Return trip

I'm back in Kansas now. Currently I am in a blissful state of relaxation. The trip is over. I have more time to myself when I'm not working (a mixed blessing). I'm getting my body clock readjusted to Central Time (versus Pacific).

I hear the birds outside and I have some Seattle's Best brewing in the Krups. Life is OK right now.

The plane ride back to Denver was pleasant. Not too full, just about right. The way a Sunday morning flight should be. Not like this. I got to the airport much earlier this time, got the bag checked and cleared security in under 10 minutes.

The rest of the time I spent browsing the Internet and sipping a Starbucks. (About as close to an urbanite as I will be.)

Flight is smooth, nary a bump. Get off plane, call wife, stop at Seattle's Best for another refreshing dose of hot bean juice. Walk casually over to the baggage claim, my suitcase is already on the carousel. Retrieve it, walk out to the curb, and the shuttle bus arrives almost as if on cue.

Does it get any more effortless than that?

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Walking through the Denver airport I begin thinking about one of the many transitions taking place currently. For the past nine years, Sky Harbor has been our jumping-off point and arrival destination for numerous trips (even more for Geogal since she does travel occasionally for her work). Sojourns to Texas, Hawaii, Oregon, Alaska, Illinois, Georgia, Louisiana, and yes, Colorado.

Time to say goodbye to PHX. I have a feeling that Denver International will be the airport of choice for the most part, unless we are flying east. Then we might opt for Kansas City.

Now we will have to be concerned with snow and ice. It's easy to forget just how spoiled one can be after living in the Arizona desert for so long.

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I tend to have a stiff neck once I get off a plane.

I can't help it. I have such an interest in geography that it's nearly impossible for me to fly and not look out the window constantly to orient myself. Of course, if it's nighttime, if there are heavy clouds, or if we are over water than that's a different story. But for the most part my air travel happens in the southwest. Just yesterday I could pick out the San Francisco Peaks, Winslow, Shiprock, Farmington, Durango, and the distant skyscrapers of downtown Denver
--then I knew we were getting close. Until we turn due north and stay in that direction for some time. (At one point I thought we would be landing in Cheyenne--then the plane turned 180 degrees and I knew we were approaching DIA from the north.)

That is one thing I always will enjoy about air travel. Seeing God's creation from 38,000 feet is sometimes a vista of true beauty. Particularly when one flies over the Rockies and the snow-covered terrain looks so unspoiled.

Sometimes it's almost a shame to be back on the ground and in freeway traffic.