Day 24, October 2, 2007

Fly home day

Both Tom and I were staying one extra night here in Newport Beach and had single rooms. So we decided to cancel my room and be roommates last night. Good thing we did that cause a potential disaster was averted. My itinerary showed me leaving Orange County (John Wayne) Airport at 11:00 AM on flight 720. Donna had emailed me yesterday to alert me of a change and this morning I tried to go online to see if there were any other changes. I had difficulty navigating the United website so Tom helped me. He observed that my flight #720 wasn't leaving out of Orange County, but out of LAX airport. Oh boy, Major problem! I then called AAA in New London and they told me that a change had been made 2 weeks ago and I was now on flight #658 out of Orange County. I never received any notification of that change. So, everything was OK except for some very small time changes. If it wasn't for Tom, I don't know what I would have done. It probably would have worked out but with tremendous nervous anxiety for me the entire day.

I got a 9 AM shuttle to John Wayne airport, A fast check in took 10 minutes - take off shoes and belt, take computer out of case and put it in a separate tray, remove all metal items from self and put in separate tray, put carry on in tray, computer bag in tray, camera in tray, fanny pack in tray. WHAT AN ABOSOLUTE PAIN! I only do this once a year, but when I do, I say to myself never again.

We'll see. I don't know what I'll do next. If I continue to do my RFA as it now is done, I must do the two things that I hate most in life. 1) fly 2) be away from home. Maybe it is time to change my focus. I wrote in yesterday's journal that I was thinking of creating a local ride here in SE CT. Maybe a one day ride of 20 and 40 miles for anyone that is interested in cycling and at the same time support the Alzheimer's Association. Anyone interested? I'm not asking for a commitment to do it, just a discussion of what would be necessary to do it. Please contact me by phone, or at: PO box 574, Gales Ferry, CT, 06335; or email me from this RFA website.

I departed from John Wayne on time 11:12, arrived at O'Hare 4 hours later, had a 1 hr delay at O'Hare, and finally arrived at Green Airport, Providence 45 minutes late. Donna was there waiting for me with a Limo. We had a relaxing ride home. She had prepared hors d'oeuvres, shrimp and pineapple skewers, cherry tomatoes, crackers & cheese and wine. It was delightful! We got home at midnight. What a longggggg day!

This year's ride is over! This was my 9th consecutive ride since 1999. To date (October 2, 2007), my effort has raised over $125,000 for the Alzheimer's Association, including $16,500 that has been raised this year (as of this writing), and I've cycled over 11,000 miles across our beautiful country and have not received any serious injuries. I'm very proud and happy that I have done this to help fight the Alzheimer's disease. My mother died from this insidious disease and it runs in my family. All that said, I say goodbye (for this year) and thank you all for following my daily progress on this site and for continuous support over the years.