Brian: For the second day in a row, it was rise and shine at an early hour. The shine part was seriously in doubt when we discovered that it was only 19 degrees out of doors; the sun was shining, but we were not. California was very appealing at that moment. Eldon dropped by to offer us, the now not so newlyweds, transportation to the airport. Upon arriving at the airport it was ‘thanks and see ya’ to the folks. The slogan of the morning was ‘California here we come,’ well maybe!

Joyce: The plane was scheduled to whisk away Brian and I twenty-four hours later than planned, but that just wouldn’t be right, another delay of slightly more than one hour was in order. Therefore, upon arriving in Minneapolis, there was an ample period of five minutes time to change planes and be off to San Francisco. The sprint was on, ten gates in five minutes toting a few carry-on bags. Brian, ever the desk jockey, found this somewhat of a strain and I fared even worse. The sprint paid dividends in the form of arriving at the gate with a few seconds to spare. The dividends came at a price though as I continued to cough for nearly 20 minutes; the flight attendant took pity and provided a glass of water even before takeoff. Given the events of the preceding hour, I thought it was in my best interest to sleep: Brian decided to read on the flight. Surprisingly, lunch was pretty good considering that it was airline food.

Upon arriving at SFO, both tired and I only one-half recovered, it’s off to the baggage claim area to pick up the bags. Oh really? While both of us were by some miracle able to make the plane, the bags hadn’t been so fortunate; perhaps they simply weren’t as aggressive. Then, it took entirely too long to file a claim with the airline for lost bags, oh well, a perfect ending to our adventurous escape from Des Moines! Anyway, the car rental agent was energetically prepared to serve weary travelers and able to provide us an automobile; thus, it was off to Grand Aunt Juanita’s.

What a wonderful lady, she is a sister to Brian’s maternal grandmother Opal. The weather was great, warm and dry! So nice was it that a walk before dinner was very much in order, in spite of being quite tired. Aunt Juanita lives in a nice little town by the name of Milbrae, just moments from the airport but worlds apart from the visions oft brought to mind by the name San Francisco. The walk to ‘downtown’ Milbrae took only a few minutes and an African Violet was purchased for Aunt Juanita, before returning for a wonderful dinner.

Brian: After dinner it was a struggle to remain awake so that we might return to the airport clinging to a weary-waning hope of actually claiming our luggage. We believe the catalysts for that struggle hope and sleepiness might have been the two-hour time change and a lack of sufficient slumber. The luggage had indeed arrived as promised on a later flight and was available when we returned for it. Finally, at 8:45 p.m. California time, we head back to Juanita’s and off to sleep. What a restful night it was!