May 2, 2013

Travel Day.
I got up at 2:30am to leave for the airport by 3:30am. Nelson drove me. We were both very quiet on the way. I tried to doze a little bit, but couldn’t really sleep. At least I didn’t get carsick like I have been doing lately.

Nelson dropped me off at the Managua airport at 5am. I got checked in pretty quick, since there weren’t many in the Delta line. There was a wait at the immigration area due to so many flights leaving at the same time. You never know how long the process will take, so we are always at the airport by 5am. I got through security after walking through the doorframe equipment and then getting wanded and then getting patted down. It’s nice to have attention. Haha I made it upstairs to my gate and grabbed a bagel and juice for my breakfast. I walked around a bit and then sat and made a few phone calls. My family in IN are 2 hours ahead of Nica, so it was a great time to call them. One more trip through another security checkpoint and I was on the plane.

The flight was great. I had upgraded to the economy seats with more legroom. I had the row to myself. I snoozed a little bit on the way to Atlanta. I chatted with the guy across the aisle. He was happy to have the row to himself, too. He was tall and rather large, so he always upgrades. He said that most people don’t want to spend the extra money, so he gets whole rows quite a bit. We both decided that it is worth it!

For my layover at Atlanta airport, I had a great hot lunch at TGIFridays. It was so yummy. It was rainy and a little chilly in Atlanta. Inside the airport was fine, but just looking out at the drizzle made me feel cold. When I left León at 3:30am, it was in the 80s. It got progressively colder the farther my day went. By the time I reached NWArkansas, it was in the 30s and rainy. Yuk!

Rusty and Lynn Branson picked me up at the airport and took me to dinner. It was lovely to spend time with them. And I loved the restaurant. Bentonville is getting a lot of bistro type restaurants and I’m loving that!

I made it to Deanna’s and got settled in. It was so good to get there. Deanna was still in Las Vegas visiting her daughter’s family after helping them with a mission event. It was just me, Jet (the dog) and LucyAlice (the cat). Everyone slept in my room. Haha

I was so glad to be in my US room and bed. I miss being in Nica, but I feel like my room at Deanna’s is my safe and cozy nest. It actually snowed overnight. I took some pictures at 4:30am when I let Jet out for the bathroom. I was afraid that the snow would be gone by morning. But when I got up, there was more snow and I got some better pictures. The weather turned back to rain during the day, so the snow went away. Brrrrrrr. I was not ready for that cold weather! But it was good to be ‘home’ in the US.