in Arizona for Interim

The following entries are taken from my journal that I kept while on my interim around Phoenix, Arizona. This was a “travel writing and ecology” interim led by English professor Dr. Vander Weele, biology professor Dr. Hensley, and biking addict Roger Stoub. As I enter these, I am changing the date on the blog to match when I wrote it. However, this date will still not match the date on which these occurrences actually occurred, because I was always a little behind in my writing.

(In the plane on the way to Phoenix):

Mom, the pessimist, wondered if I would be okay sitting around at the airport.

“Yeah,” I ‘of coursed’ “I’ll be fine.” Inside, I was thinking I’d probably get on the first flight, because a lot of good things happen to me.

So I went through security checks. They raised their eyebrows at my mandarin oranges and confiscated my water bottle. I proceeded to my gate. When I checked in, my name was third on the standby list and there were two unsold seats. I was quite nervous about the whole thing as I sat in the waiting area listening to a very nice lady talk about her upcoming trip to Hawaii.

I kept glancing at the standby screen and saying little prayers. The started boarding the first class passengers, then the priority passengers.

I was just staring out the window when I heard the lady at the counter say “Vander Witt” and I knew she meant me. I squeezed through the boarding passengers and she handed me my ticket. My beautiful ticket.

So here I am on the plane. I just drank two glasses of orange juice. I wonder what this optimist would have done if things hadn’t worked out optimally. I wonder if my baggage will arrive on time.

(in the baggage claim area):

I’m sitting in the baggage claim area, listening to the never-ending beeping, throbbing, buzzing and “the escalator is ending, please watch your step.” I couldn’t be any happier, truly. I’ve got my baggage and I’m here on time. Ahead of time. I’m figuring on about 40 minutes until I see some comrades. Six will be coming on that flight. I don’t know about the rest.
When I look out the window I can see a cactus and palm trees. I’m going to take my jacket off before I go out there. What a beautiful day. Well worth getting up for at 5:15 (A.M.)

. . .

I wonder when they are going to start having people verify that the luggage they take is really there’s. I wonder how often someone just walks in off the street and rolls a suitcase away.

. . .

I was rubbing my eye and someone just walked by and said “Wake up!”
Weirdo.

. . .

The air conditioning is on in here, I think. There are a lot of senior citizens here. This is a pretty small airport. That lady has a nice parka. I just changed my watch. The lady with the nice parka just smiled at my pants.

. . .

It’s quarter to three (an hour and twenty minutes since their flight got here.) and I’m still in the baggage claim area. Turns out his airport is bigger than I though, and they came in on a different terminal. They meant terminal four, not carousel four. But that’s fine, thanks to cell phones, except now there’s a traffic jam between here and there. So they have the big van rented and they are gathering people from all different terminals, except the road is really backed up. Maybe I’ll go wait outside. It looks really nice. Except for the cigarettes smoldering on the sidewalk. How fresh.