The adventure begins

September  12

Squeezed into seats 24 A & B, we are flying east to Miami, into the sun and towards a new adventure.   It has been many years,  years of surfing and tennis in Hawaii, years of gardening and hiking at home, since we have set off on a big overseas trip.  Snow still lingers on the high ridges of Sierra Nevada as the rising sun works  its way over California. The lights are low on flight 552 as we nod off after days and weeks of preparation.  Jeri has earned her rest.  It is lighter now, most of the great basin has slipped under our Boeing 757, a vast expanse of dry lonely basins alternating with rugged mountain ranges running north to south across the American west.  Soon, the Red Rock country of southern Utah comes into view, Bryce and its neighbors magnificent in the early morning light. Over Texas and Mississippi we go, too high, thankfully, to hear the chatter from the tea party below.  

We land in Miami,  a city that has played a pivotal role in my mid-life crisis for it is here, I sent my beloved blue Porshe to begin a new life with a new owner.  Not seeing any sign of the 911SC, we leave the Miami airport terminal, whose major hallway is decorated with fantastic fish sculptures.  On board now we head for the tiny country of Ecuador high in the Andes.  I had read that Ecuadorians valued courtesy and good manners, but it did not sink in until our flight meal was served.  Sitting next to the window on the three seat side of the airplane, with Jeri in the middle, I reached in front of her to take the food tray from the flight attendant, a well groomed latin man in long sleeve shirt and tie.  He left my hand dangling and instead carefully placed the tray in front of Jeri, giving me a little glance. I laughed, as did Jeri,  and the glance turned into a good natured smile.   With arched eyebrows, he pantomimed slapping me on the wrist. Lesson learned.

There will be more to come after we settle in.