My annual journey

Well, it’s time to go to Arkansas again to see my boys. I go several times a year but I always go around Christmas time because that’s when both their birthdays are.

In fact, when Linda and I were married, December was a month we both looked forward to and dreaded at the same time because of all the special days in it.

Michael was born on December 3rd, Will on December 18th, our anniversary was December 22nd and of course, Christmas is December 25th.

We had to save all year long for the month of December because there were so many different events to buy for, spend all the money we had saved during that month and then start saving again for the next December. It’s a lot easier now since we don’t have an anniversary to celebrate anymore and our boys are both grown.

Those of you who know me know I usually fly to Arkansas since the drive is so long and airline schedules have never ceased to amaze me. I fly to Denver on a United Jet out of North Platte at 6:45 in the morning which means I either have to get up extremely early that morning to make the drive to North Platte in the dark or go up the day before and spend the night.

Because of all the deer between here and North Platte and their habit of making themselves seen at dawn and dusk, I always opt to drive up the day before.

The United flight to Denver is extremely popular and the plane is usually close to full because flying time to Denver is only 30 minutes. By the time we do all the pre-flight and post-flight stuff and get to our terminal, it’s very close to an hour but that sure beats a four-hour drive.

Then the fun really starts. I usually go to the Delta Sky Club Lounge in Denver to relax and imbibe before going to my Delta connection and the Sky Club is one of the highlights of my trip.

I have a couple of hours between landing in Denver and taking off so it’s a relaxing time. The flight to Arkansas leaves at 9 a.m. but we don’t go directly to Arkansas.

Well, we DO go directly to Arkansas but we don’t land there. We fly across the state of my destination all the way to Atlanta, Ga., which is darn near on the East Coast.

Then I change planes and a couple of hours later, fly back west to the Fayetteville-Bentonville airport, an airport I flew over a few hours before. I don’t know why they have a direct flight to Arkansas from Atlanta and not have one from Denver, but that’s the way they schedule things.

My friends have joked with me that I should request a parachute and just bail out when we go over Fayetteville on the way to Atlanta and sometimes I think that’s not a bad idea.

The main reason I always fly first class is because they take such good care of you there, it makes flying a pleasure instead of an inconvenience. When I first started flying this route, we flew from Denver to Minneapolis-St. Paul instead of Atlanta but we don’t anymore.

Evidently that leg wasn’t profitable enough for them.

The flight from Denver to Fayetteville is only two hours long but I spend most of the day either on an airplane or in an airport because I can’t get to Arkansas directly on Delta airlines. I could on United which has a direct flight from Denver to Fayetteville but no first class, and I figure as long as I have to fly anyway, I might as well spend a few more bucks and do it the way I enjoy it the most.

As many of you know, this weekend is bringing in a powerful winter storm for most of northern Nebraska.

North Platte is on the southern edge of the storm and is under a Winter Weather Advisory for the weekend instead of a Winter Storm Warning like the rest of northern Nebraska is under.

So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t snow deep enough and hard enough to cancel my flight out of North Platte because rebooking is sometimes no easy chore.

We’re having steaks at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Rogers, Ark., Sunday night in celebration of Michael and Will’s birthday and that’s another reason why I hope I’m not delayed. Sunday morning is only a couple of days away and I’m hoping for the best.

At least when I’m with family, there won’t be any political talk, which I’m really tired of. People like their soap boxes but I’m sure that no one of a different political perspective ever changes their mind because of something someone else says so why say it to begin with?