(No) Fear of Flying..Part deux
Okay, so it didn’t seem like we’d been airborne too long and I notice that we’re starting to lose altitude. First sign? I can feel my ears popping as the plane makes it’s descent and I take a peek out the window. I know we’re supposed to make one stop on the way to Sacramento and that’s in Ontario (no, not Canada) California and as the plane gets lower and lower in the sky, I remembered that the last time I was on a plane making a stop in Ontario that we had to fly through a huge cloud of smog suspended over the city like a thick, brown blanket of lung cancer and you couldn’t actually tell you were going to land on anything solid until the plane was nearly on the ground. But where was that infamous brown cloud? You could actually see the highways and landscape dotted with homes and businesses. And then the answer came when I heard the pilot say, ”Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Phoenix, …….. What???? Phoenix? What the ….? THAT’S why the skies over “Ontario” looked so clear. We had a stopover there (in Phoenix) to dump some off and pick some up before continuing on to California. Let’s get the record straight. I like Phoenix. I like Arizona and a ”few miles” due north of Phoenix is a little place called Sedona that’s more spectacular than mere words can express. Take me home country road!!!!! Oh, mama!!! THAT is my retirement destination of choice, second only to a little piece of real estate on or near the north shore of a certain Pacific island location.
Arizona…….someday……I’ll stray…….your way……to stay. Beautiful country, dry heat ( I can take it) and lots of sunshine. But…….back to the plane trip! It’s those multiple take-offs and landings one has to make to reach one’s destination that seems to draw particular attention to how rough and bumpy those runways really are. Check it out the next time you fly. With my death grip on the armrests, I’m just waiting for one or more of those tires to blow up. The phrase “smooth landing” certainly was not referring to any plane that I’ve been on. One would think that when these runways are built they put in the potholes in random spots to keep the airline passengers, who are already stressing from the flight on the edge of their seats until the plane stops at the terminal.
So, anyway, it’s up and down, takeoff and land and finally destination…Sacramento, California. We made it!! Now I can finally relax……that is…….relax until I pick up the rental car tomorrow and have to drive in this California traffic, where everyone’s a race car driver, in a hurry or late getting wherever they’re going. Got some Valium’s that you can spare?