Loose Cannon

Next morning it was windy when I woke up and there were winds elsewhere. I was taken to Sunday evening church at Victory Baptist in Roseburg, OR. There was some rain south of Grants then some more rain in the Roseburg area. Monday there were rain showers alternating with dry periods. I was told about a run from San Antonio, TX to Fontana, CA but found air tickets from PDX to SAT were too expensive to make the run worthwhile so I accepted a Dixon, CA to Phoenix, AZ run instead. I delivered Monday late afternoon and elected to lay over Tuesday as the truck in Dixon, CA was not going to be ready until Wednesday late afternoon.

Tuesday I purchased a ticket on the MAX light rail system that went into downtown Portland, to the airport, to Gresham on the east side and Hillsboro and Beaverton on the west side. I decided on getting an all-day pass at a reasonable price to make things simple and took the MAX first to Old Town where I walked around and took pictures then to Pioneer Square downtown where I took even more pictures and walked around quite a lot.

Wednesday I took the free shuttle to PDX. There was a short line and I paid for the air ticket with cash. I got "A" boarding pass. I saw my checked bags searched then I cleared security and there was no secondary screening and my carry-ons were not searched.

Southwest #309 PDX-SMF B-737-300 Seat 11A Exit Row Cruising Altitude 35,000' Estimated flying time not given, actual 1:06. Scheduled departure
13h30, actual 13h29 Scheduled arrival 14h55, actual 14h49 Ticket cost: $152.40

Plane not very full noticed 58 pax on board. Pushback 1 minute early followed by taxi of 8 minutes and takeoff to east. I saw raindrops just after pushback. I saw Columbia River and Interstate 205 immediately after takeoff. There was some choppy air immediately after climb and we were into the clouds at 0:02 and above clouds by 0:08. Seatbelt sign went off at 0:17. Ritz chips and peanuts were served along with drink run; got cup of ginger ale. There were a few breaks in the clouds here and there but not enough for me to tell where we were. I got second cup of ginger ale without asking. I felt descent start at 0:43 and seatbelt sign went on at 0:50. Announcement was made there was a little rain and it was 57F at SMF. There were some bumps during mid to late part of descent. I saw farmland and Interstate 5 as we approached and landing was made north to south on wet runway. It was raining when we landed. Taxi was 4 minutes and we were 6 minutes early. I went to bag claim and got first bag at 15h08, last bag at 15h10.

It quit raining by the time I took van to Dixon where I picked up the truck.

Trip: Dixon, CA to Phoenix, AZ 777 miles. Routes: Interstate 80 to Interstate 80 Business to Interstate 5 to California 46 to California 99 to California 58 back to California 99 to Interstate 5 to California 138 to California 14 to California 138 to California 18 US395 to Interstate 15 to Interstate 215 to California 30 to Interstate 10 to Interstate 17.

There were a few raindrops to start but it was clearing. Next day started windy and I had a good tailwind for part of the time. However California 58 east of Edison was closed to trucks due to high winds so I had to detour back to Interstate 5 then east on California 138 and south on 14 before proceeding east again on California 138 and 18 before I caught US395 south to Interstate 10. It turned out that I dropped the truck off on Saturday and flew home.

I got taxi to Sky Harbor, stood in line for over 30 minutes to purchase ticket and got a "B" boarding pass to SNA. I checked bags, paid for ticket and cleared security. No secondary and no search of carry-ons.

(To be continued)