Please declare all fruits, veggies, pets, and strange relatives

Day 1 - Tues, May 5

It took a rough, very long start, but the roadtrip has finally begun. We are currently in Phase I, the California leg of the trip. Getting here was very interesting.

First there was the whole difficulty of getting ready. Karen and I had a formal event on Monday night and we did not get home till close to 2AM, and had to leave for the airport at 10AM. To make things even better, I still had to finish packing. Well, after dumping Karen's perfectly packed suitcase onto the floor (I really thought it was closed) and then almost forgetting my GPS, we got on the road.

We got to the airport later than Karen would have liked (11:45 arrival for a 12:45 departure) but I think it worked fine. We made it through security and to the gate without any trouble, and only had to wait 15 minutes for boarding to begin. Southwest flight #675 was going to stop in Midway and then continue through to Oakland. The ride was a bit bumpy. Similar to when I flew to Texas several years ago, the descent into Chicago caused an enormous amount of pain in my jaw. I would have tried to cuddle up into a Southwest pillow and cover myself with a blanket, but they had all been removed from the plane due to Swine Flu fears. We also saw several people wearing face masks, but they just looked ridiculous.

We managed to get really good seats. In the emergency exit row, there was a row of 2 seats - the window seat was missing, allowing for easier access to the window exit. Our loveseat was very comfy and cozy, and gave us plenty of legroom. Personally, I love reading the in-flight materials. Skymall offers 'great' products at 'affordable' prices like this Peanut Butter Maker. After I get home, I will scan the best pictures I found onto here for laughs. The Southwest magazine, Spirit, has very random information in it. Karen found a fantastic advertisement that I will scan in later. Sadly, this ad was on the same page as the puzzle answers and the next person to peruse the pages may be disappointed and confused.

With about 30 minutes left on the second leg of the flight, I noticed patches of people on the plane staring at the back. I kept looking but had no idea was I was looking for. I knew that the "buckle seat belt" light was on longer than usual, but my experience was going to get stranger. Once we landed and joined up with the gate, we were instructed to stay seated multiple times, even though no one was moving. A woman was walked to the front of the plane, then the back, then she returned to the front. At the same time, we also noticed a fire truck, an ambulance, and several cops with German Shepard's waiting outside of our plane. The woman was walked off and we all peered through our windows like curious little school children. She got arrested but we weren't sure why. MY first guess was that she had tried to light a joint in the bathroom, and got caught. The cops walked a dog onto the plane and we were told not to touch it. The dog didn't smell anything suspicious on the plane, so we were free to de-plane, provided that we all held our bags in our left hands so that the dogs could smell them again. At this point in time, I started to worry about the beef jerky I had brought with me. My neveres were calmed and all was well. We passed a Southwest employee near the gate and asked her what was going on. She said the woman on the plane got very intoxicated and said words she shouldn't have. I told her that Karen and I are in college, and used to seeing drunk people doing stupid things. We walked away laughing. (I am trying to find a news article about the arrest, but no luck yet).

For all the delays of getting off the plane, and the dogs smelling all checked luggage, the bags still arrived very quickly at baggage claim. I would imagine that even with the delay, the handlers still performed better than their Philadelphia counterparts. The air outside was amazing. Nice west coast weather. Shorts and a tee-shirt. Not many pictures yet, but expect to see a big post either here, or linked to several facebook albums.

...seeing the sights...