"Peanuts, Pretzels, Cookies": The Story of Delta Flight 2185

Picking up where we last left, the Minneapolis Airport, with a quick wait at gate F5. This airport was very large (to me, I haven't been to many airports), but also really easy to maneuver around and find things.

It was a pretty packed gate, and I found a seat on the end in the middle of the room. There was an eclectic looking couple sitting across from me. He, with a bright Hawaiian shirt with his wife. After a few minutes a businesswoman dressed casually sat next to me, she was probably in her late-20's to early 30's. Her business partner arrived shortly after, dressed to the nines with a suit and tie.

That struck up a conversation with the man in the Hawaiian shirt. He complemented on the suit and tie, while the man said he always travels wearing a suit and tie, something his father had passed down. The other man said, "Obviously I like to be comfortable traveling," with a laugh. I laughed, and agreed with him.

As I sat and listened to CNN (or whatever channel was on), it felt like I was in a movie. You know, how several movies have that background news story going on. There are several instances, but I can't think of the movies off the top of my head, except for the movie, "Frequency" with Dennis Quaid, however the "Amazin' Mets" was a pretty important part of the movie. Today, the background story to my movie was a two-parter, actually. The hard news story was the worldwide manhunt (again) for Joran VanDerSloot, who is wanted for questioning in the murder of a woman in the South American nation of Peru. The other, a heartbreaking sports story of the should-be perfect game of Armando Gallarraga of the Detroit Tigers. That was the hot talking point throughout my trip, and every newstand I walked by, it was the front page story.

Boarding the plane was a chore, however, six hours later I would discover getting off the plane would be even worse. It was a mad rush with people in the aisle, trying to stuff their bags in the overhead compartment, walking all over. It took forever to reach my seat, 21C, again the second from back row.

One of the stewardesses explained to the people that if they are waiting with luggage, to just store it wherever they are standing. At the time, there was a spot above me around row 15. Fine with me, I just want to take my seat.

This plane was much larger, obviously, since the last was just a connecting plane. There were 22 rows with three seats on each side, and it was full. 132 passengers, I think. This time I sat next to a father and son. I was on the aisle, perfect. I get a little claustrophobic, especially for a six-hour flight.

I didn't say much during the flight, didn't strike up any conversation. I was immersed in the book, "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton. I read the book for the first time about ten years ago, and loved it. Since it had been so long, I wanted to pull it off from the book shelf, dust it off, and peruse it again.

Not far into the plane ride, you could hear a middle-aged stewardess, announce in a shrill voice, "Peanuts, Pretzels, Cookies?" I grabbed a Coca-Cola and some peanuts, which would be the only thing I ate all day, until about 4:00 in San Francisco.

Throughout the flight, I listened. I wanted to hear the stories, who these people were. If I were not a broadcaster, I think my line of profession would have to deal with people. Of course, it would take a very deep second in my career of choice. I couldn't think of anything else in life I would enjoy as much as what I do.

Sitting next to me, in 21A and 21B were a man, probably in his 50's, with his son, probably in high school, late teens. They both napped off and on, but for the most part were very focused on their IPhone's or IPOD's. They were playing various games. I peaked a couple times to check it out, but I have never been into video games, so it interested me as much as a chemistry book. I knew they were very much into these devices, as the kid had an IPOD magazine, featuring articles on applications and the like. At one point during the flight, he showed his dad a GPS application. I didn't hear where they were going, but it sounded like it was at least an hour away from our destination, San Jose, California. They kept to themselves and did very little talking to each other, except talking about various apps for the IPhone, or whatever.

The entertainment on Flight 2185 came from Row 20, seats A, B, and C, directly in front of me. I had a feeling 20B would be the passenger on this flight that would be the most outspoken. At the onset of boarding the plane, he was standing in front of me waiting to find his seat. A short young man, who appeared to be Indian, or Middle Eastern was having trouble shoving his bag in the overhead, because there was not enough room for it. This is when the stewardess made the announcement that passengers need to find the nearest compartment, anywhere in the plane, to put their stuff. The man in front of me, barked out orders to the other, getting his attention.

Turns out, passenger 20B, with his buzz cut and large build is an Army man. In fact, he was stationed in Texas, and is visiting California. I caught his conversations on and off, and did hear that he was, or had been, visiting with family. He was heading overseas to Afghanistan, soon. He talked for most of the flight, and the longer the time spent on the plane, the louder and more aggravated he became. The closer we came to California, he began barking out how long this flight was. It was a little humorous at first, but then it became a little annoying, and he wanted to make sure the entire plane knew that this was the longest flight he had ever been on. He shouted out, "Where is this plane going, Turkey? I feel like we flew down to Texas, over to California, and circled back!" he exclaimed. As we started our descent, flying into San Jose, the military man shouted, "Everybody in this plane can probably hear me. I am probably talking really loud because I can't hear myself with my ears popping." I responded back, "Naah, I can't hear ya because my ears are all plugged up." He apologized, but I said it was no problem, he kept me entertained throughout the flight, in which he did. If it were not for his boisterous chatter, it would have made a boring flight, miserable.

Sitting next to the Army guy was a tall, thin late-20's guy with shaggy hair. He had just been let go, and was unemployed. Not sure what he did, or where he did it, but he was moving out to San Francisco. He was going to live with a friend, sleeping on his couch, until he could get back on his feet. He even brought his dog with him as his carry-on, which I didn't know you could. He was pretty reserved and quiet, and was talking to the military man throughout the flight.

On the aisle, directly ahead of me was 20C, a man in his 40's. He resembled an actor, but the name escapes me. When we first boarded, the military man was sitting in his seat, and the guy said he would just sit in the row back, which was empty at the time. Not too long after, an Indian woman sat in that seat, and he was back to his ticketed seat. He kept quiet, and didn't say much. In fact, he was sleeping for most of the flight. When the shaggy-haired dog man had to use the restroom, the military man had to wake up 20C, reluctantly. He didn't mind at all, or at least he chose not to say anything.

The casual businesswoman, we talked of earlier was in the row ahead of me, across the aisle in 20D. She looked very casual, but also had that professional look. I am not sure what her job was, but pharmaceuticals seems like an educated guess. She did mention in the gates in Minneapolis that she was Pre-Med for one year. She was reading, and looking over notes that appeared to be related to the medical field. She was dressed in blue jeans and a purple top, with black heels. After looking over her notes, she was reading Time Magazine. She seemed annoyed by the loud chatter of our outspoken passenger in seat 20B, but she never said a word. It was one of those "looks" a person gives. Without a word, you could read her like a book.

Sitting behind me in row 22, were a woman and her daughter. The girl, probably in her late teens, listened to music for much of the trip. Directly across from me were the Indian woman, and another older woman, neither said much, if anything during the trip.

Midway through the flight, a familiar conversation was struck. An older woman who was walking back up to her seat in row 15, was dressed very professionally. 20B (Army guy) commented on how nice she looked, and made a reference to the early days of travel that everybody wore suit and ties, and now people wear jeans and t-shirts. I never realized this, but it reminded me of old-time baseball games. You look at pictures from the Babe Ruth-era, and everyone wore a suit and tie to the game. I feel that I should dress a little nicer on the flight back. Today, I was wearing shorts, a Nike t-shirt, and a hat. Only hat on the plane!

We experienced some minor turbulence on a few occasions. In fact, as I was writing down some of my flight notes, we experienced some, and my writing is a little hard to read. Sitting a few rows ahead of me, in seat 18A, was a middle-aged woman who kept asking the stewardess, "How much more time?" She sounded like an 8-year old kid, asking, "Are we there yet?" I believe it was the 3rd, maybe 4th time, the stewardess even made that same comment.

Sitting in the aisle, I didn't get to see too much, though did get an amazing overhead view of the Rocky Mountains, and also saw some plain fields, in what somebody said was over Bakersfield, California.

Thinking that boarding this plane was a headache, getting off was even worse. The military man, always the outspoken one, yelled out what I was thinking. He said, "Everybody getting on the plane does it so fast, but getting off has to be such a rat race." It was a little trickier due to the fact that passengers had their luggage stored all over the plane, making it a nightmare to retrieve. I patiently waited, since I was at the back of the plane, no need to stand in the aisle, like so many were doing. The stewardesses opened the back door, but since most of our luggage was near the middle of the plane, it only benefitted a few people.

Coming later: "Do You Know the Way to San Jose", my blog of cruising California for the first time.