It is Saturday already and time to pack up and head back to the chilly northern climate zone. Deb pulled up our flight plan after we received a notice of a time change. The flight delay out of Phoenix made our connection in Denver impossible. Although United Airlines was required to book an alternate flight, it appeared there were no other seats, so Deb went to work. She eventually secured two seats on the last flight from Denver to Omaha, arriving at 11:39 PM. Not great but at least avoiding an overnight in the Denver Airport!
We lunched on sandwiches and loaded up Dell’s Silver Ford Taurus for the drive to the Phoenix airport. We arrived at 1:45 PM, plenty of time to clear TSA and head to our gate. During our visit earlier in the week in Tucson to the Tucson Cactus and Koi store, Deb found an Aloe type succulent that she really liked, She paired it with a smart little pot and the staff there planted it up. We had carried it to Phoenix and then put it in a box, surrounded by plastics and settled into Deb’s carry-on bag, one that was really a long handled tote. Mark was nervous that TSA would confiscate the plant and not allow us on the flight. This wasn’t just paranoia; on a previous trip, he had placed his travel canister of Metamucil in his carry-on bag. TSA saw it on x-ray, pulled the canister, even though it was a factory container, albeit opened. They opened it, called a supervisor over and delayed our departure from the TSA spot for a good 30 minutes before confiscating the Metamucil as possible explosive material. I tried to tell them that they would only explode if they consumed the entire can, but they did not appreciate my humor! In any event, we were afraid the plant with its gravel like soil would trip the trigger.
Not a single comment. It flew through the X-ray machine without a whimper. We, with our replacement hip and replacement knee were a bit slower, requiring we enter the “moose” scan to ensure we weren’t concealing illicit hardware. Takeoff was late, so we were glad we had booked the later flight.
An uneventful run to Denver, arriving on time. There were a lot of close connections on this flight, and as we knew we had about three and one-half hours layover, we sat back and let others get off first. Once off the plane, we stopped for a quick pit stop and then headed towards our next flight, expecting to settle into a restaurant for dinner before taking off. Denver was a real cluster, every flight seemed late and every traveler running up and down the concourse trying to get to their soon to be missed flight. Three gates down from our arrival gate, we spotted our original Omaha flight, evidently delayed and not yet boarding. We stepped up to the counter, and the kind gate lady found us two seats together towards the rear of the plane. We took them.
It has been along time since we sat in the “cheap seats” back in the steerage section. We normally book “Economy Plus” for the increased legroom afforded. Back in row 32, it was crowded. When pulling the tray table down, we found that our girth wedged the table in tightly. Not comfortable. However, for an hour and four minutes we could endure most anything. We arrived in Omaha at 9:20 PM, a full two hours before our earlier schedule, although some 2 hours later than our originally booked flights.
Abigail was there to meet us; we tossed the baggage and the succulent plant in her Prius and hurried home, glad to be back in our own beds and happy to hold our long suffering cat Cleo for comfort. Our house sitters, Darcy and Bud had the place spic and span, nothing was broken or out of place, and the only complaint was from Cleo, who had suffered through the week with her arch-enemies, Norman the Australian Shepherd and Weenie the miniature Dachshund forcing her to hide in the basement and only come up to eat when the dogs were asleep. There was a reason she was glad to see us.
We had a very enjoyable week in Arizona, although it seemed uncharacteristically cool. Since the temperatures dropped to subzero here in Omaha while we were gone, it seemed warm. However, forecast temps for the coming week in Omaha in the upper 60’s to lower 70’s were strange home-coming!
