The Road Goes Ever On

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Meet Me In St. Louis With Delta Flight 721

So Tuesday morning we bade farewell to Rachel and Will, thanking them for the hospitality and a nice veal piccata birthday dinner the night before, rode the Metro to National where we caught a flight to JFK and then caught Delta #721 to San Francisco.

The flight was, um, interesting, from the start...a PA explanation of the moisture dripping from the ceiling, the entertainment system not working, the wifi system not working.... Somewhere in Illinois, maybe 4:30 PM local time or a bit later, the plane turned sharply south (I was watching the little flight-tracker screen) and descended, without explanation, from 38,000 feet to 24,000 and then lower. I had just said to Vicki that I thought we were going to land in St. Louis, when the PA came on and the pilot announced an "unscheduled" landing in STL due to odors in the rear of the plane. (No one I talked to smelled or otherwise pereceived anything unusual). The landing was relatively uneventful, despite the quick and direct descent. Fire crews were waiting on the ground.

After 15 minutes of uncertainty, we were told to debark, and two (2) small busses, carrying 30 each of the 171 passengers, took us, in several trips, from the isolation tarmac to a terminal. We were told to wait there while they sorted things out. At length (hours), some few people got re-routed, many opted to spend the night in STL and re-book the next day (Easter weekend?!), but we, and most others, opted to wait for a new plane, which arrived about midnight from Detroit, and continuation of the flight. The continuation included another stop, in Salt Lake, ostensibly to change crew, but really, we suspected, to pick up more otherwise stranded passengers. We landed in San Francisco about 4:15 AM, after 24 hours of travel.

I don't mind safety-based changes and diversions, not at all, but there was plenty of other suspicious stuff going on with #721. Airline staff as well as TSA were understanding and courteous and apologetic. The $7 (seven) dinner allowance given the stranded passengers was ridiculous, however, especially just as all the restaurants in the terminal were closing. I expect Delta will be receiving a good deal of correspondence about this flight, not least from us. We have gone on somewhere between 40-50 incident-free flights in the past year and a half (except for a cancelled flight, quickly re-routed, in China; I don't count the 2 week airport closures in Thailand). Not this one. And Delta's handling of the matter, from start to present, has left much to be desired.

Most interestingly, FoxNews' account of the matter (bold italics above) said that smoke had filled the cabin. Vicki and I were sitting just a few rows forward of the galley (at the rear of the plane, where all the activity was), and we never saw any smoke nor noticed any unusual odor...standard Fox reporting, one assumes.

from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/30/delta-plane-makes-emergency-landing-st-louis/

Delta Plane Makes Emergency Landing in St. Louis

Published March 30, 2010

FoxNews.com

A Delta Airlines plane made an emergency landing at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Tuesday evening after smoke filled the passenger cabin, Fox2Now.com reported.

No injured were reported. Passengers were taken by bus from the plane to the terminal.

Delta flight 721, was traveling from New York to San Francisco with 171 passengers on board, Fox2Now.com reported.

Officials are investigating the cause.

Photojournalism by me (nomination forms for Pulitzer Prize

photos are at http://www.pulitzer.org/)

Monday, March 29, 2010

Washington, Again

We drove into Washington Saturday after midnight. A navigational error was made. But we made it. Just 3200 incident-free miles.

Sunday we were out looking at the cherry blossoms and at Rachel's office, high up on 13th St. in downtown Washington. And Monday, Vicki's birthday, we toured the Capitol, thanks to Will. It was my second visit this month, but I'd do it again. The video piece especially is that good.

Peter, Rachel and Will's Large Orange Cat

From the WWII Memorial, looking toward the Lincoln

Memorial

The Jefferson Memorial

Tidal cherry blossoms

Washington Monument and blossoms

Interior of Rachel's building, downtown

Indianapolis Family

A day and 600 miles later, we were in Indianapolis, visiting

Joey (father) and Joseph (son) Hatcher, husband and son of

Vicki's deceased sister Linda. More great food and visiting,

also some great basketball (hey, it was Indianapolis) and

some superb Macallan scotch for me (it was my birthday).

Fayetteville Friends

After Oklahoma, we left I-40 and headed north to Fayetteville, AR, to see college friends Leon and Tawana West. They were our upstairs neighbors in Tallahassee, married student housing, 153 Bliss Drive, in the later 60s. Wes (Leon) got his doctorate in physics at FSU, and it was Tawana who interested Vicki in school library work. Like us, they have lived all over the country, but finally landed home, some years back, in Arkansas, where Wes is a professor of mechanical engineering and Tawana is a recently retired school librarian. They are also fellow world travelers. More great company and more great food. It was wonderful seeing them.

Tawana and Wes, Vicki and me

Tawana with some of her exquisite smocking and

heirloooming

We made her solemnly promise to document these

wonderful labors of love and beauty

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Pig Out Palace

Oklahoma is better known for other things (the parking meter was invented in Oklahoma), but you can get some decent pork barbeque there, particularly at the Pig Out Palace.

Somewhere along I-40, in darkest Oklahoma, this piece of Americana

The buffet

In the gift store

Everything's up to date at Pig Out Palace...

East of the Pecos

On Day 2 we crossed the Arizona Divide (c. 7500 feet), hit snow east of Albuquerque, continued on into Texas, crossed the Pecos and drove into Canadian River country, through Armadillo, stopping finally in Shamrock, Texas, where we split a great ribeye at Big Vern's Texas Steak House. ("No blood," the cowboy at a table nearby ordered). I had wanted to pair it with a 2004 Pinot de Pecos, but it was a dry county. Seriously.

A favorite panhandle landmark, east of
Armadillo, before Pampa, the Leaning Tower

of Texas

The beautiful old Conoco station at Shamrock, Texas

Gas is still only 34 cents a gallon, but they

ran out a long time ago...

Road Trip! Or, "Continue Onto I-40, Passing Through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma..."

Earlier in the month, Rebecca bought a new Honda Fit, and Rachel decided to buy Rebecca's 2001 Mazda truck; and Vicki and Mark volunteered to drive the truck from Menlo Park to DC (we really do like road trips), taking the opportunity to visit friends and family along the way. We left early Monday morning, drove south to aromatic Gilroy, crossed the beautiful green mountains to the central valley (always makes me hungry), then crossed the Mojave (always makes me thirsty), and on into Arizona, stopping at Flagstaff, still in winter with snow all around. I-40 straddles Route 66, visible in lots of places along the way.

Rebecca and her new Fit

About to depart Menlo Park

California, Part 1

At Cirque du Soleil in San Jose

Inside, just before they made the no pix announcement;

a great show nonetheless

Me at Avatar (Dances with Blue Indians

with Tails and USB Sockets); it seemed like

such a long movie, and it was, too

The Chair in Rebecca's classroom at Castilleja

In her classroom

Dean Sherouse's office

United Airlines transported us from Orlando to San Francisco, where Jeremy picked us up at the airport. We spent 4 fun-filled days with Rebecca and Jeremy, lots of entertainment and lots of good food, ranging from In and Out Burger (love the protein double-burger) to Jeremy's crustacean feast Sunday night. Incredible lobster and Alaskan crab. Also an Indian restaurant in Santa Clara, The Mynt, actually a sub-continent fusion bistro that was superb. The entertainment included Cirque du Soleil in San Jose, episodes of Planet Earth on the big screen (loved the cockroaches on the cave mountain of guano), and Avatar (didn't love).

Old South Barbeque

Between St. Cloud and Weston we traveled route 27. It was

a bit of nostaliga--although much improved nowadays--we

drove it a lot in our years in Tallahassee, in the late 60s.

One of the things now missing is the Old South BarBQ in

Clewiston. It closed in 1998 or so. But I did find this one

remaining sign just south of Clewiston. The road used to be

littered with them and their Barbasol-type adages. Sic transit

gloria mundi.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

At the Weston Morris

Monday Carole and Vicki and I spent the day driving down Amnesia Lane, visiting old sites (what few there are; what few we recognize or remember, etc.) in Dade County, more generally appreciating Miami's colossal growth and change over the past half century; and the consequent Dade Diaspora, of which we are, I guess, a part. Yes, we did have wonderful Cuban coffee and pastelitas.

We started with a place we'd never been before,

way down by Kendall, Scully's, a restaurant/bar

we'd seen on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives"; it was

excellent

After Miracle Mile and Coral Way, the

customary cemetery and house visits, we

drove via Brickell Avenue to downtown

Miami, Bayfront Park, etc; you used to be able

to see Biscayne Bay from Biscayne Boulevard...

Piece of the downtown skyline

And then across the Bay to South Beach

Lots of Art Deco, nouveau Art Deco, pseudo

Art Deco, etc.

And back over the dune, South Beach beach; Collins Ave.

was nearly grid-locked, as usual

Dinner was at Shorty's, capping a week of culinary excess. It was wonderful, Carole and Jim, and not least the bottle of Bombay waiting for me.... Thanks. We'll be remembering the culinary excess for weeks, or months, to come. (Where's my pedometer?!)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Water Matters

At the "Water Matters" show at Tree Tops Park, Broward

County; sort of an enviro thing

Sister Carole at the South Florida Water Management

District booth

"Making pets out of worms since 1995"; it's a Florida thing;

I guess

Good tourist that I am, after visiting all the

"Water Matters" exhibits, I hit the park's

visitor center and

Nature trail; I think the bird is an egret or a crane, or

possibly a rare albino flamingo

The park is of special interest in that a) its "ridge" was a set of small islands 100,000 years ago, in the sea off the (then) Florida coast, and b) it was one of the major redoubts of Sam Jones, aka Abiaka, Indian leader in the 2nd and 3rd Seminole Wars, who bested no less that Zachary Taylor (look him up), among others, and guaranteed the permanent Seminole presence in Florida; I just hope the Hard Rock Cafe/Hotel/Casinos give him due credit.