Changes of plans

We just arrived at the hotel, but I'll get you caught up on some of the first impressions of the day.

1:46 p.m. (Missouri time) - Looking over the barren ground of Southeast Colorado from 34,000 feet. I see Pike's Peak out the window, and it makes me want to bring the kids to Colorado in a year or two! So far so good, but some things have changed. Here's a rough summary of what happened:

We pulled into the airport in St. Louis with plenty of time to check our luggage and bags. When we finally got to the counter, the ticket lady informed us that we wouldn't be able to leave our luggage for the second leg of the plane. We had operated under the assumption (provided by a travel agent) that we could leave our checked baggage at the airport for the second leg of the trip, and just use our carryons for the one night excursion in California. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for a layover of 24 hours or greater (ours is about 33 hours).

So we'll just pick up the luggage and cart it around California with us. Only one problem: We're also transporting 5 boxes of 40 pounds each for a family that is headed to the mission field soon. Since that won't fit in the car we have rented, I spent 30 minutes on the phone trying to
change our rental into a minivan. With that accomplished (for a slight upcharge, of course), we boarded and have had a relatively uneventful flight.

And now, a word from each of the kids. My question to them: What do you think about flying now?

Adam: It's pretty good. You get free pretzels and you can do just about anything like play cards on the built-in tables.
Anna: I don't like it because your ears pop. (She cried for 5 minutes during the ascent)
Alex: Too busy playing cards and video games to answer. (His first words while taking off were "Wheeeeee")

In the next installment: What happened from the airport to the hotel (once again, not what we planned)

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