Adventures in Traveling

Air travel appeals to my resistance to sitting in the seat of a car for long periods of time. Our early flight out of Ontario was just fine and we landed in our layover stop, Denver, 30 minutes early due to a nice tail wind. The outside temperature in Denver was 7 degrees! Seven! The skyway from the plane to the terminal was rrreeeaaallllyyyy cold and we were very happy to be inside the terminal looking out at all that snow on the ground! We boarded our flight to New Orleans on time, and just as everyone was seated and the pilot was preparing to push off from the gate, he was informed that our aircraft had a dent in it. (An astroid perhaps?) He was sure it was not significant, but procedure called for the maintenance people to come and measure and inspect the dent. Then the necessary paperwork had to be completed and about 40 minutes later, we began our departure from Denver. The flight was smoothe and it was fun to fly over the Mississippi River and see the Gulf Coast from the air. After a safe landing in New Orleans, it felt magnificent to stand up after that two hour flight. Dee's brilliant decision to make reservations with an airport shuttle service allowed us to be transported to the Sheraton New Orleans and our bags handled with a great deal of ease. The ride to the hotel became an adventure because there was a parade on Canal Street which prevented our shuttle driver from bringing us to the door of the Sheraton. The traffic was bumper to bumper in the downtown area due to the street closures for the parade. Because of all the traffic and the seeming disregard for traffic signals, our shuttle driver had to stop in traffic and let us off. We grabbed our luggage, tipped our driver and ran across the street to the safety of the sidewalk. Dee's luggage handle became stuck while it rode in the aircraft so she couldn't bring up the handle to comfortably roll it down the street, so she rolled it while bent over holding the suitcase handle. She and the rest of us had a little rest, however, when we had to stop at a corner and watch part of the parade cross in front of us. Wow! Lots of fun, loud music, and beads everywhere! The temperature was about 56 degress with 15 mile an hour winds. Shivering, we made our way the four city blocks to the hotel and it was all we could do to open the doors due to the wind! But once inside, we were able to check in with ease and with the help of a friendly employee, we learned how to operate the elevators! One presses number keys on the keypad on the wall by the elevator to indicate the floor they need and the LED readout tells one which elevator car will take them to their floor. No buttons to push in the elevator. We live on the 35th floor. We can see to the horizon from our hotel window, and looking down, we could see the parade passing down the street! Now that the sun is down (and we are waiting for room service), the lights of the city are beautiful. It was comforting to notice this evening that there is a CVS Pharmacy and a Funnel Cake truck just across the street! We have already seen John Cerda and Rebekah McKovich, and many friends we haven't seen in a long while. It is such fun to touch in with those we don't get a regular opportunity to visit with. The person sitting in our airplane row from Denver to New Orleans was Practitioner, Eugene Holden. Eugene has been working at the Denver Home Office for some years and is now the Project Manager for the World Ministry of Prayer. He is quite excited about the new programs unfolding with the integration of the two organizations. So this evening, we are relaxing in our lovely room, awating our salad and soup and enjoying the ability to move aout our 'cabin' as we please.