The tough stretch is about to begin

It is 7:00 PM Pacific time, I think. This has been the longest day in the world. I started out this morning waking up in a hotel at the JFK airport and I have been landed twice now at SFO. I landed here first thing this morning and then went to SNA and now I am back at SFO.

The flight this morning was great! It was a 767-300 with the newly configured business class seats. The guy next to me slept most of the way and Gadgetfreak sat a row behind me. I read about 15 chapters in Genesis and then I watched Mad Money and I Am Legend. They served a bland breakfast with some kind of omelet. I am scared to think of how they prepare the omelet. Each time I have cooked one, they never turned out looking like this one. I guess they use powered eggs or something. I downed about 4 cups of coffee along with the OJ, so I made more than one trip to the outhouse in the sky.

The scenery was also nice flying here to SFO since we flew over the Rockies.

After arriving in SFO for the first time today, I quickly jumped on the Eagle flight to SNA. There were only 7 people on my flight, so I think that was the most empty flight I have ever been on. Needless to say, I don't think this was a profitable flight for AA. This flight was about an hour and I read about 50 pages of "Every Man's Battle".

I arrived right on time to SNA and I was able to hang out with Jeff Jordan for a few hours. He picked me up within a few minutes of my arrival and we headed out for lunch. He took me to this really cool restaurant out on this pier over the water. It was awesome watching the surfers and smelling the cool ocean breeze. It really made me miss California. The weather was perfect, as always, and I got to spend about 3 hours of much needed time away from an airport. Jeff and I caught up on all sorts of stuff. We talked about Reinhardt, well, Firewheel and all that was going on there. We also discussed women and their roles in the church; whether or not they can be pastors.

Jeff dropped me off back at the airport and off I was back to SFO where I am now. This flight had a whoppin 12 passengers on board!



Well, the part of the journey that I have been dreading is coming up. I have a 6 hour flight in coach from SFO to MIA. It doesn't depart 8:50 PT and it arrives in MIA at 5:05 ET. I am dead tired right now, so I hope I am able to sleep most of the way on this flight. Once I arrive to MIA, I get on a flight to DFW and then back to SNA and then finally home to DFW! The next 16 hours I have on these flights just might push me over the edge. No more first class. All coach!!!

I will attempt to blog again from MIA, but I have a feeling that I will be completely out of it. I hope I don't loose it on these flights and cause some kind of disruption. Monica, you will be my one phone call, so make sure your phone is not on silent!

See you guys soon!

Good morning!

It is 6:20 and my flight is about to depart to SFO. I am sitting in AC talking to Gadgetfreak. His real name is Dick. He is a guy that I met on Flyertalk.com and you go to this link to read his post about the flights I am taking.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=813686&page=13


Finally, I have run into someone that understands my plight since he is doing the same thing! He has being going back and forth between JFK and SFO.

Ok, it is time to board, so I better run. I will catch up from CA.

Hello NYC!

I made it here to JFK on time and damage free! So far, this mileage run has been going great. There have been no cancellations or flight delays yet, so it has been smooth sailing thus far. The flight to JFK from DFW was a breeze. I finished the rest of the lost episodes I had on the IPOD while enjoying a nice overcooked pasta dish in first class while gazing at a beautiful sunset. This is one of the reasons I think being a commercial pilot would be awesome. You would get to see these sights pretty much on a daily basis.

Since I just did this same trip two weeks ago, I am now familiar with the JFK airport and area. Upon arrival, I departed the plane and went trait to the Airtrain that takes you to the area where the curtosy shuttles pick you up. Within 5 minutes, the shuttle for the Fairfield Inn was there to pick me up. I checked in, went straight to my room, attempted to call my wife a few times, and then crashed. She did call me during the night at some point, but I was so out of it.

Round two has begun!

Currently I am sitting in the Terminal D AC at DFW. This morning I took the 7:45 am flight to Orange County(SNA) and as soon as I got off the plane, I went to AC and got on the standby list for the next available flight back to DFW. I ran back down to the gate and my name was called almost immediately and I was given the wonderful middle seat! It wasn't too bad though since it was an exit row. I have really got behind on Lost, so I watched 2 1/2 episodes on the way back to DFW. I forgot how much I liked that show! My wife is caught up with what is going on and she has been kind of enough to not spoil the plot line for me. By the way, she completely detailed our house yesterday and it looks absolutely amazing! Sidney is graduating today at Calvary and Monica is hosting a party for her afterwards at our house. Hopefully the dogs will behave and not cause any comotion! My next flight departs at 5:10 and I am heading to JFK where I will stay the night. Today is the easy day of this journey. Below is my complete itinerary:


DFW-SNA
05/24/208 07:45
5/24/08 8:55 AM
359

SNA-DFW
5/24/08 10:50 AM
5/24/08 3:45 PM
742

DFW-JFK
5/24/08 5:10 PM
5/24/08 9:55 PM
476

JFK-SFO
5/25/08 7:00 AM
5/25/08 7:00 AM
59

SFO-SNA
5/25/08 11:15 AM
5/25/08 12:45 PM
3169

SNA-SFO
5/25/08 4:35 PM
5/25/08 6:05 PM
3184

SFO-MIA
5/25/08 8:50 PM
5/26/08 5:05 AM
272

MIA-DFW
5/26/08 6:15 AM
5/26/08 8:20 AM
495

DFW-SNA
5/26/08 10:15 AM
5/26/08 11:25 AM
603

SNA-DFW
5/26/08 12:05 PM
5/26/08 5:00 PM
1188

I am finally home!

It is 6:02 and I am sitting in the comfort of my own home with the smell of spagetti cooking. How great it was to arrive to my wife and a clean home! I missed her so much and it was great to walk in the house and see her and catch her up with my adventures.

My last flight was great. They changed the plane from a 757 to 777 therefore offering a lot more room on board. I also had a conversation with an older woman next to me and we talked the entire flight! Ends up, she is a godly lady and active at Prestonwood Baptist Church. Ends up, she actually know some people that I grew up with.

This my last entry in this blog until May 24th, when I do my next run to complete the goal of getting executive platinum. Its been fun and it was much easier that what I initially anticipated.

Does anyone want to come with me?

going home!

Its 5:30 ET I think. I actually got about 4 hours of sleep last night in a bed! Not in a cramped airplane seat leaning against a window. My flight leaves at 6:25 and gets in around 9 or so into LAX. Right now I am scheduled on a 3:05 PM PT flight from LAX back to DFW, but I should be able to go standby and get home much earlier. I can't wait to just get home and chill out with my wife. Ok, I'm out!

Close Call!!

So, I get to SFO without a hitch, other that the delay at LAX where we had to get off the plane. I check into the SFO AC and I look at the departure board and see that there is a 1:30 flight to JFK. I kindly ask the agent if I can go early on that one and she informs that there is one seat left. As she grabbing the last seat, she exclaims, "Oh my, your original flight just cancelled!" The timing couldn't have been any better for me checking on the earlier flight. If she hadn't of grabbed that seat, I would have been stuck here in SFO indefinitely, since everyone on my original flight would be asking the same thing. This would of been my 2nd cancellation to have deal with, but do to the great service in AC, I was saved!

It is mother's day and I just off the phone with my mom. It is sad that I didn't get to see her today, but I did get hear the excitement in her voice because of the gift all her boys and Monica got her.

Since I am getting into JFK a little earlier this evening, I went ahead and booked a room at the Fairfield Inn at JFK. I used some of my Marriot points, so it won't cost me anything. I am going to get real sleep tonight! I am going to take a shower! I have been wearing the same clothes since 4:45 AM pacific time yesterday, so I am ready to shower and change. I did reapply my deodorant this morning, so I shouldn't smell too bad.

I am 195 pages into the book The Innocent Man and it keeps getting better and better. I highly recommend this read.

It is time to board, so I am out of here for now. Next posting will be from a hotel room tonight!

On the plane, off the plane

I got back into LAX this morning at 9 AM pacific time and I was all excited because we came in right next to a gate that was departing for SFO. SFO is my next destination and my scheduled flight was not until 12:45, but I went to the counter and the guy was cool enough to put me on the earlier flight. They proceed to board the plane and everyone is on board and they about to shut the door. At this time, Mr. AA customer service manager walks on the plane and politely informs us that we all need to get off because there is a ground stop going into SFO because of fog. So right now we are delayed at least an hour.

Anyway, the flight from ORD to LAX this morning was really cool. We flew right over the Grand Canyon, so I got a really cool aerial tour at 35,000 feet. It was amazing seeing it from that perspective and until then I really didn't appreciate the enormity of it. Seeing this just makes more in awe of our Creator! Below are some pics I took:

Quick stop in ORD

Its 6:20 AM CT and I am sitting in the ORD AC. This morning was kind of funny, because it reminded me of a scene from The Terminal with Tom Hanks. I went into the restroom to brush my teeth and there is a guy in there with his shirt off basically taking a shower with the sink. It made me want to laugh, especially in light of the fact this AC has showers that are located on the opposite side of the main restrooms. There was also a lady that was doing her morning workout routine and I happened to catch the candid picture of her.

I was able to sleep a little bit on my flight here and my flight back to LAX board in 15 minutes, so I better go. See you back in LAX!

Sitting in LAX

I just got off the phone with my wife and it is amazing how much I miss her right now. I can't wait to finish what I am doing and then be back home. This has been a tough week for us and it pains me for leaving when we have recently been going through so much. I love you Monica!

It is now 9pm central time and I am sitting in the LAX admirals club. Earlier when I arrived in JFK, I had that message from AA telling me that flight back to JFK tonight had been cancelled. I spent about 30 minutes with a rep in the AC(admirals club) and she wasn't able to figure out a new itinerary that would work. After a while, I finally thanked her for looking for other flights and I headed back to my gate to return to LAX(on the same plane that i just flew to JFK on ).

I was wondering if I was going to see any of the same flight attendants, but they did do a crew change so it was all new employees. This time I was in business class and yes I was the guy drinking the tasty OJ prior to departure. For dinner we had a choice between some pasta dish and the steak. I went with the steak and smashed potatoes. Yes, smashed potatoes. At first I was wondering if it was a typo on the menu, but then I figured that they were just trying to sound more sophisticated. On the flight I watched two movies and read about another 50 pages of John Grisham's book The Innocent Man. This book is freaking awesome and it based on the true story of two murders that took place in Ada, OK. It is cool reading the book and seeing him mention cities that I am familiar with in OK. The movies I watched were National Treasure: Book of Secrets and The Bucket List. One word describes National Treasure; LAME. The other movie was pretty good. It compared the lifes of a rich man that had it all and a modest mechanic, that materially, didn't have much, but when it came to family, he had it all.

After the movies and reading, we landed right on time in LAX. We actually arrived at the same gate that I departed out of 12 hours earlier. It is kind of weird to think that I have seen the LAX skyline twice today and Manhatten. I guess this is what it feels like to be an airline pilot.

Immediately after landing, I came straight here to the AC and the lady working the counter was great. She was immediately able to adjust my flights and now I will be departing at 1110 on flight 1092 to Chicago. Once I get to ORD, I will take a shower at the AC and then hop on the 715 flight back to LAX. I do lose a few miles because of this new routing, but I should be able to get my ORC. Oh yeah, that stands for original routing credit for those that are not too familiar with the system.

Other than the hiccup of a flight cancellation, all is well and I am holding up well. I wish my wife was with me. It would be nice to be able to sleep next to her on my flight to ORD here in a little bit. I feel sorry for the poor sap that will be sitting next to me while I am snoring away. Ok, sleep well everyone!

is just got really complicated - 2:30ET

Well, my flight from LAX to JFK was non eventful. The guy next to never once took his headphones off so we didnt talk at all. Upon landing I have a lovely voice mail from American Airlines telling me that my flight from LAX tonight has been cancelled. I spent 30 minutes with an agent and we couldnt figure out what to do. The problem is that if one flight messes up, then it just snowballs. I will work the situation again when I get back to LAX at 650 this evening.

on my first LONG flight

The time has come for my first flight to NYC. For my fans out there, it is AA flight 118. You can track my real progress at www.flightaware.com.

I am sitting in 23H which has a perfect view into the business class cabin. They are currently being served a pre flight beverage. I wish they still had those curtains that seperated the cabins so I didn't have to watch them sip on their orange juice and champagne.

It is departure time! See you in NYC!

First night

Well my friends, it is 11:52 Pacific time and I am sitting in my hotel. It has been an interesting trip thus far and right now I am quite confident that I will be able to pull off this mileage run with no problem. On the way out here, the guy behind me argued with the flight attendant and they pulled him off the plane for about 5 minutes to give him a warning. He got back on the flight and we departed without incident. During the flight I got caught up on work. I am now at the LAX Hilton and as I walked in, I quickly noticed that there is a very interesting function going on here tonight. From all of the black leather, chains, and whips, it appears that there must be some kind of Sadism and Masochism(S&M) conference going on. I saw a large group of them and I was really nervous that they were going to ride up the elevator with me. That would have been the longest ride up to the 15th floor if they were on board. I can just see them tying me up against my will in the elevator and then proceed to whip me. Fortunately, I made to the room OK without incident.

Well, I have a long day tomorrow, so I best get a few hours of sleep.