Yesterday, I showed a picture of the bench I thought I was going to sleep on. I wasn’t able to get to sleep on it for very long, so I moved to some chairs with a back I could lay my head on, but that didn’t work very well either. I got a few winks in but spent most of the night working on crossword puzzles. I had left a message in my last post for someone to call me at 5:00 this morning to make sure I was awake for my flight. My mother, God bless her soul, did! I was already awake anyway, but I was glad she called.
When I was sitting at gate 11 waiting to board my plane, I saw a large group of people who all seemed to know each other. A young man in the group came to sit next to me so I asked him how many were in his group. He said there were 20 people, all related, who were flying together to a wedding in Orlando. They had been announcing that every seat on our plane was taken and I said, “It’s no wonder the plane is full with everyone in your group!”
Southwest Airlines does things a little differently. If you can see the pole that the man with the baseball cap is standing next to (behind the woman in the foreground with the backpack), look back to the woman in the red and black plaid jacket who is standing near another pole. There were several poles like that, each representing 5 passengers. On the near side, people standing next to the first pole were in positions 1-5, the next pole represented people 6-10, and it went on down the line to 26-30. On the other side were people from 31-60, all standing in the grouping matching the position number printed on their ticket. First the A group of 60 people boarded the plane. Then the B group of 60 people, and I was in position 45 of the C group. That means the plane carried 180 passengers. Southwest Airlines doesn’t assign seats. It’s first come, first served, so there was little choice by the time I boarded the plane. I was in the aisle seat next to a mother and her daughter, so even if it had been light out, I couldn’t see anything, especially since the little girl had the shade pulled. At some point early in the flight, I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the wheels hit the runway in Las Vegas.
The ticket that was printed out for me yesterday said that the next leg of my journey would begin at gate C7. I went to sit down there and they got on the speaker and announced that they were about to open boarding for the flight to Orlando, FL. I leaned over to the woman next to me and said, “Is this flight going to Tucson?” and she said, “No.” I went up to the registration desk and showed them my ticket and they said, “Oh, that flight is leaving from gate B22.” I asked how to get there and they pointed down a hallway. As I walked along, the numbers were getting higher and higher in the C’s and I saw nothing pointing to the B area. After a lot of walking, I saw a sign that said, “A/B gates” with an arrow, but I was still walking through C. I thought, “Man, this is a huge terminal!” I was wondering if I was ever going to reach B.
Finally, I found a hallway that said “B Gates” and had an arrow pointing to the right. I followed the arrow and kept walking and walking looking for gate 22. Suddenly, I heard my name being called: “Last call for Denise Fuller at Gate B22!” I started running. I caught of glimpse of the gate and headed that way and the woman at the registration desk smiled and waved at me. Who else would be running to try to reach that gate? I was the last passenger before they shut the door. It’s too bad because I was in the B group and was hoping to get a better choice of seats, but by the time I finally got on the plane, I had to stow my bag in an upper bin several rows back from where there was actually a seat available. I was sitting between 2 people in a narrow seat. The guy by the window had a tendency to hunch his body in front of the window, so again, I didn’t get much opportunity to see out, but after the announcement that we were beginning our descent toward Tucson, I was able to snap this picture:
When we landed, I sent Mark a text saying, “Honey, I’m home!” He was coming from a dental appointment and said he was almost there. I managed to get out to the curb with my bag about a minute before he pulled up. He got out and loaded my bag into the car and then gave me a big hug! Then he took me out to brunch. By the time we got home, I was ready to sleep again, but first I went to say high to the pastor and a friend of mine from my quilt group who were getting things ready to feed a bunch of kids who have been attending the soccer camp my church put on for spring break. They were happy to see me! When I finally walked into the RV, this was on the table:
I took a nap for an hour or two and when I woke up, I told Mark to pick a place he’d like to eat for his birthday, which was on the 14th but I wasn’t here then. I took him out to the Red Lobster and then I gave him a couple of birthday cards.
I also gave Mark a gift card to spend at Tombstone when we go to celebrate his birthday.
It’s so good to be back home!