Well, we got to Dallas, took a little longer than we planed, but we got here…..
We got to the airport in plenty of time. I would rather stand around a little than be hasseled and rushing….anyway, we got the car back (Freddy did not cry this time!), caught the shuttle bus to the terminal (Avis really has the whole thing sorted), and got our selfs checked in (no, really, you do it your self on a touch screen, its a really crummy system that should be scrapped). We got our luguage scanned (A really, really crummy system that should be totaly scrapped and re thunk from the start!), and went through the shoe removal security system……a really really REALLY crummy…..blah blah blah.
We got on the plane and settled into our seats, Terry next to the window (this is important), then Amy, then Freddy, isle, then me, and two others that were friendly enough (older married couple). Bit late leaving the termial, someone parked their plane behind us and we had to wait for them to shift it. Nice smooth take off, about 10 minutes into the flight there was a series of about 8 really loud bangs, each one shook the whole plane, and the lights in the cabin flashed in time with the bangs. I looked up and out Terrys window in time to see the last two bangs, there was bright orange flames coming out of the left engine each time it banged. Terry was sitting right behind the wing, so saw the whole thing up close and personal! Talk about great in flight entertainment!
Once it stopped, there was no difference to the sound of the plane, so I thought we would just keep going….no, the pilot came on to say they had reduced power and that we would be landing back at LAX in about 10 minutes. Bummer.
When we landed, we had the fire tucks along side of us, and the airport police cleared a way for us back to the jet bridge. We all got off and milled around. There were long que’s for those that needed to re-schedule connecting flights. Finaly after about an hour, they said that they had found another plane in a hanger and that we would be leaving in 45 minutes. Well, it turned into an hour and a half, but we finaly got into the air.
Freddy was wraped as we got to fly in Dallas at night and it sure was pretty…..
So, some 6 hours after we left, we got to Dallas.
That was yesterday.
Today, we slept in and milled around for a bit while Terry slept in some more.
Once up and running, we had a quick lunch and then drove to Fort Worth. We went to the 6th Floor Museum. Its set up to show the events surrounding the assasination of JFK. Out side on the grassy knoll is a guy who is set up each day to “tell the real story”, I bought his magazeine and will have a read when I can, the offical story does not add up real well in my mind, Im not sure hes got all the facts, but he claimes that he has been on the job for about 40 odd years, will be interesting reading either way.
From there we went to a placed called “Stocklands”, its like down town Texas 80 odd years ago. We went to a “pub” called Billy Bob’s, they have live bull ridding, line dancing and a big bar, all under the same roof, it was pretty crazy. (And it smelt rather…..um… interesting).
Then, to dinner, then home at about 10pm. Nice full day.
TOmorrow, I hope to buy a laptop and probably not much else……
Chow for now.
Ben (and crew).
