02.21.07 Trying to Leave So. Illinois

We left home at 10 am today, Wednesday. The first leg of the trip was a puddle-jumper from the Williamson County Airport to St. Louis. But that flight got cancelled due to a mechanical problem so the airline got us a ride to St. Louis. Just north of Carbondale the limousine broke down. As you can see, I confirmed that the problem was indeed an overheated radiator. We waited for another one to come get us and missed our connecting flight to Los Angeles. The first three hours of our effort to ‘rush’ to the other side of the world got us about 20 miles north of where we live. But at least we were still in God’s Country, Southern Illinois, USA. Too bad we EVER have to leave.

The goal was to get to LAX in time to catch our midnight flight to Guangzhou. That turns out to be more difficult than it might appear. The first Southwest airline person we spoke with in St. Louis—I did not get her name so let me call her Bad-Hair-Dye-Job-Lady—was totally unsympathetic and unhelpful. We went to the back of the line to try again. This time we spoke with Mr. Carlos Santa Maria, and it was a totally different experience. He helped us like we were family. He got us on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona, and then on to LAX. We got to LA with only a few minutes to spare. Now we are boarding a Boeing 777-200 to leave LAX for Guangzhou. Except for that radiator and Ms. Bad-Hair-Dye-Job-Lady, things are going well.