Thursday stared out at 3:30 am. The horrible music sounding from the radio alarm woke me from a dead sleep of only a couple hours. My apprehension of flying and excitement kept sleep at bay for most of the night.
Our friend Steve picked us up just before 5 to take us to the Yuma airport. Upon arriving at the airport we checked out luggage and got our reserved tickets. We met a lady from Yuma heading to Colorado to meet her 6th grandchild. She like us, packed for the cold weather we were about to encounter.
Mark and I did not have seats by one another this trip. My seat made was a nice man who kept me calm during the flight. This time I had trouble with dizziness. He told me to close the window, close my eyes and take deep breaths.. All the while he chatted about his job. That helped keep me calm. Upon landing in Phoenix we came across the lady from Yuma. We exchanged our flight experience. She had some dramamine and offered me two to help with my next flight. After a quick bite to eat at Wendy's we met the son of the gentleman that bought our little trailer. His father, Ray, passed away on Sunday. He was on stand by in Phoenix to make arrangements. So sad that Ray never got to live in the trailer that he was so excited about.
After a start delay and slow unloading of our Yuma flight, and early departure of the Phoenix flight, we missed our flight out of Phoenix. American Airlines treated us very rudely and weren't much help with our dilemman. They did offer us Stand by for the next day since all flights for Thursday were already overbooked. After an uncomfortable flight and now thie, my blood pressure soared. Now what do we do?
A quick internet search found us one airline that had two seats for Thursday left. We hurried, well Mark doesn't hurry, to find now to get to the Delta terminals. With some help from airport staff we found the check in point. Not having already purchased tickets we needed to find someone to tell us where to go to purchase tickets. Once we got ot the right area, I almost needed an EMT. The price of same day flights are outrageously priced. But we had no option. We had reservation for the motel and the car rental waiting for us in MN. Mark contacted Expedia and told them our dilemma and they took care of contacting our car and motel reservations to hold everything for us.
The Delta flight, thanks to the extra Dramamine, was a much better flight. The plaine looked to be quite new and the attendants were very friendly too. Mark watched a movie all the way that wasn't many years old and it was free to watch. I just tried to stay in an upright position and battle the aching butt/thigh muscle. I was uncomfortable most of the way to MPLS.
After renting a car from Budget we were finally on our way to Redwood Falls. The care they gave us was a Ford Fusion Hybrid. Nice car but glad we don't own one. I much prefer our truck and SmartCar. Upon leaving the airport we found that we were smack dab in the middle of rush hour. Luckily we never hit the stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic. Exiting towards Hwy.7 didn't take long. Stopping Hutch for a quick bite at Taco Johns and a potty break we were energize to continue our journey. It was a nice scenic ride.
Check in at the Quality Inn went smoothly. The mangers were new and anxious to show us how warm and accommodating they could be. The reviews on line were not very good but it was where we needed to be within our budget. We found the Inn to be very clean and everything worked. The bed was very comfortable as well. I needed to ask for an additional pillow for my arthritic shoulder and elbow. In the morning the breakfast consisted of cereal, scrambled egs, sausage patties, toast coffee and juice. There were also doughnuts bagels, muffins, oatmeal, waffle mix, and fruit. Which is a lot more than at McCormicks Shamrock Inn in Hutchinson. You were lucky to get coffee and toast. The accommodations at the Shamrock in were in ill repair. The previous managers had to be the reason for the bad reviews at the QI, because it is far better with the new managers now.
