Planes, Trains and Automobiles

One of my favorite movies is Planes, Trains and Automobiles. No matter how many times I watch it , I still laugh. To me that is a sign of a good movie. Last night I was needing a good laugh so I watched it. It did not disappoint. Steve Martin and John Candy did a great job with that movie.

Also when I watch that movie, I get flashbacks to some of the travel adventures Jennifer and I had over the years of traveling around the country. Now I would get these flashbacks well before Jennifer passed, so that is not anything new, but the memories now mean so much more.

We had many travel delays/mishaps over the years. We used to say if you see us getting on a plane you best be prepared to be delayed because something is likely to go wrong. The good thing was we usually could look back on those issues and laugh about it. However, a couple of them took a decade or so before we could do that.

One of the top ones was when we were leaving for our first cruise and we forgot our passports at our house. Dave and Barb Searle saved the day on that one, but it was touch and go for a bit. That was one that took a decade before we could truly laugh about that one. Thank god that was pre 911 or we would have been screwed trying to get through all the security stuff.

We were living in Midland, Texas at the the time. The Midland/Odessa airport is between Midland and Odessa so not exactly a short trip to the airport. Anyway we had left our passports at home and Dave and Barb had to get in our house retrieve our passports and bring them to us before our flight left. Thankfully the got it done and the rest of that trip went fairly smooth. We were so embarrassed about that little fiasco.

Jennifer and I traveled to Northern Minnesota to see Janice and Kenn three different times. We were supposed to fly into Duluth and looking back I don’t think we ever made it via plane. We either ended up driving or getting bused there.

All of those trips were memorable for various reasons. One was that we landed in Minneapolis and there were emergency vehicles all over the runways and it was obvious that something big was happening. Well what it was that one of the planes that landed just in front of us was a flight where the pilot had been drinking prior to taking off. It fortunately not our plane but one just in front of us.

The other one of those trips was when we decided to rent a car and drive there. Well that one became memorable because we (I should say I) inadvertently left our return trip tickets sitting on top of a pay phone in the Airport. Now the key was that we were a hundred plus miles from the airport when we realized we did not have our tickets. We pulled over to look for the tickets and we tore our carry on bags and that rental car apart looking for them. When we did not find them we did the “ok when did we last have them” routine and then realized I left them sitting on top of the pay phone kiosk. I did that when we were making calls to the airline about our checked bags and also calling family to update them where we were. Thankfully they were still sitting on top of the kiosk when we returned to the airport. Again thankfully pre 911 so did not have all the security to get through to get to that pay phone kiosk.

Jennifer had some rough trips because of health issues. One Christmas she came down with the flu while we were on the plane back to Lafayette. She was sick as a dog and then our flight into Dallas got delayed leaving Salt Lake because of weather. This caused us to miss our flight into Lafayette by mere minutes, so we had to over night in Dallas. Well that took forever to get a room and get to the hotel. She was as white as a sheet and as sick as a dog. She would have paid someone to shoot her if she could have.

She always cursed my family about that one. She got it from a husband of one of my cousins who came to the folks house for Christmas. I don’t think she ever smiled about that misadventure, she would get pale just talking about it.

We had several other ones where we ended sleeping in a airport, because no rooms were available or we were not willing to pay the high prices of the rooms that were left. There is the scene in the movie when they find out they are stuck in Witchita, Kansas and a guy is sleeping on the floor next to a garbage can. That scene is not meant to be funny, but it makes me laugh because we were that guy on the floor a couple of times.

Anyway there are a ton of classic lines and scenes in that show that just crack me up every time I watch it.

Yesterday was another busy adult recess day. Started with Bocce (I don’t mean to brag but I am going to. I was part of four Casino’s yesterday) . A casino for you non Bocce players is when all four of your teams balls are the closest ones to the palino (little white ball). Well my partner Mike and I had four of them during our three games yesterday. Then I ran some errands and met up with group at the bowling alley. I actually broke 100 in both games (so was pleased about that) and then I was off to Pickleball.

After Pickleball I went down and met with my neighbors Jill and Scott to discuss our upcoming neighborhood “Toast to the Trees” party. I am co-hosting with Jill and Scott, so we were figuring out the menu and items needed for this event. We had a couple of adult beverages and nice visit as we figured this out.

The event is where everyone goes to several houses and we have some drinks and appetizers and make a toast to their tree and then move on to the next house.

Then I came home and it was such a nice night I decided to break in my new little tabletop fire pit. They were on sale on Black Friday so I bought one and it came on Monday night. It is the solostove Mesa model. It is a pretty neat little fire pit. You can burn small pieces of wood or wood pellets in it. I did the wood pellets and it worked pretty slick and is nice and smokeless.

Jennifer would have so enjoyed the day, which is why I needed a good laugh.

Well I better get to moving and prepare to do something productive.