Frequent Flyer

Morey and I had the chance to go back to Indiana for a week which was a very much needed break after working two jobs for the past six months. We kept our trip pretty low key but there were still several highlights to share about our time in Indiana.

As we were checking in and going through security in Austin one of the TSA agents said "I haven't seen you for a while. How have you been?" I suppose I am fairly memorable since I usually travel with Morey but given that I come and go from the airport at very different times (and therefore during different shifts) I was surprised that she remembered me. As I thought back over my schedule I realized that May is the only month of 2014 when I haven't taken a trip involving air travel. And, looking at my schedule for the rest of the year my travel schedule doesn't look like it will slow down much!

Morey scored me a move to first class on the first flight to Houston which is always a nice perk. As it happened, I ended up sitting next to two guys who were on their way to an adaptive scuba trip with an organization called Eels on Wheels. They encouraged me to get involved and join them next year. Although I've been scuba diving in a pool it certainly sounds more fun to do it in the ocean! Morey has never been to the ocean so he was interested too, although I'm not sure how he would react if I went down in the water and didn't come back up!

One of the guys had become a quad from a bike accident and his golden retriever had helped alert his neighbors so they could get help (http://www.ilovedogs.com/2010/12/golden-saves-dog-dad-paralyzed-in-biking-accident/).  Hopefully I'll never have an occasion to find out if Morey has an "inner Lassie"! While some dogs are trained to go find help, that is not one of Morey's tasks and it's hard to say what he would do if we were in a similar situation.

Since I had a two hour layover between flights I decided to take Morey out to "hurry". I had arrived at the airport about 8:30am and wasn't schedule to land until 4:30pm. While Morey could wait that long to go if he had to, since I had time I decided to take him out. Despite being given directions to the service animal relief area, I never actually found the designated area. After wandering through the parking garage we found some landscaping which would serve the purpose equally as well as a special area. Although I had made sure Morey had pooped in the morning before we left, he decided he needed to go again so I was very glad I had decided to give him that opportunity! Even though it only took him a few minutes to "hurry" by the time I made it through security again it was almost time to board our next flight.

Our second flight was on a very small regional jet. One side of the plane had a single seat which was where I was assigned to sit. There was no place for Morey on that side so the flight attendants switched me to the side with two seats and graciously kept the seat next to me open so Morey could have extra room. Even so, it was a pretty tight fit. We were both very ready to get off the plan when we arrived in Indianapolis!