Headed to Oklahoma On My Own

Headed to Oklahoma, On My Own

2/23

We have made two trips to Oklahoma driving together, and with winter weather moving in, we won’t be able to take a third load out until spring. It's also important that my sister doesn’t think we just dumped the cats off on her. We decided that I should go on my own to help her out, and strengthen our relationship.. So I made reservations, waited until February, and I flew out on my own, and here is my adventure..

Okay, maybe 6:00 AM was too early for a flight. With an hour drive to the Sacramento airport, getting up at 3:30 AM wasn't easy....of course I didn’t sleep well either as I woke up every hour. Maybe anxiety, or excitement for another adventure. Who knows! I’ll sleep on the plane, (says the woman who doesn’t sleep on planes).

Will dropped me off at my carrier's terminal, as he would stay at home to take care of the homestead. I checked in at a kiosk, labeled my own bags, then still had to wait in line for them to accept the luggage. Not sure if using the kiosk speeds anything up, but it’s the process, so I did it. Going through TSA with pre-clearance doesn’t seem to have sped up the process much either but at least I don't have to remove my shoes and pull my computer out of my carry-on, so it works for me and is convenient.

There were no direct flights to Oklahoma City or Tulsa that worked into my schedule, so I took a connecting flight through Dallas/Fort Worth, then a quick flight to Bentonville/Lafayette, Arkansas, which is closer to my sister’s house. But no matter where I landed, I would have to rent a car and drive from 2-4 hours to her house. I picked the closest with a two hour drive. Our very first flight Will and I took to Oklahoma, we landed in Dallas, and rented a car. It took four hours to drive up into Southeast Oklahoma. That was a far drive. I wasn't going to try that on my own in the winter.

Note:* I’m sure some people reading this blog may like Dallas, and their airport, but unfortunately I am not one of it's fans. It seems the airport has overgrown it's britches and is trying to adjust by loosening its belt, instead of admitting it needs to buy a larger size! The airport is huge! Needing to jump on a shuttle/people mover-type monorail to go from terminal to terminal is your first clue of its enormous size. Once you have landed, your terminal is a mass that you must navigate just to find a monitor, a map or any other hint of where you are located within this behemoth stop. Once you figure out where you are, you need to find what terminal your connecting flight airplane will be waiting for you. Then race to the monorail, (unless you are lucky enough to have a lot of time between flights) to ride to your next terminal and gate. Bottom line, you really have to be aware and organized to be successful in the Dallas Airport.

Fortunately, I found my next terminal and jumped on to the monorail, but then realized my gate is in a different terminal, because the terminal was two parts, A and B. I quickly jumped back on to the monorail and rode to the correct terminal and gate. Up the ramp and onto the plane, the ride took a bit over an hour to get to Lafayette.

Once I landed, I instantly noticed the dichotomy of two airports. This Arkansas airport had one terminal, one open area, and two luggage carousels. As I went to the location of the carousels,, I also noticed one car rental counter, and a local hotel about 1000 yards from the airport.

Receiving my rental car keys, the very nice person at the counter directed me on the path that would lead me to my car. As by experience, attendants direct you to the car or bring the car to you, and help you examine the car, take pictures and remind you to fill up the gas tank before you return the car, (or I will be charged a higher ridiculous amount per gallon). But much to my chagrin, there was no attendant, and no one to review the car. So on my own, I found the car (which was actually more confusing than signing all the paperwork), took pictures of all obvious imperfections on the car, and drove off. Thanks to modern technology, I simply put in my destination's address, and headed out. Back “in the day”, before electronic maps, when we were in an unfamiliar area, one was at the mercy of the local service station ( a gas station with a service area that would help fix your car), who hopefully taped a map of the local area on the window of the cashier’s office so you can find what roads would lead you to your destination. If we were closer to home, my dad carried the Thomas Guide Books in the car that had maps arranged in a grid in the form of a book. My mom hated those books! She would say, “I need to see the whole city, I need the big map”. It was funny to watch my day trying to explain the logic and convenience of the books. But, I digress. The road to my sister’s was long, so I needed to figure out how to make the radio work. Well, again, there wasn’t a simple radio, there was (a so-called) an “Infotainment Center”. A giant screen that controls everything from the radio, to indoor climate control (air conditioner). I had to pull over just to figure it out. Well, figured it out quickly, and got back on the road, guess I’m not that bad with technology as I thought!

After two hours of beautiful scenery, very nice roads, and no snow on the ground, the ride was very smooth, and uneventful, (except for the actual car, as I didn’t like the make and model that was assigned to me). Never-the-less, I arrived at my sister’s safely and that is what I truly wanted. First on the agenda, after saying Hello to my sister, was going straight to the mobile home to see my cats. Some greeted me like I just returned from lunch, and others hissed and hid. But most of my cats took a minute to hear my voice and then recognize me, and allowed me to quickly interact with them. After visiting and cleaning, I said goodnight to my kitties with confidence that they were doing great. It was a long travel day, and the night passed quickly as I had a chance to talk to my sister at length. Something we had never done before. A Good Day.