After a not so long wait to get clearance for takeoff, we headed for the runway. As we began our takeoff, I could immediately tell that I was not in a jet. This thing is so big and so heavy that it seemed like it took 15 minutes just to get itself off the ground. I swear I thought we were going to run out of runway before it got off the ground. Obviously, the pilots knew more about the plane than me, because we made it. Some of the crew came by to chat a little bit, but they couldn’t talk much because they were busy. One of them eventually brought me some orange juice and cookies. I could have gotten some MRE’s, but I wasn’t that hungry. I had already had my fill of MRE’s throughout my career to this point and I’d have to be super hungry to ask for more.
So here I am on this big plane, flying slowly through the sky, all by myself, freezing my ass off, missing my family and getting hungrier by the moment. This was the part of the flight that I considered my worst.
Finally, we get close to Little Rock. As I’m back there freezing, the co-pilot comes by to ask me if I want to see the view from the cockpit? Well heck yeah I want to see that. So I walk up there with him and I see this very beautiful view through the front window of the plane. I saw a view similar to these. It was night time as we were arriving there.
As we started the descent, I had to go back to my seat to buckle in, but I’ll always remember that trip. That was obviously the best part of my best/worst flight.
Okay, so we landed at Little Rock AFB in Arkansas. I asked at the terminal and there are no flights whatsoever going to Texas. I’m not saying there are none going there tonight, I’m saying they don’t fly to Texas from there, at least not scheduled. I kind of anticipated something like that and was prepared to take a commercial flight if I had to. Looks like I have to. I called a taxi and had him take me to the Little Rock airport. I arrived with high hopes of catching a flight that evening to Texas. No such luck. When I got there, I just missed the last flight, going anywhere, for the evening by about 15 minutes. It’s about 9:20 pm now and the next flight leaving to San Antonio is at 7:00 am in the morning. I don’t want to leave the airport, so I decided to sit and wait. A quick note that I forgot to mention is that when you are active duty and you are traveling on a HOP, you must be in uniform. So I’m sitting there waiting and I must have looked tired because a nice gentlemen, I think he was the custodian there, came by and told me that if I wanted to go to sleep, he’d be sure to wake me up in the morning in plenty of time to catch my flight. He said that he is retired military and knows what I’m going through. I’m not that trustworthy of strangers, but decided that this guy looked alright. I finally drifted off to sleep. I’m sure that that man would have woken me up, but I was up around 5:00 am anyway. I stood in line and waited to be sure I was the first one to get a ticket.
I’m on the plane, in my seat and I swear this is the first and only time this has ever happened to me on a flight. The stewardess came up to me and told me that there was an extra seat in first class and asked me if I wanted to ride up there, for free. You bet I do. I have never ridden in first class before, and I haven’t since then either. It’s only a short flight and it’s not a big plane, but the seats were larger and I got free drinks and eats. I couldn’t drink alcohol because I was in uniform, on leave and in the public sector, but I did get lot of soda and sandwiches. I enjoyed this flight almost as much as the C-130 flight at the end.
So we finally get to San Antonio, I have to call my wife to come pick me up at the airport. I couldn’t call before-hand because when I left I wasn’t even sure how I was getting there. I didn’t call from Little Rock, because I wanted to be sure that I got on the plane first and I kind of, sort of wanted to try to surprise Lita when I got there. I really wanted to surprise her by showing up at the house, but then that meant that I had to take a taxi and they cost too much. Better to spend my money on my wife and me. She arrived at the airport with her Aunt, in her Aunt’s car and I was already waiting outside. We got home and she and I had quite a reunion. I can’t post the details because this is blog is only rated PG, but we had a good time until the time came for me to travel back to Shemya after my leave was over.