Seth’s Sightings

This Sightings is a travel adventure, actually a mad rush across the country. We are fortunate to be near to two good small airports with commercial flight connections to nearly everywhere. For our flight to Sacramento, California, we chose to fly American from Allentown, which is under an hour’s drive from here.

I needed to be by my dad who had a heart attack and was dying in the hospital in Marysville. We booked a rental to drive from the airport an hour north to the hospital, and a hotel in nearby Yuba City.

Buying air tickets was a pain. One internet site promising the best air fares tacked on enough fees to eliminate savings. One cheaper trip was 27 and a half hours in total flight and connection time, so American it was via Charlotte. We packed our computer cases with travel items and brought a small carry case with clothing changes that could be loaded in an overhead bin – so no check-in baggage, and on Thursday morning we were off.

In Allentown, I found a parking place in the main lot close to the terminal, then walked in and right up to the TSA line. After some fussing over the braces I wear on my knees, we were through to await our American Eagle flight.

Charlotte is an amazing airport. It sprawls. The small commuter airplane gates are on one end. The distance between our gate to where the west coast flight, a 777, was parked was about a mile. This was tough on my poor braced knees and can- cer-afflicted body; I arrived exhausted. I’d be needing a wheelchair going forward.

I hobbled up to the gate to find a tremendous herd of passengers gathered as boarding time was near. But we heard this: “Passengers on the Los Angeles flight, boarding will be delayed because the flight attendants have not arrived on their flight into Charlotte.” Over the next hour we got a playby-play as their flight landed and emptied of passengers. Finally, there was a parade of flight attendants. This crew barely had time to grab a coffee before they were put back to work again.

While we waited, we finished the layout of the Early

by Seth Isenberg

February Journal of the Pocono Plateau, and emailed it to the press. Work on the road, thanks to the interenet. American stuffs near 300 people in their 777s I was told, so loading is complicated. When it was our turn, we found that we were stuck in the back, in the middle seats of a four-person middle section – three seats by each window, then four in the middle – two aisles. The seats were narrow and so close that my knees were right up against the seat in front of me. A couple of hours in, I had to get up to walk in the aisle, do some exercises and use the tiny lav. The plane finally lumbered into LA. I waited ‘til folks were mostly clear before I waddled out. There was supposed to be a wheelchair at the gate for me—there wasn’t. It took forever to get one, and time was ticking away for us to make our connection. LA’s commuter terminal isn’t attached to the air terminal itself but is an island terminal about a mile away. Connection to that is by bus, and we arrived to find no buses. The delay in getting a bus is likely what caused us to miss our plane. These buses go out onto the tarmac and weave through moving airplanes and service vehicles near the gate areas to reach the commuter terminal. Our trip was a crazy run that included stopping for arriving and departing aircraft, and for the local fire department that was responding to a call at the airport.

There was no sign of our plane when we arrived—despite their knowing we were coming and in the hands of airport transport. They “had to” leave. This earned us a free overnight stay at

See SIGHTINGS, page 7

Sightings

Continued from page 6 a three-star hotel courtesy of American Airlines, plus a snack voucher each towards breakfast. We were rebooked on a flight to Phoenix at 7:30 a.m. with a two plus hour layover before our direct flight into Sacramento. After being wheeled to our gate, we sat and watched Eagles fans arriving for the Super Bowl, which was fun. On the flight into Sacramento, I enjoyed the view from the window seat of desert and canyons, and mountain snow over very sparsely populated parts of our country.

Finally in Sacramento, we made quick work of getting a rental from Alamo so we could get to the hospital. We had time with my dad Friday evening and most of Saturday. I had the machines removed, and he was breathing easily but fading as we left to catch the red-eye direct to Charlotte Saturday night. It was a tough ride home emotionally – plus a bit of actual turbulence.

My dad died peacefully, off all machines, on Monday afternoon.

It was great to be back home, back in our own bed. We went out with friends to watch the Super Bowl on a big screen – maybe next year, Eagles.

Looming ahead is my next cancer surgery, another big one. I am in the good hands of the best of the U. of Penn Medical team in Philadelphia. The plan is to remove most of the cancer, then treat the area with HIPEC (state of the art). The work should get me back to normal later in March, so I’ll be out and about then.

During recovery, Ruth and I will cheer on our local Penguins on AHL-TV, and enjoy some walks with our dogs on sunny evenings on our favorite paths in Hickory Run State Park and along the Lehigh Gorge trail.

A P.S. on this At Wednesday night’s Penguins game versus the Phantoms, the Geisinger Health System gave out a souvenir foam hockey puck a stress reliever. The lightly attended game had our Penguins behind until the 3rd period, when an exciting goal earned us a tie…and excited fans began to throw these foam pucks onto the ice hundreds of them, like hats are thrown after a hat trick. Order was restored with this repeated announcement: “Fans, Please Stop throwing pucks on the ice…” which prompted more foam pucks to be thrown before staff came down into the aisles to shut down the tosses.

St. Luke’s Care Now offers fast, convenient care for minor illnesses and injuries when your primary care doctor can’t see you immediately.

• Minor illnesses and injuries including: the common cold, flu, sinus infections, sprains, strains, broken bones and more

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