The day began early... Too early... Well before dawn... Up, shower, make coffee, wake the son, the driver, then into the car for the drive to the airport...
Now 6:50 am. SFO... line up to check luggage... For security... For the baggage scan... For the scanner (the old fashion metal detector, not the hands over your head then wait for the results body scanner)
Find the gate... Find seats... Then... Wait
The trip has begun... Off for New Orleans... Just in time to watch the Mississippi rise. Here in San Francisco it is dawn... The sky transitioning from dark, to a pale glow... Now to grey... I suspect we will be long gone before the sun wins and the sky turns blue...
Line up at the gate... There are announcements about carry-ons... There are always announcements about carry-ons... We are both handed pink "Planeside Valet Baggage" tags... Everyone is handed a pink tag... They seem to expect us to check our computer bags... We decline their kind offer... Repeatedly... The gentleman (aka the baggage monkey) suggests that T take her laptop out and hold it in her lap...) The flight attendant intercedes... We retain possession of our precious stuff...
We board, and realize why they wanted us to surrender our stuff... The plane is tiny... Not Cessena Tiny, but really small for a commercial jet... (this is a Delta flight between SFO and LA... Not the Fresno connector or the Redding-Medford-Salem-Portland milk run). The plane is a CRJ900..(Canadian Regional Jet)... It has 1/2 seating up front in the "High Class" (1st class, Business Class, More money, and "paid more money than you class) seating. Back in steerage, with the common folk, where T and I are seated they squeeze in 4 seats... Which leaves almost no space for any carry on luggage. In the 16th and 17th century The Royal Navy allotted 14" per man to hang his hammock on a Man of War... We didn't get much more... Maybe 18"...
The flight itself was fine... Outside coastal California was sheathed in clouds... I read a little... I looked through the stuff in the seat back pocket... I discovered that Delta's air sick bags have a cheery "Feel Better" printed on them diagonally in large letters... I planned to work on the blog until they announced it was time to turn off electronic device... By 7:14 we had started our decent. Instead of an announcement, The flight attendant just said "turn that off" as she walked by... (no Please offered…)
Once on the ground, those who had surrendered their stuff curtsy of th pink tags where waiting in the jet way for their stuff as the rest of us de-planed
Neither of us were impressed with Skywest...
The flight attendant is repeating the various pleas about clearing aisles, luggage stowage, and electronic devices... Much like this one. Privately he notes the folks clogging the aisles are the same folks who don't know how to merge on the freeway blocking progress on the 405 this morning... As they close the cabin door, I power down the I-pad...
Now having reached 10,000 feet, with Catalina Island visible out the window... I turn the I-pad back on and settle in...
In LA, between flights, we found food (OK Mexican, on paper plates with terrorist safe plastic knives and forks... We skipped the Bloody Marys and beer that many of our fellow travelers were consuming for breakfast... We considered the option, but decided it sounded too much like the lyrics of a country music song (The beer I had for breakfast tasted good so I had one more for desert...)
After eating we found seats near at the gate and watched the parade pass by, while listening to announcements about over sold flights (our's included) and lack of space onboard for carry-ons... they offered to gate check luggage... Some took them up on it... It was deja'vu allover again.
In fact we had no problems boarding, and there was plenty of space in the overhead bins... of course we witnessed one man Trying to stuff a bag overhead that was about the size of a pigmy hippo with wheels... Mean time blocking the aisle like a 70's Caddy doing 50 mph in the fast lane of the 405 with his left turn blinker on... Kind of clueless.
I blog, I read, I nap... I stare out the window looking for landmarks... But we are seated on the right side of the plane... Looking south, and our route takes us low across Arizona, New Mexico and Texas... A land with few landmarks or features that can be identified from 35,000'. I read a bit wore, then tried napping again... With some measure of success at each... Then tried the window again... I am relaxing... By now West Texas should have given way to central and east Texas... But I could only assume as my view was blocked by clouds... The captain announces we will soon start our decent for landing... He makes the traditional "Thank You for choosing Delta" speech.
Outside the cloud cover is thinning... Offering glimpses of east Texas and Louisiana... Cajun country... At first the rivers, the bayous look full but it hard to tell from above... As we get lower there are more signs of the flood... Here and there a creek has over flowed it's banks... Now, the low lands on the river side are flooded... We have arrived…
Could be worse, Alaska/Horizon flies Q-400's between the Bay Area and LA -- they're turboprops. Not that there's anything wrong with propellors, but it's not what you're expecting from a major airline between busy airports.
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