A 13 stone Bullmastiff

MIA (Miami) was hot hot hot, looks the same as LAX doesn’t it? See why there is a high potential for confusion?

 I would have preferred the case transferred instead of picking it up and re checking it but I couldn’t because booking this leg on BA flying US keeps it out of the AA system altogether, (if you aren’t on FT, you will be saying “so what?” at this point)

  It is years since I flew US First,(PHL-PHX)  and if they hadn’t recently joined Oneworld then I would be kicking my heels at MIA for another 3 hours for the AA flight. Up to now the only useful connections out of PHL have been ORD and MIA on AA but PHL being a US hub opens up all sorts of possibilities with Max and Lisa both being near Philly it’s the airport I use the most anyway.

I saw this 747 in desperate need of a wash at MIA, at least no one has climbed up and written “clean me” in the grime.

3F isn’t a bad place to be , I was correct US seats still recline back into the person behind you

This is Lunch,

 don’t ask me what it is, I didn’t hear what she said, from the look on her face I could tell a response was required so I just said “the first one please” chicken, beans and rice is the result. I hope that US service standards come up to meet AA and not AA standards go down to meet US.

The offshore route from MIA-PHL so no photo opps out the window,

 at one point it did look like Georgia O’Keeffe’s clouds out there but this is the sight that greeted me at Philly.

46F are you kidding me? Not the climate for someone still dressed for Hawaii, I thought I would just pick up the hire car and sprint for Lisa’s house, set up the sat nav and set off. For some reason by the time you get into the hire car it is always dark, dark and rainy today, I don’t drive as well at night, never have, that combined with the spraying water on the freeway was a nightmare drive, the sat nav battery was low, the roads were busy and it suddenly felt like a very bad idea, especially when you are in the middle lane and would give anything to just get the heck out of there. Dunc always wanted to do the driving in the US, I sometimes managed to prise the cars off him but apart from the trip after xmas I haven’t done the airport to NJ regularly.

 Pulling off the interstate I found myself on roads with 45 and 35mph speed limits, good, you can go slower and feel happier, stop signs are useful too they give you time to compose yourself for the next turn

Stop signs are a complex procedure, the car has to bounce on the front suspension and the back suspension to prove you have stopped, we got stopped by the police in Arizona once for not bouncing the suspension enough at a stop sign. Another idiosyncrasy is that if you are at a junction and the traffic lights are red, you can still turn right if nothing is coming scary huh?

I am competent to drive in the US, its just 14 hours of flying, rain, dark, wrong side of the car and the road makes for a difficult drive, Lis wont drive to the airport in broad daylight so that tells me its not an easy route anyway.

Sierra seemed pleased to see me, Noah, the 13 stone Bullmastiff greeted me, he is the size of a small horse but nice with it, I am scared of dogs but I have known Noah since he was a puppy and he accepts me as one of the family, I am not sure where he thinks I go between visits but he doesn’t forget me.

As a family we have been to see Lis so many times, as well as on my own but for some reason I just keep expecting Dunc to come through the door onto the porch, its harder than I ever imagined, its like he is off somewhere with Jeff or something like the time the two of them spent an afternoon trying to sort out the brakes and lights on the truck, they are both quite similar temperament and Lis used to get Dunc and Jeff doing jobs outside that she couldn’t persuade Jeff to do on his own.

If the rain ever stops, I can get out and about in Lisa’s Garden.