Trip Reports - Eastern Excursions, Border Blues, Momentous Milestone, Seattle Stopover

Tour of Duty 17th May to 1st June 2007

Time to go to work again. The company booked a ticket LAX to YYZ connecting in EWR on CO. I got shuttle to LAX, checked in, checked bags, cleared security after short line with no secondary screening and no search of either carry on. Eighteen minutes elapsed from the time I arrived at LAX to the time I cleared security.

Continental #62 LAX-EWR B-757-200 Seat 24A Cruise at 35,000' Estimated time 4:50, actual 5:10 Scheduled departure 10h20, actual 10h19 Scheduled arrival 18h47, actual 19h09

This 757 had winglets. Configuration was 16F/159Y (I understand that First sells as Business on transatlantic routes). First Class was called to board followed by elites then preboarding for those who need assistance then finally boarding was done from the back by rows. We boarded via door 2L and the plane was nearly full as I noticed only one empty seat in the row directly behind me. This was my first transcon flight on CO and I was wanting to see what the product was like in coach.

Pushback was 1 minute early followed by taxi of 9 minutes and takeoff to the west into the clouds. We broke through the marine layer at 1min23sec after liftoff. There was turn to south then east then northeast. Announcement was made that lavatory in First was only for passengers in First. I saw mountains of Catalina Island sticking up over the clouds and after the clouds ended I saw Glendale and the Rose Bowl and we went over the San Gabriel Mountains and I saw the High Desert, junction of California 18/138 and later Interstate 15, Barstow and Calico. We reached cruise altitude and seatbelt sign went off just after Barstow about 20 minutes into the flight. The video screens showed the skymap for the first part of the flight.

I saw the west and northeast areas of the Las Vegas metro area but not the strip from my side. Later I saw Mesquite, NV and St. George, UT and lunch service commenced. There was no choice of entree. Lunch was served on one tray and consisted of a small salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing, a Beef and Swiss sub with a packet of ketchup, Poore Brothers original potato chips and Pepperidge Farm Brussels Cookies. A drink run followed immediately thereafter and I got cup of soda. There was small bag with napkin, plastic knife and fork and small paper containers of salt and pepper. The meal was tasty; there was nothing I did not like though I am a very finicky eater and I ate every bit of it.

Trays were collected and I saw Green River, UT. Later I saw Parachute, Rifle and Glenwood Springs, CO. At 1:37 there was a second drink run and I got another cup of soda. There was a movie which I totally ignored. After the movie there was some other stuff on video. I do not recall any announcement asking pax to lower their window shades. There were a few bumps after the Rockies and I saw Loveland/Ft. Collins and later Interstate 76. We went over Nebraska and I saw the Missouri River, Interstates 29, 680 and 80 in western Iowa followed by Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. The F/A's came through and offered water around 3:00 and we crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois. I saw Interstate 39, the Rockford area, Interstate 90 and the northwest and north suburbs of Chicago before going over Lake Michigan.

Landfall was around Benton Harbor, MI and I saw the junction of Interstates 94/196 followed by the Kalamazoo then clouds increased and I couldn't see the ground for awhile. There was another drink run at 3:54 and I got another cup of soda. The clouds broke up briefly and I saw Erie, PA at 4:10. Then there were more clouds and we made a slight turn southeast. Announcement was made that we would be making S-turns due to heavy traffic into EWR mainly from the European sector and that would slow us but there should be no impact for arrival. I used the rear lav and the lav seemed to be more spacious than usual. At least the lav on this 757 seemed more spacious than many 737 lavs.

I felt descent begin around 4:29 and seatbelt sign went on at 4:34. There were more clouds and some bumps as we went into the clouds. There was a series of turns and we went in/out of clouds. On final I saw Giants Stadium, the New Jersey Turnpike and New York City. Gear went down at 5:08 and we landed north to south on a dry runway. Taxi/hold was 30 minutes as we got announcemt that our assigned gate was occupied so we taxied to holding area then our gate was changed from C108 to C102. Engines were shut off and we were pulled into the gate by a tug and we arrived 22 minutes late thanks to the excessive waiting time after landing.

Continental Express #2335 EWR-YYZ ERJ-145 Seat 14A Cruise at 26,000' Estimated flying time 1:00, actual 1:03 Scheduled departure 20h10, actual
20h42 Scheduled arrival 22h00, actual 22h22

Plane was late arriving and was mostly full. Configuration was 1-2 and I was on the "1" side immediately behind the overwing exit row. Pushback was 32 minutes late followed by taxi/hold of 26 minutes. Takeoff was to south and I saw lights of NYC and NJ and some bridges. There was turn west then northwest.

There were some pretty good bumps on climb and we broke out of clouds at
0:10 and I saw twilight's last gleaming and a crescent moon. There were a few bumps en route. Seatbelt sign stayed on whole flight. I saw lights of the GTA on approach, saw the Burlington Skyway and QEW. We overflew YYZ and I saw the 401. We looped around and I saw downtown Toronto and saw some congestion and flashing lights on the 401. We landed ENE-WSW and taxied 8 minutes and arrived at gate 22 minutes late. We deplaned via stairs.

Border Blues

I was sent to Immigration. I had a brief chat with the officer and found that I am an "Immigration Hit" because of previous enforcement action. When I was bounced at the border trying to get into BC on 11th January 2006 that was considered enforcement action and my name is in the computer. I was told that anytime my passport is scanned or the number is entered, I should expect to be sent to Immigration because the computer would direct the person to send me to Immigration without saying why. After I briefly explained what happened at the border in BC, the officer thought those officers were nitpicking. In any event, I was admitted, picked up my bags and looked for Airways Transit. I was recognised as I approached the desk and shortly thereafter I was on my way to Burlington to spend the night at the Bell Motel. I arrived there at almost exactly midnight.

Change in Plans

I thought I was going to get a truck in Burlington going to one of the suburbs near St. Louis, MO but plans changed and instead I was stuck in a van with other drivers heading east. Four other drivers were dropped off at the yard in Montreal and got trucks they were to deliver. I was taken to St. Nicolas, QC and got there at 02h00 and got to sleep around 03h00. Next day I got cab to where the truck was and got started.

Trip: St. Nicolas, QC to Indianapolis, IN 1,011 paid miles Routes: Quebec 20 (short detour on Quebec 540 for fuel) to Quebec 30 to Quebec 10 to Quebec 15 back to Quebec 20 to Ontario 401 to Ontario 3 to Ambassador Bridge to Interstate 75 to Michigan 39 to Interstate 94 to Interstate 69 to Interstate 465

I got truck and got started. Some stretches of Autoroute in Quebec were quite rough, about as bad as some stretches of Interstate in Michigan. Spent night in Cornwall, ON. Next day was Sunday and I was taken to Sunday morning church at Calvary Baptist in Cornwall, ON. There were only about 20 people total in the building. The sermon was on worldliness. I found out the pastor is a US citizen from Youngstown, OH. Afterwards I got rolling and had a few raindrops which did not last long. I shut down in Bowmanville which is east of Toronto.

Monday was Victoria Day, a national holiday in Canada and I got nice holiday gift. I did not experience even one traffic tieup or delay going through Toronto on the 401. Later on in the day I crossed the Ambassador Bridge and reentered the USA. I was sent to the building for radiation detection then was cleared. Tuesday it was very warm and I experienced some discomfort since there was no air conditioning in the truck. I delivered the truck just before closing time and got a cab to lodging closer to the Indianapolis Airport. En route I was shocked by gasoline prices as regular unleaded went for $3.599 most places. That was about double from about 6 months ago. Indianapolis usually has among the lowest gas/fuel prices in the nation but not this time. Diesel went for about $2.659.

To be continued

Next day I was in a state of uncertainty. I was first told to get to IND. So I took advantage of the free shuttle. Next I was told to go to USAirways. I was dropped off and a confirmation code was not available. Finally I was told the confirmation code and found out I would be taking a truck from Wharton, NJ to Northville, MI.

This was my first time flying in or out of IND. I checked in and checked my bags and found out I'd be flying to EWR via PIT. I got lunch then cleared security. No secondary and carry on bags were not searched but I had to remove my hat and used the Puffer Machine.

USAirways Express #3358 IND-PIT EMB-170 Seat 2A Cruise not given Estimated flying time 0:47, actual 0:52 Scheduled departure 13h55, actual
13h48 Scheduled arrival 15h02, actual 14h58

This was my first time on the EMB-170. I heard there were 37 pax out of total 72 seats plus crew of four. Configuration is all coach, 2-2 and quite comfortable especially when compared to the CRJ or ERJ.

Pushback was 7 minutes early followed by taxi/hold of 10 minutes and takeoff to west. Initial climb was steep and it was a hot, hazy day. On takeoff it looked like there was major construction at IND. We turned south then east. There was drink run and I got rather large cup of ginger ale plus bag of mini pretzels. I saw CMH and Interstate 70. Seatbelt sign stayed on entire flight. I felt descent begin at 0:27 not far from CMH and descent was announced at 0:37 and it was 82F at PIT. There were some bumps during descent and some clouds. We turned north and I saw what I thought was Steubenville, OH and later Wheeling, WV and the Ohio River. There were more bumps and from the other window I caught a quick glimpse of downtown Pittsburgh on final approach. Gear went down at 0:50 after turns and we landed east to west. Taxi was 7 minutes and we arrived 4 minutes early.

This was my first time at PIT since 1984. The airport layout is patterned after a shopping mall with a food court in the middle and shops and other eating places throughout all four wings. I learned of a ground stop for the next flight for EWR due to Air Traffic control so boarding was delayed.

USAirways Express #3952 PIT-EWR CRJ-200 Seat 1A Cruise at 25,000' Estimated flying time 0:50, actual 1:13 Scheduled departure 16h00, actual
16h29 Scheduled arrival 17h27, actual 18h29

This plane was configured all coach 50 seats configuration 2-2. There were some empty seats including the one next to me. Pushback was 29 minutes late followed by taxi/hold of 43 minutes. Reason for the excessive taxi/hold was that when we got to the end of the runway we received word of another ground stop at EWR so we couldn't take off for almost 30 minutes. There were too many planes headed toward Newark! Passengers were allowed to use cell phones for much of that time. We finally did take off to the west then turn north and finally more easterly. I saw Ohio River and nuclear power plants. Seatbelt sign went off at 0:08. I saw the Allegheny River and there was a drink run and I also got 2 bags of snack mix. I opted for ice water instead of soda. I felt descent start at 0:28 but descent began in earnest at 0:34. A holding pattern was announced 50 miles from the airport. I saw Interstate 80, the Delaware River and the TA Truckstop in Columbia, NJ. We were released from the holding pattern and I saw the New Jersey Turnpike, George Washington Bridge, New York City, Lower Manhattan, the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge and the Statue of Liberty on final. Gear went down at 1:12 and we landed north to south. Taxi was 3 minutes and we arrived 1h2minutes late. Both bags were waiting for me when I arrived at baggage claim at 18h40.

I hired a cab to go to Wharton. The driver did not know where Wharton was. We set off west on Interstate 78 and took the 287 to Interstate 80 west. We ended up stopping at filling station and the driver got directions. However the driver missed a turn and backed up and made a highly illegal turn to get where we needed to go. I found out the driver was from Cairo, Egypt. We finally arrived to where the truck was, I inspected the truck and got started on the run to Michigan.

Trip: Wharton, NJ to Northville, MI 580 paid miles. Routes: New Jersey 15 to Interstate 80 to Interstate 280 to Interstate 75 to Interstate 275

This was a more or less routine trip except I had problems finding a banking machine that worked to get money for fuel. There were a very few drops of rain in central PA and some light rain as I approached the receiver in MI. I delivered the truck and was told to go to Greyhound in Detroit so I hired a cab. Next truck was to be from Montreal, QC to West Haven, CT and I was to take a bus all the way to Montreal.

I got to Greyhound and was only able to purchase a ticket as far as Toronto and was told I'd need to be re-ticketed once I reached Toronto. The bags were not tagged.

Greyhound: Detroit to Toronto Scheduled departure 16h15 Scheduled arrival 22h05. Cost: $43.50 US

We left 19 minutes late after waiting in vain for connecting passengers from Chicago. We crossed the tunnel to Windsor (first time for me) then stopped at Customs. We disembarked and took our carry-ons as instructed but checked luggage remained in the hold. I was questioned and asked to open my briefcase so I complied and the officer got very interested in the religious literature in my briefcase. I was sent to Immigration and was admitted into Canada but was last on the bus and may have held up the bus a few minutes.

We made several stops starting in Tilbury and took a 10 minute break in London before arriving in Toronto close to on time. I had a two-plus hour layover in Toronto and got ticketed to Montreal.

Coach Canada: Toronto to Montreal Scheduled departure 00h30 Scheduled arrival 07h05 Cost: $93.28 CDN

This trip was an overnighter and I did not get much sleep. We stopped for a break in Kingston and swung by the station in Cornwall as the sun was rising. We made a stop on the west side of Montreal and got to downtown ahead of schedule. I hired a cab and got to the yard in Montreal and got the truck going to Connecticut.

Trip: Montreal, QC to West Haven, CT 349 paid miles Routes: Quebec 20 to Quebec 15 to Interstate 87 to US11 to US2 to Vermont 78 to Interstate 89to Interstate 91 to Interstate 95

After an early lunch at the LaBelle Province Restaraunt just up the street I fueled up and got started on the trip. The crossing at the border into Champlain, NY was as quick and smooth as I ever experienced. Instead of heading south on 87 as I did numerous other times I headed east on US11.

Momentous Milestone

I crossed the bridge over Lake Champlain into Vermont. This was my first time ever to or through Vermont. There was a pull off area and I was able to photograph the "Welcome to Vermont" sign. Now that I was in Vermont, I have now been to or through ALL of the lower 48 states while driving truck. I took time to get information about Vermont at the Welcome Center and took some pictures of downtown Alburgh before proceeding. As it was a holiday weekend (Memorial Day in USA) and there was a special event (marathon) in Burlington I considered myself fortunate to get a motel room for just under $100. I also noticed quite a few bikers in Vermont.

Next day was Sunday. I got permission to leave truck parked at motel and was picked up and taken to Trinity Baptist Church in Williston, VT for Sunday School and morning church service. The senior pastor was out of the country as he was taking the senior class of the high school (the church has a Christian school) to South Africa for a short term mission trip. The topic in Sunday School was God's leading and the topic in church was Reconciliation. After church I was invited to the home of the person who picked me up and his wife cooked me a good ham dinner. There was some light to moderate rain. Before getting back to the truck I got to see some of downtown Burlington and the marathon had not yet ended.

I was taken back to the truck and got rolling. I stopped in Montpelier and got some snapshots of the State Capitol and downtown. Then I proceeded and after more rain off and on I shut down for the night in White River Junction, VT. I was picked up and taken across the Connecticut River to Calvary Independent Baptist Church in Lebanon, NH. There were only 10 people in the building for that service and the sermon was part of a series of how to have victory over sin. The topic that evening was "the goodness of God leads to repentence".

Next day was Memorial day and traffic picked up as I headed south on Interstate 91, especially after I entered MA. I shut down in Hartford, CT and took a stroll downtown and took some pictures. Following day I delivered the truck in West Haven. After contacting companies I contract with I elected to take a short holiday in New England before returning home.

I hired a cab to the bus depot in New Haven, CT. The bus depot and the train station share the same location...along with AVIS car rental. My plan was to take bus to Boston, hire another cab to Logan Airport and rent a car from Enterprise to do some sightseeing. Also I booked a room in Saugus, MA at the Days Inn through Trip Rewards and that cost me 10K points.

I got to the bus depot, purchased a ticket to Boston for $31 and went outside to wait. My Greyhound/Peter Pan ticket was for the 15h10 bus which would have entailed a connection in Hartford. I was advised that the bus was overbooked and I might not get on. Sure enough the bus came and I was the only one who was not able to be accommodated so I waited for the 16h45 bus which was to be direct with stops in eastern CT and Providence, RI before getting to Boston. The 16h45 bus arrived late and as it turned out the driver would not accept any Boston passengers. I was not too upset as I was told the 17h00 bus would be arriving shortly.

Time passed and the 17h00 bus did not arrive and it dawned on me AVIS had a facility right where I was so I rang AVIS on my cell phone and hired a car for the rough equivalent of what the bus ticket and taxi would have been combined. I said, "Anyone else going to Boston?" and one other man said yes so I asked if he would like to chip in on the car rental cost in exchange for the ride and he took me up on it so we went inside and turned in our tickets and got credited only 80% and I got the car and off we went. I had a good chat with the other person en route and stopped and took some pictures of Mystic, CT and Providence, RI. He helped navigate me toward Logan Airport which entailed using some tunnels. I turned in the car and said farewell to my passenger and got the car from Enterprise.

I elected to prepay a tank of fuel as Enterprise was charging only $2.50 per gallon for the prepay option, well below what I would have paid at the pump. Also, at least at BOS, Enterprise was a lot more reasonable in that if you rented a car and did NOT choose to prepay the gas tank but did not return the car with full tank the tank would be filled and you would be charged $3.20per gallon for the amount of fuel needed to fill the tank. This is in stark contrast to most other rental car companies which would charge twice that or more. I was given directions to my lodging which were good enough and I got to the Days Inn in Saugus at almost exactly midnight.

Brief New England Holiday: Barely scratching the surface

I was thankful for the noon checkout time and after checkout I drove into downtown Boston and used dead reckoning to get to the Commons area and after going around the block a couple times I used the underground car park to store the car. I walked around and saw the Boston Common, the Capitol Building and Park Street Church then got an all-day ticket on the "T". I used the "T" and my feet to get around and saw Faneuil Hall, the Old North Church, U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) from afar, and I went to where I thought the Boston Tea Party ship would be but learned that ship was being renovated. I also saw South Station. I got various snapshots of Boston before heading back to the car. After I exited the Park Street Station and started back to where the car was I saw a street preacher reading some Scripture out loud and I saw a squad car pull up. I believe the squad car belonged to Transit Police. I hung around because I thought the police came to shut the preacher down but no such thing happened and after the preacher stopped I went up to him and had a chat. I found out he used to live in southern California and went to a church I go to on occasion when I am home. The preacher also told me he had no problems with the police. Then I got to the car and headed out of town and was stuck in traffic for the first part of the drive.

I got directions to Anchor Baptist Church in Biddeford, ME and went there for midweek prayer meeting and service. Afterward the pastor assisted me in finding lodging at a fairly decent price and I got my stuff in the room and then went to restaraunt for late evening rations and a few drops of rain fell.

Following day, after seeing Biddeford, I went into Portland and walked around the old section of town (the Oldport) then I went to Ft. Williams State Park in South Portland and saw the Portland Head Light. After that I went to a roadside restaraunt and had fried clams and scallops then headed south on Interstate 95. I made a brief stop to get a quick view and a few snapshots of Portsmouth, NH then I hustled back and turned in the car at Enterprise and caught the shuttle to the Terminal at Logan Airport.

I thought I was going to be late for my flight as I was cutting it close. I booked an award ticket on AS BOS-SEA with stopover then SEA-LGB next afternoon. I found out the plane was going to be a little late arriving. There was no line and I checked in and was told only middle seats were available. I chose the non-reclining exit row as the best option under the circumstances as that meant more legroom. I cleared security and there was no secondary but my boot bag was swabbed. I went to Legal Seafood and ordered a lobster sandwich for $24.10. I got the sandwich and headed back to gate after getting bottled water. Boarding was called, Preboarding, First Class followed by MVP Gold and then elites from partner airlines then the back of coach and finally my section.

Alaska #15 BOS-SEA B-737-800 Seat 14E Exit Row Cruise at 36,000' Estimated flying time 5:09, actual 5:07 Scheduled departure 18h20, actual
19h01 Scheduled arrival 21h22, actual 21h27 Ticket cost: Peak one-way award 20,000 miles

Though I've flown AS before this was my first time on AS transcon and first time on an AS 738. Configuration was 16F/141Y and F was full and only 5 or 6seats in Y were empty. I had a middle seat in the non-reclining exit row which meant more legroom and the seat in front of me did not recline either. Announcement was made to use lav in your ticketed cabin. Later on in the flight I heard a F/A tell an elderly lady she was welcome to use the lav in front (rather than walk all the way from the front of coach to the rear). There was no inflight magazine available since it was the end of the month. There was further delay due to traffic flow and pushback was 41 minutes late. I saw some raindrops on pushback. Taxi was 9minutes followed by takeoff. We went over the bay then turn northwest and the initial climb was steep. F/A's came through offering Dig-E-Players for rent for $10.

At 0:25 it was announced we were 50 miles north of Albany, NY and the seatbelt sign was turned off. I saw nothing but clouds. F/A's came through and gave out bags of Savory Snack mix. We were offered Northern Bites BBQ Cheeseburger and Chips or Picnic Pack (Pita chips, apple juice and tuna) either for $5. I got the Cheeseburger and found it quite tasty. There was a drink run and I got cup of ginger ale. Later I ate the Lobster sandwich. No movie was shown and there was no skymap. At 1:36 there was second drink run and I got entire can of soda. Seatbelt sign went on at 1:36 and off again at 1:43. At 3:00 F/A's came through and offered water. At 3:02 seatbelt sign went on again as there was bumpy air and the seatbelt sign went back off at 3:09. At 4:01 there was another drink run and a cookie was offered but I declined. At 4:23 a pitch was made for the Alaska Visa Signature card.

During the flight there were clouds most of the time. Though I was in middle seat I was still able to look out window. There were breaks in the clouds over what I thought was northern Minnesota and later eastern North Dakota. Later on I caught a brief glimpse of the Rockies and not long before descent I saw what I thought was the Columbia River. Announcement was made weather in SEA was 74F with clear skies. I felt descent start at 4:42 as we came up on the Cascades. Announcement was made Dig-E-Players would be collected at 4:46. I felt bump and seatbelt sign went on at 4:47 as we started crossing the Cascades. I saw what I thought was Mt. Baker to the north. I saw sunset over the islands of Puget Sound during approach. I saw downtown Seattle and we overflew SEA, looped around and landed south to north. Taxi was 9 minutes and we arrived 5 minutes late. I got my bags at 22h02, 35 minutes after arrival and got shuttle to motel.

Seattle Stopover

A street preacher friend came to motel and picked me up and we went to Denny's for a visit and a midnight milkshake. Then it was back to the room and I was glad for noon checkout.

Upon checkout I got shuttle back to SEA and checked in for the 16h00 flight to LGB and checked bags. The security line seemed to be a bit busy. I was picked up by another street preacher and we went to his house south of SEA for a brief but longer visit than the previous night.

I was taken back to SEA and there was almost no line for security so I sailed right through though my boot bag was run through the machine a second time. Just before scheduled boarding an announcement was made of some mechanical problem so there was a delay and we got word there would be a replacement plane. Departure was rescheduled for 17h30. Some passengers were paged for reseating as the MD-80 was replaced by a B-737-400. Ground traffic delayed the replacement plane being towed from the hanger to the gate.

Alaska #344 SEA-LGB B-737-400 Seat 9A Cruise at 33,000' Estimated flying time 2:23, actual 2:24 Scheduled departure 16h00, actual 18h38. Scheduled arrival 18h35, actual 21h28

Configuration on this plane was 12F/132Y and plane was full and then some with a number of infants travelling including one in the row directly in front of me. It was announced AS policy was to use lavs in cabin you are seated, if in big cabin with tiny seats use lavs in back. If in small cabin with big seats use lav in front. But if cart blocks aisle going to back it is OK to use lav in front but wait at row 6 to make sure it is empty. Window next to my seat was missing so I had to look forward to see out. Fortunately there was an small child in that seat so that seat did not recline the whole flight.

Pushback was 2h38min late followed by taxi/hold of 18 minutes and takeoff to north. I saw Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound and Port of Seattle then turn was to west and southeast. I saw Tacoma area to distance and Mt. Rainier. I saw what I thought to be the Olympia area and Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens to the distance. We crossed the Columbia River west of Portland and a little later I saw PDX, downtown Portland and the Willamette River. Milky clouds partially blocked the view. Seatbelt sign went off at 0:20 as we came up on PDX. Later I saw Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters. There was drink run at 0:34 and I got pretzel minis and cup of soda. I saw Crater Lake to the distance and a thunderhead north of Crater Lake.

Seatbelt sign went back on at 0:47 and it was announced we were over Medford, OR and clouds were building and we were trying to skirt around clouds and there would be possible bumps. I did see the Medford area through breaks in the clouds and it was a little bumpy as we crossed into California. Some clouds were higher than our cruise altitude. I saw Mt. Shasta below some clouds and it looked like some areas were getting rain. Seatbelt sign went off at 1:01.

I saw what I thought was Redding and later the Sacramento River. There were several crying infants who made a racket at times. I saw the Sacramento area and later what I thought to be Fresno area in the gathering darkness. There was a second drink run at 1:24 and I got another cup of soda. Darkness fell over the San Joaquin Valley and I felt descent begin at 1:59. Seatbelt sign went on at 2:06. We crossed the coast around Malibu and there were bumps. I saw moonrise as we passed Palos Verdes Peninsula and there were more bumps. We headed straight south then east and much of the approach was overwater. Our approach was pretty far offshore then we turned north. I saw ships and oil rigs in the water. Landfall was over Bolsa Chica/Huntington Harbour and we turned to line up with the runway. Gear went down at 2:22 and we landed to the northwest and there was heavy reverse thrust. Following taxi of 6 minutes we arrived 2h53min late. I got bags at 21h50, 22 minutes after arrival and was taken home.

Continental vs. Alaska on Transcons

I took two transcons on this tour of duty and here is a quick comparison.
CO = Continental AS = Alaska

Airplane: CO B-757-200. AS B-737-800 Both narrowbodies
Route/actual flying time: CO LAX-EWR 5:10. AS BOS-SEA 5:07
Seating configuration: Both 3-3 in coach
Boarding procedure: Good for first class and those with status on partner airlines; not as good for general boarding. Not quite as happy with AS as CO boarded fewer rows at a time from the rear during general boarding.
Cleanliness: No difference detected.
Number of drink runs: CO 3 drink runs plus 1 water run. AS Same but bag of Savory Snack mix also given on first drink run. Very similar with slight edge going to AS due to Snack mix given and entire can offered on second drink run.
Meal: CO no choice of entree consisted of salad/dressing, hot sandwich, chips and cookies, free of charge. AS Northern Bites choice of Cheeseburger/Chips or Picnic Pack offered for purchase at $5. I can't say who the edge goes to in this department and here is why: I was happy that CO still offers free meals in coach so CO gets the edge in that sense. However I thought AS got the edge due to choice of food for purchase. In addition I thought the quality of the sandwich on AS Northern Bites was slightly better than the sandwich on CO and I thought the size of the sandwich offered on AS was a bit larger as opposed to CO.
Comfort: CO Satisfactory, got reclining window seat non-exit row. AS stuck in middle seat but got non-reclining exit row with more legroom and seat in front also did not recline. That mitigated an otherwise bad situation. Hard to say where the edge would as comparing a reclining non-exit window seat to a non-reclining exit row middle seat would be like comparing apples to oranges.
Lavatory: CO one lav in front of coach, two in rear seemed more spacious than usual. AS three lavs in rear of coach not as spacious as on CO. In my opinion CO has edge for size and placement of lavs where AS has edge with common sense as elderly lady was told she was welcome to use forward lav.
Entertainment: CO 12 channels of entertainment, pax welcome to bring and use own headsets. Movie shown and more stuff on video afterwards. Skymap/airshow on part of the time which was helpful knowing the progress of the flight. AS Dig-E-Players offered for rent for $10 where you could watch movies, listen to music, see various videos. No place to plug in headset at seat unlike CO. No movies or video shown in the cabin. No skymap/airshow. In my opinion CO has the edge on entertainment.

End of Report

Always enjoyable reads. Thank you.

Great trip report. Always enjoyable to read.

Congratulations on all 48 lower states! Have you covered all the Canadian provinces?

Thanks,

Onedog

I've been in BC, AB, SK, MB, ON and QC. Still to go: NB, NS, PI, NL plus YT and NT. I've never been in Vancouver proper yet and would also like a layover in Saskatoon.