Janes family: Wert

Wert = Western Epic Road Trip

Friday, June 3, 2022

Got up at 4:15 a.m. The cats made one last plea for us not to leave them. Shadow planted himself on Mike's suitcase

and Marty took over the sink so we couldn't brush our teeth.

Nonetheless, we left for the airport at 5:00. Mike left me with the bags to check in while he parked. The one bag we were going to check was 54 pounds, so I had to figure out how to rearrange 4 pounds of stuff. The first thing I took out was the Bible, and I said to the airport worker, "The Holy Bible is the weightiest thing I packed. Is that good enough?" She said it was still 2 pounds over, so I took out a couple more things. Mike's carryon got flagged for inspection, and he lost his body wash and a pocket knife. Meanwhile, the body scan employee gave me too many instructions all at once too early in the morning, and I missed the last one. "Cover the yellow area with your feet, look up, put your hands in this position, and hold still." I turned my head to look at her and ask, "What was the last thing?" right as it was scanning me.

There was a scary moment on the plane when the whole thing jerked violently sideways and I think everybody reflexively grabbed the person next to them. Mike told me that Venus rotates so slowly on its axis that two Venus days equal one whole Earth year, so Venus only has two sunsets and sunrises a year. That blew my tired mind, and I said, "I bet everyone gathers around to watch those two sunrises and sunsets" and imagined that for a good five seconds before I remembered there are no people on Venus.

We made it to Chicago, where I did my next stupid thing. I thought we were going to gate C22, so that's where I went. Mike marched right past and I pitied him while I was looking for a place to settle in and wait for our flight to Seattle. He turned around looking for me, and I waved him down and pointed to the C22 sign. He came back and asked what I was doing at the Minneapolis gate. Yeah, we were gate C29.

Made it onto the plane and walked through spacious, luxurious first class and into crowded coach. I commented on the uselessness of the flimsy transparent curtain between us, and Mike said, "It's a visual reminder: don't forget your place in this world and especially on this plane."

I did something smart for the first time all day and put the salt from my bag of pretzels onto my cucumbers. The flight attendant asked me what I wanted to drink with my vegetables.

I tricked Mike into eating a celery stick. He wasn't happy about it.

I learned that the foothills of South Dakota look like wrinkly elephant skin from 36,000 feet in the air.

Am I the only one who finds it a little ironic that he is studying the airplane safety card while reading his motorcycle magazine? My seatmate was perfect. Quiet and small. We named her Sarah.

The wing on this plane was funky at the end.

It was raining and 58 degrees when we landed in Seattle. We rented a 2020 white Kia Optima FE and drove to Pike Place Market, where we saw all kinds of strange sights, including a cute purple dog.

We got some tasty chowder.

You probably can't tell from the picture, but this is a steep hill and the black car has a hairless cat in the dash. We checked into a Fairfield Inn and discovered another mistake: trusting the bubble wrap and clothes to protect the laptop in the checked bag. The laptop is toast, so I'm blogging from the hotel lobby standing up with people walking by and a 15-minute time limit. We are heading to the Space Needle soon.

Pics from the Space Needle adventure: