The trip to Maine

I used to love flying, but definitely not so much anymore. That said, the trip to Maine wasn't too bad. Our flight left 9 am on June 26th from Spokane. So the hubby drove me up to my mom's the night before and we spent the night there and then he drove us to the airport.

In anticipation of the trip, I'd gone to Goodwill to find a decent sized backpack I could use for carry on luggage as I was NOT going to check a bag, which they charge for.

Walked in to the store, but they didn't have any backpacks of suitable size. However, my hubby spotted this:


A discontinued Invacare rollator that we walked out with for $27! I have been giving serious consideration of getting a rollator since there are times getting out and about on 2 canes is a problem and one of these would help a lot. But I just couldn't justify to myself the $200 plus cost of one. So the Universe provided.

I did find a good backpack at the Hope Center, a National Guard one that I was able to pack everything I needed (including both cameras) with a couple of pockets to spare.

Once we got home I immediately set to blinging out my new wheels:


Amazing what you can do with nail polish LOL!!! I only did this bit for now, I will see about additional blingage as the summer goes on.

Then the hubby figured out how to attach my canes and trekking poles using velcro straps:



Worked fairly well for a proof of concept. Did have some issues with things coming loose being banged around on planes and luggage holds, but with a little more fiddling will be great.

So on the 26th we were ready to head out. Going thru TSA at the Spokane airport wasn't bad. Being over 75, my mom didn't have to take her shoes off. I did. I also had to send my trekking poles and canes thru the x ray, along with the rest of my stuff. My roller was taken around to be swabbed . They loaned me a stick so I could go thru the x ray tube, luckily that when fast and then out to get my stuff.

My roller really came in handy for getting thru the airport with our stuff:


Mom's bag went on top with mine while going thru airports. I was also able to move faster with the wheels than I would have with just the sticks.

Since it would take me a bit to get on board, mom and I boarded 1st with anyone else needing the extra time. My roller folds neatly, so that was tagged and went underneath for the flight.

Mom had booked us on Delta with the comfort + seating. The few extra inches of leg room really made a difference:


Belting in took a little bit, the seatbelt was JUUUUUUSSSSSSTTTTT a bit short, but I managed to snick it shut. Since it was just a hope to Seattle I didn't bother with an extender. If it had been a longer flight, then I would have needed one. Luckily the next two legs of the trip the seat belts were long enough.

We get to Seattle and deplane away from the terminal as it was so busy there weren't any open gates. Onto a shuttle to a terminal, from there a train to the next terminal and find our next flight.




Boarded okay and then it was off to Detroit. Flying back over Spokane/Coeur d'Alene. SIGH! Go west to go East.

Flying over Spokane WA

and Coeur d'Alene ID

Oh well. I had my audiobook on my phone to listen to and also the flight tracker on the back of the seat in front of me:


No inflight meal, unless you bought one from then. They did have free snacks of cookies, chips, bananas and almonds along with the complimentary beverages.

The flight to Detroit was pretty uneventful and I did get to see some of the country down below. Will post some pics of that another time.

Arrived in Detroit and it was another train to another terminal. Boy, that roller was really coming in handy.

Bigger plane and a tailwind to Portland. It was dark by the time we got there, didn't get to see a whole heck of a lot of country as the clouds got thick and the sun was setting.

Leaving Detroit


A bit bumpy going into Portland airport, there was a storm we had to go thru. Tried to get some video recording, didn't work out very well.

But we arrived in Portland safe and sound, only to find the car rental we were supposed to have (and was part of the travel package mom had booked for the flight) didn't exist. The only vehicle the company had left was a minivan, which my mom immediately vetoed. Luckily the rental service just down the counter did have a vehicle, a Toyota Camry that worked out just fine, even tho we discovered an interesting piece of equipment in the back seat:





Not sure why it was there, but just left it as a bit of whimsy.

Thanks to Google maps on my phone, I was able to get us to our hotel with no problems. Not a lot of traffic around midnight there. Had fun driving tho, trying to figure out all the controls on the car in the dark while zooming down the freeway LOL!

But we'd arrived safely in Brunswick ME and got a decent nights sleep.

Comments