Phoenix Was Great

I think I'm becoming addicted to warm weather. The temp in Phoenix was about 80 -- really nice. The only thing... I was in meetings most of the time. This was for Ministerial Education and Guidance Board leaders from 8 conferences our Bishop is responsible for. There was a lot of good discussion and information -- and planning. We will change the way we are doing things in the Oregon Conference.

I woke up early Monday morning so I got up, showered, dressed, checked a few last minute things and decided I might as well leave. My flight was to leave at 7:25 and I got to the airport at 5:30. You do NOT have to be 2 hours early at the Medford airport but I wasn't sure where to go. They are building a new terminal and the long term parking is far away from the present terminal. It was raining a little and I expected to be drenched by the time I found the shelter of the correct building. I parked, shouldered my bag and took about 10 steps when the shuttle bus approached. I didn't know they had one! She took my right to the door -- I was the only passenger. It took about 1 1/2 minutes to get my ticket and there I stood with an hour and a half until flight time. So I bought a muffin and a cup of coffee and took looooots of time eating. Finally I decided to go through security and then set and read a book I brought. It took about 3 minutes to go through security. You can see why I say, "you do not have to be 2 hours early at the Medford airport." So I read until they made the announcement that our flight was delayed because of weather problems at San Francisco. No problem, I had a 2 hour layover in San Fran. More book reading. Finally we boarded, took off, had a great flight -- if you can call a 2-engine turbo prop vibrator a good flight. I kept wondering how many hours one of those things can fly without the vibration popping all the rivets.

But we made San Francisco okay. On the way we had a beautiful view of the angel's side of the clouds. I didn't see any angels but the clouds looked so fluffy it seemed like a person could just step out of the airplane and bounce around on a fluffy playground. In one place I could look ahead and see a chasm coming. When the plane flew over, it was an elongated crater in the top side of the clouds. It didn't extend to the ground -- just a deep pocket with steep sides going down into the cloud formation. Really strange. When we landed, I hiked to the next concourse to get my flight to Phoenix -- only to be informed it was delayed. Something about a computer in the plane not functioning. So instead of leaving at 10:55 we left at 1:30. Nice lunch at Burger King. More book reading. Finally, it was time to board but we didn't board. More plane trouble. Another 20 minute delay and we were off to Phoenix -- wondering if they had fixed the problem.

I was supposed to arrive in Phoenix about an hour ahead of our superintendent and another guy from Oregon. Instead, I arrived about 1 1/2 after them. They waited patiently and we made it to the first dinner and meeting on time. Tuesday was a full day with a group dinner. After, the superintendent, Dave, and I visited Ken and Sally who have a "snowbird" house in the Phoenix area. They are from Eugene and we all know them. Since Tuesday was election day, we were at Ken and Sally's when Obama was declared the winner.

The flight home was more routine -- almost. I still had to go through San Francisco -- with a 4-hour layover. So I ate dinner, waked around, and read more book. I was scheduled to get into Medford about 9:30. We boarded another one of those little 2-engine vibrators and the pilot said, "welcome to flight (whatever it was) to Medford. We are overweight and need to people to take the later flight." I volunteered. I figured late was late so a couple more hours couldn't hurt anything. And I got a free flight voucher for it. Anywhere United flies in the continental US. I'll probably use it in February to fly up for a Board meeting. But maybe not. We'll see.

I sold my pickup canopy. When I bought this pickup it came with a nice canopy. But of course, I can't use the canopy with a fifth wheel so it has been sitting beside the house waiting for me to decide to either use it or sell it. Sell it won out. I put an add in the Nickel and two people called. One guy bought it.

Yesterday, Joyce and I attended worship at Jerome Prairie. Then, all afternoon we were in a meeting teaching us to be marriage mentors. We had previously taken the Prepare/Enrich marriage survey. I had used the Prepare part the last few years in pre-marital counseling. But this was the first time I (we) had taken or used the Enrich part -- for married people. It was quite interesting. We are still compatible. No big problems. During the training we practiced on another couple and they practiced on us. The other couple is the pastor at Jerome Prairie. It was a lot of fun as well as informative. We did all this, so we can help mentor other couples when we return next spring -- if we decide to and are needed.

Well... fall has fallen. Or maybe winter has won. At least our nice weather seems to be over. It didn't rain today but has most days and is supposed to for the foreseeable future. Our high temps in the daytime are in the high 40s or low 50s. Brrrr. I'm ready to head south.

But not yet. Got things to do, so better get at it.