Getting to Japan from Arizona
Below is a view of California from the 747. All pictures on these pages are 1/2 size. Right click them to view full size or save.
It was very quiet staying at Nacho's little Ranchito on the Mexican border. On Monday morning I thought about just how busy the next several weeks were going to be and savored the peaceful moment. We pulled out of Bisbee Junction at about 9 am. After putting our cat Pita in an excellent animal boarding place near Bisbee we headed north. It was usually a four to five hour drive to Phoenix. We stopped at one of our favorite mexican resturaunts in Tucson. God, I'm going to miss mexican food! We had a motel room reserved near the airport and planned on checking in there before heading over to my friend Marb's house for a social evening. Things didn't start out as planned though. About 20 miles south of Phoenix Ginger, who was driving, said that the van was behaving strangly. She was slowly losing power. The engine finally died and she coasted along without power. We were extremely lucky. There are only two rest areas between Tucson and Phoenix. The northern most rest area was only 1/2 mile ahead and we had just enough energy to roll to a stop in a parking slot there. There was a phone there and we called Triple A. The tow truck showed up just 45 minutes later and it wasn't long until we were at the Chevrolet dealership in Phoenix. They provided a courtesy car and took us and our baggage to my friends house. He will pick up the van for us after it's fixed. We had another wonderful meal with Marb and his family at another great mexican resturaunt in Tempe. My friend Marb then took us to our motel room near the airport. In the morning we continued our journey. I really enjoyed the flight on Tuesday morning from Phoenix to Los Angeles because I found a channel on the entertainment plug-in that was connected to the pilot's communications radio. It was interesting to follow the flight's progress through; PHX ground control, PHX tower, PHX departure, Albequerque radar, LAX approach, LAX tower and finally LAX ground. We barely made our connection at LAX to Korean Air. It was pretty complicated. After catching a shuttle to change terminals and get our passports checked we arived only about ten minutes before boarding started. On the flight we were served an excellent lunch. I had Pibimbap, a traditional spicey rice and meat dish along with miso soup and fruit for desert. It was interesting to watch Korean and Japanese news shows. They were either subtitled or narrated in English. To while away the twelve hour flight we also watched two American movies, "Arlington Road" and "The Love Letter". The soundtrack of both were in english and they were subtitled in kanji (japanese). After the movies we were served another excellent meal. I had curried chicken this time amd Ginger had beef bulgogi (bulgogi is a very traditional Korean dish). I really recommend Korean Airlines. It was an excellent flight with very courteous service.
No Tuesday Night
As we crossed the international dateline we lost a day. We had lost the first bit of time in the states. We had started the trip in Phoenix at 9 AM tuesday morning and arrived in Los Angeles at 9:20. That was certainly a quick trip! But in crossing the international dateline near the Midway Islands it was suddenly wednesday morning. I set my watch to reflect this. If we could just keep flying west at 570 miles per hour would it ever get dark? Is it possible to travel in time? I suspect that it is. We have lost a day going to Asia. That's really not as spooky as getting a day back will be when we return. I don't remember doing anything on that missing tuesday night but how will I possible fill two days piled into one when we return. I saw a large number of boats in the ocean below as we passed near Midway. As I write this an hour later I can see nothing below, just empty blue water with scattered cumulous clouds.
Mother and daughter reunited in Tokyo
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