. He had been sick for over a week, but was particularly bad Monday through Thursday. He went to the doctor on Wednesday and found out what was wrong with him. The doctor put him on erythromycin and today he was feeling better.  He and his wife, Gina, would be happy to pick me up and take me to Mom's house. Thank you, Frank and Gina!

Now all I had to do was make it to Portland. Thankfully, the plane started boarding a few minutes late. Once we were all on the plane and the plane pushed back from the gate, we sat on the tarmac for about 25 minutes. When we were finally cleared to go, our plane had to get in line for take-off (another 15 minute wait). We were scheduled to arrive in Portland at 10:50 p.m. I had told Frank and Gina that I would probably have my bags by 11:15 p.m. After all the ground delays in Denver, I wasn't sure that was going to happen.

When I stepped off the plane in Portland it was 11:02 p.m. so we had made up time in the air. At baggage claim, my bag was the 7th one on the conveyor belt. I made it curb-side by 11:18 p.m.  Pretty good.

When Frank and Gina picked me up, they gave me a plastic container with fresh raspberries from their side yard. By the time I got to mom's house, unpacked my bags, and ate some of those raspberries, it was 12:30 a.m. I was exhausted and in bed by 1 a.m. Pacific time (would be 3 a.m. Central time).

For Sunday morning, Mom and my sister, Jan, invited me to go to church with them. We would go to the 11:00 a.m. service at Athey Creek Christian Fellowship. My wake-up call wasn't until 9:00 a.m.

Sunday, June 12, 2016:
For breakfast, Mom had assembled a good group of smoothie ingredients, so I had a yummy drink for breakfast. At 10:30 a.m., Mom, my sister and our family friend, Jo, all headed out to church. The church and property are HUGE. Their church building is one-year old and is in a beautiful location: the rolling hills of Wilsonville.

Beautiful flower pots outside church

Athey Creek Christian Fellowship, Wilsonville, Oregon

Me and Jan in the church

Here we are by the stage

A huge sanctuary

Mom and our friend, Jo

The view out the windows of the church

The service started with lots of Christian rock music and everyone sang along. The words were projected on the wall above the stage. The guitar player on the right is the minister's son. We sang three songs, then there were prayers and we sang some more. They took the offering and we sang again. Then they showed a Powerpoint presentation about how the church had grown over the past year and included what still needed to be done and how much it would cost. (Staggering sum in my opinion!)

The pastor is going through the Bible and now is in Judges. He is quite the storyteller. Today's message was about Samson and Delilah, Philistines and Nazarites, and how we are all sinners, what that means, and how we can overcome.

View of Mt. Hood from inside a prayer room.

When the service was over, we headed to Sweet Tomatoes restaurant for lunch. I sure miss Sweet Tomatoes and wish they would open one in San Antonio!

My brother, Frank, and his wife, Gina

Frank and Gina

Jan, Mom and me at Sweet Tomatoes

When we were full of salad and baked potatoes and soup, Mom, Jan and I headed back to Mom's house where we played many games of Rummikub out on the patio. It was a glorious day in Portland, about 78 degrees.

Mom's living room overlooks the golf course

Where we played Rummikub on the patio

Jan left about 4:45 p.m. and I took Mom shopping at New Seasons grocery store. We bought fish, fruits, vegetables and some shampoo. When we got back to Mom's house, she watered all her flowers (pic coming on those) while I made trout and steamed green beans for dinner. Mom made a bowl of peaches and raspberries for dessert. It was a great day.

Amazing-Race-type Day - Saturday, June 13

The day started out normally. I worked seven hours instead of ten because my Southwest Airlines flight to Portland, Oregon, was leaving San Antonio at 6:00 p.m. I made it to the airport and had time to eat dinner before we took off.

The first leg of my journey took me from San Antonio to Las Vegas, Nevada on time. Our plane had 75 empty seats so there was plenty of room to spread out. I read most of the way, but fell asleep a couple of times.

Upon arrival in Las Vegas, things went awry. When I exited the plane, the first thing I did was check to see if my plane from Las Vegas to Portland would be on time. Oh no! Our flight departure to Portland changed from 8:20 p.m. to 9:50 p.m. Then, as I was standing there, the departure time changed to 10:05 p.m. and they towed away the plane at the gate! Not a good sign.

I went to the gate agent and asked if there was another way I could get to Portland, Oregon, by 10:30 p.m., my original arrival time. She checked her computer and said, "Yes, we can get you on standby from Las Vegas to San Jose. You would have to change planes in San Jose and will be on standby there too." I asked her if there were a lot of available seats on the flight from San Jose to Portland. She told me there were 31 empty seats and no one on standby except me. I told her to please book me on standby for the two flights which she did.

While she was working on that, I could hear them pre-boarding the flight to San Jose two gates over. She told me to check in at that gate for my boarding pass. I walked over, got my boarding pass and made my way on the plane. Because I was almost the last person boarding, I had to take a middle seat. It worked out okay. And I know the way to San Jose!

When we got to San Jose, I had 1/2 hour to change planes. It gave me time to walk to my gate and talk to the gate agent about needing my standby ticket. He asked if it was explained to me that there was an extra charge for standby. I told him, "No, I changed my itinerary because the plane I was supposed to take from Las Vegas to Portland had been delayed by two hours." He then said he didn't know the whole story about why I was on standby, but once I explained it to him he said there was no extra fee.

Once again I was at the tail end of people getting on the plane and had to sit between two people. I found the two skinniest people I could and made sure there was overhead compartment storage, then took my seat. I made it to Portland, Oregon at 10:30 p.m., the time I was originally supposed to be there.

Just one problem, my checked bag didn't keep up with me. I filed a missing bag claim and went out to meet my son who was picking me up from the airport. We stopped at Taco Bell for a late snack and he had me to mom's house by midnight. Thanks, Michael, for picking me up.

More on the missing bag in my next blog...

Good night. I'm off to Volksmarch Silver Falls State Park Monday morning.

Bob stayed home to work and take care of the kitties. Thank you, Bob!

The Air Travel Saga Begins - Sat., Sept. 21

Here I sit in the San Antonio International Airport. It's 10:15 a.m.  I have been here since 7:00 a.m. My flight was scheduled for 8:40 a.m.

If you're familiar with air travel and Southwest Airlines, you know that if you check in 24 hours in advance you can get in the "A" boarding group. So, yes, I was in the A boarding group. We got on the plane, pushed back from the gate. Hunky dory, right? Nope, you'd be wrong.

The captain came on the loudspeaker, said they had a problem with a light on the overhead panel being out. Maintenance was on the way to check it out. Once maintenance arrived and diagnosed the problem, we were told it was the battery indicator light and we would have to take a different plane, which they were trying to set up. Our plane pulled back into the gate and we all deboarded.

A few minutes later, the gate agent announced they had reset the computer on the plane and the problem was fixed. We were told to line up to reboard, oh, EXCEPT passengers to Portland, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Philadephia. We were all being re-routed. Sigh, really? Why? It's the same plane and only one hour later getting out.

Originally I was to fly through Phoenix, then on to Portland on the same plane, scheduled to arrive in Portland at 12:40 p.m. Get this...NOW I am being re-routed: leaving San Antonio at 11:45 a.m., flying to San Diego, then Las Vegas, transferring planes in Las Vegas and arriving in Portland at 5:45 p.m. Sheesh! Who thinks up this kind of torture??

I much prefer traveling in our 5th wheel!

And here I was worried about the weather. I'll keep you posted on my progress. With another change of planes who knows what else could go wrong. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of the day will be more fun...and on time. Hey, I do have free wi-fi at the San Antone airport!

P.S. The "more fun" mentioned above has started. My name was called by the gate agent. I went up to the podium and was given a $200 voucher that can be used by anyone on any Southwest Airlines flight for up to one year. Wow! Now that I like.

Update:  As we flew into Portland, I was able to see Wilsonville and Lake Oswego through breaks in the clouds. Then we flew directly over downtown Portland and I wished my camera would have been on at that point. I could have had a gorgeous photo of the downtown skyscrapers and the Willamette River from the air.

I did capture a few photos of our approach to Portland International Airport..

Welcome to Portland!

Active, stormy-looking sky.

Fremont Bridge over the Willamette River and industrial area.

Travel Bug out.