Texas trip - 2

AC pointed out that I missed the date of our departure by a month - it was on March 30th. This is a continuation of the same day. The plane we took from Augusta to Atlanta was a smaller commuter turbo-prop and we were fully loaded with people. While this aircraft seemed to be very air worthy and sturdy, it had a lot of vibration and noise. It seemed to have somewhat the noise level of a riding lawn mower and not much more comfort in the seating therein – but they did give us a small bottle of water and a pack of peanuts.

We got to Atlanta late because of leaving late and I thought we might have trouble being on time for our flight to Houston. My concern was for naught because we went down and caught the “subway” to the proper concourse and even after a visit to the necessary rooms, we had a few minutes to wait before boarding.

This time we were on a jet and our conveyance was so much smoother and quieter, plus I got a cookie AND a pack of peanuts along with the water. We did have some bumpy air as we were getting up to altitude and a couple of times on the flight. The descent into the Houston airport was pretty rough due to a storm front but I’ve been in worse. As soon as we were on the tarmac we were allowed to turn our cell phones back on and we called OD and found out that she, GM2 and GM5 were already in baggage claim waiting for us.

We de-planed and found our way to that area. After happy greetings we stood around waiting for luggage to come down the magic conveyer. We finally got one of the four bags and were the last ones standing around waiting for more. The luggage person came over and informed us that our other three were still in Augusta – in this case, Delta wasn’t ready when we were.

Since the flight from Augusta was fully loaded, they didn’t send some of the luggage because of weight. They didn’t even send them on the next flight, but would send then on the first flight on Saturday and bring them out to us. Being very trusting, with a touch of naïvety, I had put all my meds and vitamins in one of those left behind bags – as well as all toilet articles.

With a large feeling of broken trust, we took our one bag to OD’s van and went to other parts of Houston. Our first place to stop was at P F Chang’s Chinese Bistro, since OD had wanted us to eat there. The food was good as the name was fancy and was enjoyed by all – but we had to bring several boxes of leftovers home. Even an hour later I still wasn’t hungry.

Our next stop was another place that OD had been telling me about – Central Market. This place was a huge fresh market and had more produce than I have ever seen, in volume or in variety. I had never even heard of some of this stuff – they even had tiny Russian banana potatoes and several other types of this veggie that I didn’t know was in existence. We wandered around in amazement for a while and finally departed for her residence.

We had to stop on the way to her home to pick up some toothbrushes for the night and hoped that the bags would be in the next day. Even though our luggage was lost, I knew that God was still good – all the time. ec

PS - Today, April 1st, is my birthday - 66.