Yesterday I came out to Spokane, Washington, where my sister lives. My brother, who lives in Connecticut, arranged my plane ticket; and also set up transportation to the Baton Rouge airport for me. An old college buddy of his lives not far from where I was staying; and he (I\’ll call him \”M\”) picked me up at 11:00 am.

That turned out to be plenty of time. On the way to the airport, M pointed out the place close to where the eye of Ida had passed. He said that Ida acted quite oddly: the storm\’s eye was expanding and contracting. There were many trees down; and damaged buildings.

I got to the airport several hours before my flight was due to depart. By then I was hungry; and wondered why. I looked at my watch; and saw that it was noon. No wonder I was hungry!

There was a Wow Wingery in the terminal; and I got some chicken, at the usual skyway robbery prices in airports. Then I settled down near my departure gate, where I found some electrical outlets. I plugged in my laptop; got onto the airport WiFi; and actually got an entire blog done! I began another blog; but didn\’t have time to finish it.

Then, onto a plane; to Spokane via DFW.

En Route

The flight from Baton Rouge to DFW was quite short, and the cabin crew didn\’t serve any refreshments. I was glad that I found some small-sized FitCrunch bars in a dollar store the day before!

I got very thirsty during the flight. When I went through security at the airport, they wouldn\’t let me take my full bottle of water through; and I had to dash to the nearby restroom to empty it. I wasn\’t about to throw away a seven-buck cycling water bottle! Then I didn\’t find a water fountain; and I wasn\’t in the mood to pay for a bottle of water!

My layover at DFW was hardly worthy of the name. I arrived at one terminal; and had to catch some kind of shuttle to get to my departure terminal. When I got to the gate, they were already boarding passengers. That was a bit too close for my liking!

On the plane from DFW to Spokane, we were served only something to drink and a small snack. That little cup of water wasn\’t enough to slake my thirst! I hoped to use WiFi on the plane; but the cost stopped me in my tracks. It was almost $15.00 for one hour!

The flight got into Spokane a bit ahead of schedule. I was glad to get off the plane and stretch my legs; and also, to get something to drink!

Getting off Cheap

Before I came to Spokane, I hoped to find bike rentals here. As it turned out, my sister has an exercise bike in her basement! I tried it today.

I didn\’t know at first that the straps on the pedals can be adjusted; and there was far more space than my feet needed. It was driving me crazy to try to pedal, because I couldn\’t use my quads. The resistance on this \”bike\” was much too high; and it sure made me miss my bicycles. I tried a second session later in the day, after I adjusted the pedal straps; and this time it went a little better.

I\’m a bit out of condition anyhow, after almost no riding for a week. It will be better if I don\’t try to do too much right away. Besides, I want to see a little of Spokane. I won\’t see a thing if I stay in that basement!