Green Jello Hotdish

I’ve arrived at LAX, not without a few unexpected twists and turns along the way. I started the morning at the Milwaukee Amtrak station (thanks, Paul, for dropping me off) only to walk in to an announcement that the train to Chicago I was expecting to take was 30 minutes delayed due to a Metra “grade accident.” I took that to mean a car-train accident, but 30 minutes wasn’t going to be a big deal. As I was finishing up the ticketing process, the next announcement came that all trains for the morning were not running, and the next train out wasn’t going to leave until AFTER my flight was to leave Midway.

Some last minute scrambling, a $15 cab ride later, I’m on the road en route to Kenosha. Chris was my saving grace for the day and offered to drive me to Midway, so I got there with plenty of time.

As the morning went on, more and more flights were being delayed. Luckily, mine was only 30 minutes delayed (seeing a trend?) and we were up in the air quickly once we were set to go. We hit terrible turbulence along the way, which wasn’t helping the situation of my hating flying. I sat next to an interesting character, which made the flight that much better. In the end, we made it in to Los Angeles only 15 minutes behind schedule, and my luggage made the whole trek, so it was good overall.

Now I’m waiting for the long flight. Twelve hours from LAX to Auckland, New Zealand. I keep thinking of the flight here as being not horribly unbearable and 1/3 of the flight to Auckland. I’m not sure if that positive thinking is going to continue to work, however.

I’ve brought a number of books with me to read, including Barbara Erenreich’s new book “Bait and Switch.” So far it’s very typical of Erenreich’s writing style, but rather dry. I’m about halfway through it, and the ah-hah moment is nowhere to be found. I think I’ll finish up the book two hours into the flight or so, and call it a night.

Look for more updates as I continue my vacation!