Observations while flying and what's happening

Hello from Dallas, Texas!!

I'm plugged into the internet connection at the apartment of my host family, Daniel and Jennifer. They have graciously given Brian (also here for "Discover Dallas"- from Cleveland, Ohio) and I the run of their apartment tonight. I'll touch on that a wee bit later in this post.

If you've sent me a personal email recently I am unable to reply until I get back. For whatever reason my Outlook Express will receive new email but not let me send outgoing messages. But I will respond when I get back to New Hampshire.

What follows are some notes & observations that I made while on the plane and some things I didn't have opportunity to write down since they occurred after I landed at DFW.

This is my first airplane trip in just under 10 years (last time was when ex and I went to Israel and Egypt in 1996; we left on March 17th.)

Today was the first time I have ever been in either Texas or Wisconsin. Since I was going straight on to DFW I didn't need to get off the plane at MKE. They invited all passengers going on to Dallas the option of deboarding or staying on the plane for the 43 minute layover. I was the only passenger not to get off of the plane, which was rather cool. Obviously this did not include the flight crew, who had to tidy up the plane for the final leg.

No problems taking off or landing at any of the three airports. The flights in and of themselves were pleasant and uneventful. Hardly any turbulence and mostly cloud-free skies. I reserved a window seat for the whole trip.

Taking off from Boston as we were turning to head towards Milwaukee, I could see the plane's shadow reflecting on the water below. Very cool in a detached kind of way.

The plane was only about 1/3 full on the flight from BOS to MKE but filled up from MKE to DFW.

It always amazes me how the buildings, roads, trees, etc. look like a nicely assembled model as the plane takes off and lands.

When the plane was preparing to land in Milwaukee, the only structure I recognized from the air was Miller Park, where the Brewers play baseball. The retractable roof was open and I could clearly see the field and seats. Very nice looking from the air. I'll bet it's just as nice when you're watching a game.

In comparison to New England's hodge-podge of towns all jumbled together, I think it's interesting how the cities and towns are nicely laid out in squares - thanks to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. (Do you remember that from your high school US History class???)

At Logan Airport near my gate there was a Johnny Rockets. I ordered a home fried potato dish called The Works which was excellent...

On the first leg of the trip I only had the complimentary bag of pretzels and a Pepsi. On the second leg I had a freshly made grilled chicken Caesar salad, which cost an exorbitant $10. I guess you don't get a free meal as part of your airfare in economy class. On both legs I ate the freshly baked (on the plane) chocolate chip cookies. mmmmm

Somewhere towards the end of the flight to Dallas I could see towns separated by open spaces and a single road connecting them. This is a novelty for me, since in New England most towns are right next to each other so that (from the air) you can't tell where one town begins and another ends.

Last night before I left (when I was out with G and P, Daniel called me. I didn't recognize the number so I let voicemail get it. When I called him back later on, he advised me that he and his wife were involved at the Grace Conference here in Dallas that ends tomorrow. He said that I should go to their website and print ouot a voucher for a shuttle that would take me from the airport to the hotel where the conference was, free of charge. That so I could meet them there and then they would take me to their place after it was done. Okay, I was fine with that since I don't know anyone and what else am I going to do???

When I met Daniel for the first time, he asked me where I was from. When I said New Hampshire he told me that there was another fella from New Hampshire at the conference, which turned out to be nate, one of my fellow blogger friends. So I got a chance to meet and talk with him for a while. I actually sat with him on the last hour of the day's conference, which was interesting but would have been moreso if I had been there for the whole day. The funny thing is that Nate and I were going to meet sometime in the next few weeks anyway back home. Small world after all.

Once the conference was over and Daniel and Jennifer had done a bit of clean up, they, Brian, myself and two other guys whose names escape me right now went out to a Mexican restaurant callled CHIPOTLE. This was very good food. I had three spicy steak soft tacos and a bottled water. After we ate, we stopped by the DTS campus since it was on the way to their apartment. Sort of a sneek peek at some of what I'll see tomorrow.

Because their conference is based at a hotel here and becasue it starts early, Daniel and Jennifer had a room right there in the hotel. When they volunteered to be a host family for "Discover Dallas" they didn't realize that their conference was the same weekend. So they apologized for not being "good hosts." This is why Brian and I are here by ourselves. Tomorrow night they will be here along with a third guest from Ontario, Canada who is a missionary in Senegal, West Africa.

I'm having a good time so far. Now the real fun starts.

Well that's about all for now. I'm sure this is waaay more information than you really wanted to know. Thanks for reading anyway!!

Since I have internet access here, I expect to post again sometime tomorrow night. Probably that will be around the same time as tonight.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Good night.