After 23 hours, finally HOME!

I love to travel ... because it's kind of like an adventure every single time ~ you never really know what will happen ~ and so many things are out of your control. But I'll get to the adventure part later. These are the Franklin Mountains from the air, about five minutes after lifting off from the El Paso International Airport right exactly on time (at 2:05 p.m.) yesterday afternoon.
I know I've shown you the Franklins before ~ and it's not like they are the Grand Tetons or the mighty Rockies ... but I think they are lovely and they intrigue me every time I see them. Seeing them from the air is a real thrill for me. When I'm on the ground in El Paso, I have an overwhelming desire to climb them ... to the very TOP ... and getting an aerial view of them helps to alleviate that a little bit.
I'm not sure which mountain this is, but I'm pretty sure we are flying over New Mexico ...
And I'm also pretty sure that white blotch out there near the horizon is White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, outside of Alamogordo ~ we've been there before and played on the sand mountains ~ great fun!

Pretty soon, though, we reached cloud cover and as we ascended through them I was listening to my I-pod (thanks, Adam and Emily!) ~ "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" by Michael W. Smith was playing. Do you know the words? "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look FULL in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim ... in the light of His glory and grace." We flew through the clouds, leaving the earth behind, back out to the brilliant sunshine as "Awesome God" played in my ears ... it really was a wonderful experience.

This next photo is right after landing at O'Hare ... they are de-icing the jet at the next gate ...
We landed in Chicago exactly on time last night. I naively thought I had a two hour layover before I had to board my flight to Grand Rapids. But when I deboarded and went to the American Airlines desk to find out which gate my Grand Rapids flight would be departing from, they very casually told me, "That flight has been cancelled." You can't imagine HOW surprised I was to hear them say that! I thought surely they were joking! So I asked why (naturally). They lamely told me that the weather in Grand Rapids was prohibitive and that they would book me on the next flight. Well ... what could I do? I figured the next flight would just be a little bit later!
Without flinching, the airline attendant told me the next available flight was leaving O'Hare at 8:30 a.m. the NEXT morning. He offered a hotel at 40% off the regular rate, but was honest enough to tell me it would still cost me $60-$80. No way. I hadn't eaten since early that morning, so I let the gentleman book that 8:30 a.m. flight and then decided to go to Gate G2B where I would board the plane the next morning. O'Hare is a big place, but having connected through Dallas/Ft. Worth on the way out to El Paso, it felt almost tiny! I purchased a newspaper, walked into a Chili's and ate dinner. And then the rest of the night was spent walking the vast corridors, seeking enough quiet and warmth to actually catch a few winks. Quite and warmth. I never did find it ~ butI did catch a few intermittent hours of sleep. And by the way, the weather in Grand Rapids was NOT that bad. I think they simply didn't have enough passengers to fill their plane and randomly cancelled flight! I think I'm going to write a letter of protest to American Airlines!

I did have a problem to solve, though, even before I settled down for dinner. I needed to reach Mr. Jones and tell him about my cancelled flight so that he would not drive out to the airport in bad weather for absolutely nothing! However, Thursday nights are "train" nights and a group of 6-8 guys rotate hosting the fellows at their houses to "play" trains. I could not remember which house Mr. Jones was supposed to be visiting! In fact, I couldn't remember the NAMES of half of these fellows. I finally remembered a few first and last names, so I phoned Jesse back in El Paso and he got on his computer (thanks, Jes!) and found their phone numbers for me. I was finally able to reach the right people and, thankfully, Mr. Jones didn't drive out to the airport.

There were a few other passengers whose flights had been "cancelled," who were hanging around the G concorde. I had a terrible sore throat (and still do) and one kind lady gave me a handfull of throat lozenges. I didn't realize all of the stores at the airport actually shut down for the night ~ I had the mistaken notion that I was going to at least be able to entertain myself for a few hours combing through the book stores, etc.
This morning, pretty much right on time, my American Eagle flight took off at 8:30 a.m. Taking pictures through an airplane window is a bit of a trick, but I never give up! It was fun to see Chicago from the air.
I have never flown OVER Lake Michigan in the daytime when I could actually SEE it. This morning, I did! My pictures of Lake Michigan are completely unremarkable. There were lots and lots of low clouds this morning. Except we were only in the air perhaps 3 minutes when we flew through the clouds ... it was SO beautiful to come out of them and see the sun beaming through higher clouds ... don't the lower clouds look like stormy waters and high waves?
Isn't this amazingly beautiful?
"I will sing of Your tender mercies and Your love forever! Young and old will hear of Your faithfulness. Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens." PSALM 89.1-2

I have 100's of pictures to edit in the next day or two ... beautiful photos of the El Paso grandchildren, Jesse, Di, the mountains ... but I really am too sick tonight to do any of that! I'm just thankful to be safely home in our relatively (!) warm house ...