Tales from On the Road

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…at least the kind of Christmases I like to recall: Brilliant sunshine, with crisp, bracing mornings, and glorious afternoons that end in a blazing display of orange, reds and purples against an ever deepening sky.

That’s Christmas in Southeast Texas.
It’s an anomaly for most Americans this time of year.

1. 

For example, I am writing this from the C-terminal at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas.

Our flight to New York has been delayed for a couple of hours because the Ghost of Winter storms past has decided to terrorize the landing strips, thus throwing into chaos the airports around the country that are dependent upon incoming jets from New York to meet the connections of travelers here.

Given some of the horror stories I’ve heard over the past few weeks—and especially last season—things are pretty laid back here today. The family sitting across from me took advantage of the down time to update arrangements in Columbus, where they’re heading. My son is over-joyed that he can watch the Texans-Colts game in a nearby Sports grill, and the Clanton women are conscientiously committing commerce elsewhere in the concourse.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

There was quite a bit of discussion that went into our decision to take on The Big Apple in December. My vote was for a Western Caribbean Cruise (nothing says “holiday” to me like 80-degree highs and tropical sun in December.)

This is the kind of one-horse open-sleigh in which I like to travel this time of they year.

There’s a group across the concourse that’s getting on a jet to Las Vegas. While not a big fan of the lights, glitter, casino’s and gambling, there is a certain appeal to avoiding Jack Frost nipping at your nose by escaping to the Nevada desert.

They should be calling the flight anytime now. For the sake of my diet, I hope so.

So far, I’ve ingested a bag of delicious Airport popcorn, left-over Popeye’s chicken from my daughter, a bottle of spring water, and an entire bag of Dot’s chocolate covered almonds, plus a Xanax for the security check-in.
Those people have never been nicer.