APR 18, 12 .. ROYAL OAK TO ALASKA / NOTHING BUT GOOD LUCK
WHY ME ‘OH GOD OF ABRAHAM’ .. What did I do to deserve the amazing things that follow ..
I just want to ‘get warmed up here’ with a short post about one short part of my trip back to Alaska from Michigan (both are States in the United States of America) ..
Last Monday .. the 16th of April .. I left my home in Royal Oak (a city) in Michigan just North of Detroit .. at 6AM and caught an Amtrak Train to Chicago at 6:25AM .. the trip from Royal Oak Michigan to Anchorage Alaska cost me $2.25 .. BECAUSE I had a free Amtrak Train Trip (with my Amtrak Reward Miles) and a free Alaska Airlines Trip (with my Alaska Airlines Reward Miles) .. the cost of $2.25 was for a ride from Chicago’s Union Train Station out to O’Hare International Airport on the Blue Line .. Chicago’s MTA ..
When I arrived into Chicago’s O’hare International Airport from Union Station downtown .. I found my way to the ‘shuttle terminus’ .. the place where ALL Hotel and Motel Shuttle Buses come to take arriving passengers to their motels .. slick and efficient ..
So I telephoned my Motel .. the Comfort Inn .. and they said ..
1. Our shuttle makes its trip every hour-on-the-hour BUT we will SEND it over IMMEDIATELY .. and they did .. getting me into my Motel Room much earlier than IF I had had to wait for the normal shuttle schedule ..
Tuesday Morning the 17th of April .. I show up at the Alaska Airlines Counter at O’Hare and ..
2. BECAUSE I was flying on a Rewards Mileage Flight I had a MIDDLE SEAT at the back of the airplane .. GOT IT .. A FULL FLIGHT .. well ALMOST .. the nice lady at the ticket counter asked IF I would like to sit at the front by the window in seat 6A .. “WOULD I LIKE TO DO WHAT!” I exclaimed ! .. “OH YES” .. Would I Like To Swap A Middle Seat In The Back Of The Plane For A Window Seat At The Front Of The Plane ! Sign Me Up Nice Lady !
After this and then getting checked into the Alaska Airlines Counter at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport .. I walked up to the area where they check your Boarding Pass and Photo Identification .. there was a Crocodile Dundee (as in .. “Now THAT’S A LINE MATE !”) .. ENORMOUS LINE .. after all .. O’Hare is one of the Worlds Busiest Airports .. the official said to me .. “Sir .. please go over there to that corridor.” .. Dutifully I did .. then .. seeing that the sign for THAT corridor said .. “Officials and Employees and Crews ONLY” .. I looked back at him .. shrugged my shoulders and indicated “THIS Corridor ?” .. He smiled and vigorously ‘waived’ for me to JUST GO IN THAT WAY..
3. I did and THEY promptly waived me through AFTER confirming that my boarding pass and identification matched .. I must have saved a half-an-hour .. of standing and of waiting ..
THEN it was Security Check-In .. you know.. more long .. VERY LONG lines.. I picked one and went to the back of the line .. I felt a light tap-on-my-shoulder and a smiling lady said .. “Sir .. you go over THERE Sir to THAT X-Ray Machine” ..
4. SHE sent me to an X-Ray line that had JUST OPENED and I was the first in line to go through .. I went .. literally.. from LAST-TO-FIRST .. and I ‘sailed through’ like I could NOT believe ..
WHY ME OH GOD OF ABRAHAM ? ..
Earlier .. back at my Comfort Inn Motel .. I was waiting outside for my shuttle and got to chatting with an extremely nice man from the Nation of Poland .. we really hit-it-off .. in fact I called Patti’s answering service and had him say some words to Patti in Polish ..
Up came my shuttle and out got the driver .. the man from Poland assisted me getting my bag into the shuttle and then HE got into the Shuttle replacing the man that had driven up (shift change time I found out) .. and then he drove a van full of people coming through from Warsaw Poland to O’Hare .. instead of taking me to the Shuttle Terminus .. he politely dropped me off AT THE ALASKA AIRLINES entry at O’Hare’s Terminal Three ..
These were the first ever people from Poland I had ever interacted with. They were great.
5. Then on the Alaska Airlines Flight there was the Flight Attendant that kept slipping me the little ‘salty pretzel and peanut’ snacks that I desperately NEEDED and got me a brand new Alaska Airlines Magazine so Patti can work a new cross word puzzle (all the magazines near me had the puzzle worked or partially messed up) .. I will send Tom 48067 a nice article about Major League Baseball from the magazine also ..
IF the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you .. it will be enough .. Meister Eckhart ..
So GOD OF ABRAHAM .. I say THANK YOU (thinking .. why me God .. what did I do to deserve all the good things that keep happening to me) ..
Rock On My Friends.. Now Let Us See IF This Post Actually Gets Posted .. Press Publish Now Captain ..