Texas, finale

Well, the boat ride was lots of fun, as was the getting off. Unfortunately, Judy was watching Jami, so she didn't get a chance to get any pix of all the foolishness. Anyway, after all that fun, we went to lunch, and then back to the house to get ready to go to Houston for the flight home. Actually the airport is called Houston, but it is really in (H)umble, which is a little bit north of Houston. I have not flown much, but I've been in Seattle/Tacoma, San Francisco, Burbank, Ontario (CA), and a few other smaller ones. But I have never been in a terminal the size of either the one at Houston, or the one in Denver, CO. They are HUGE. I thank God that my granddaughter, Esther, who made the arrangements for me, thought to ask for "meet & assist". This gave me special treatment from the time I arrived at the airport, until I was safely either onto the next plane, or in Kathy's car. Those airports are so big it must be several blocks or more, from one loading place to another, and as hard as it is for me to walk very far, I would have been up s... creek without a paddle for sure without that special treatment. That really made the whole trip easier. The flight from Houston to Denver was a little rough - kinda like travelling over a dirt road, without any potholes. I was in the very front row, but we were just in front of the engines, and it was really quite noisy. The sky was pretty overcast, so I didn't get to see much, even tho I was in a window seat. From Denver to Sacramento, it was almost the opposite. The flight was very smooth, and mucn quieter. I had been in an Air-bus both times. I wound up with an aisle seat, and the TV screen was only about 8 to 10 inches from my face, so I couldn't watch it. The man across the aisle from me, one row up, had his TV turned to the GPS channel, and it was kind of interesting to see the altitude and speed at which we were flying. Most of the time, we were at about 35-37000 feet, and at 500 mph or better. And such a smooth flight. The lady in the window seat had the curtain closed most of the time, so we didn't get a chance to see much. The gentleman who was seated in the center seat was such a nice man. He had to have been 6'5 and weighed about 250 lbs. but he didn't complain at all about his seat. We were in the seats just in front of the emergency exit, and those seats did not recline, so we just had to sit straight up. The seats in fron of us did recline, and when they did, that's when the TV was just a Pepsi bottle's length from my nose. My seat partner and I got into the usual discussion as to where we were from, and where we were going. It turns out he was coming home from having visited his mother in I believe it was Minneapolis. It turned out he lives just a few miles from here. He lives nesr Blue Oaks Blvd, and Washington Street, in Roseville. He really was a very nice gentleman.

When we got to Sacramento, Kathy was waiting for me. It used to be your family could wait with you in the waiting area until time to load, and they could be there waiting for you when you got in; but not no more. They cannot go beyond a certain point when loading, and they have to wait in the main waiting area when you are coming in. And the attendant was right with us. It was quite a long walk from where we met to where we had to go to pick up my luggage. Then, Kathy was worried about how she would get me to the car (out in the parking area). The attendant said not to worry, and he escorted us back to where we had met, then took us out to the parking lot, right to our car, and helped put my things in the car, and helped me get in. Realy royal treatment. I was in a wheelchair all this time. I had very mixed feelings about my situation - I knew I could never have done all the walking, but by the same token I felt like an invalid being pushed all around in a wheelchair. But I was very grateful for it.

It was a wonderful trip in all. I would have liked to have taken a little more time, mabye another day, to get there, but because I did not do any of the driving, I did get to see quite a bit. The desserts were beautiful, wild flowers blooming everywhere. But after two days of that, I was ready for the change of scenery in Eastern Texas. And, yes, I am ready to go again. Next time, I would hope we could take more time to see a little more as we travelled, or I could fly both ways.

I did not have a camera with me on the way going, and I really wished I had. There were two times particularly I wished I could preserve what I was seeing. We were driving alond the highway, and came up behind a semi. The tail end of it was very nicely painted. I can't describe how it was decorated, but in very large letters it said something like "Jesus Christ is not s Swear Word". And then, as we passed the truck, the whole side of it was painted to match. I didn't know until several miles down the road, that Judy had a camera in the center part, and did not think about it. Another time, we were driving along, and we were seeing occasional Yucca plants that were in bloom. They were very impressive, and just at a glance, they looked like men with big white drum major type hats. AT one time, off to the right, there was a whole hill-side of the plants, all in full bloom. The first thing I thought of was the story in the Bible where the people are gathering on the hillside to listen to Jesus give his Sermon on the Mont. No kidding, that's really the thought that came to my mind. I think this was along the river east of El Paso,and I also thought how easy it might be for the Mexicans to get into the United States if they could rig costumes that looked like drum majors, and mix with these plants.

Back home again on Thursday evening. It was a good trip, and I enjoyed it very much, but I was ready to be back home. But, I am also ready to go again.

So for now, That's all folks!!