Back in Peoria

I recently made it back to Peoria for a weekend. Air travel certainly was challenging that weekend, but Peoria itself was relaxing. I arrived late Friday in P-town. Charlie had given me a ride from Cincinnati to Bloomington where I picked up my flashy white PT Cruiser. At least the car came with XM radio, by far the best feature this car has to offer. No wonder American car makers have a bad reputation. The first stop of the Tour de Peoria was Panache, what else is there to do on a Friday night? On Saturday I was mostly busy running errands, but I managed to have a 'catholic' lunch with Fredi at Sushi Gawa which, I think, still has the best sushi in town. As an important part of my mission, I picked up my golf clubs that I had to leave behind in February. A nice dinner at the Hofbrau finished up the day. Good times.
With the Weather Channel predicting a major east coast storm, I was concerned about my flights back to Boston. I tried to get rebooked to an earlier flight, but the airline told me there were no seats available on earlier flights. SURE....RIGHT.... So, I spent Sunday rather anxious in Peoria and drove back to Bloomington to start my journey back to Salem. It is kinda weird, but driving through Peoria already felt strange. It's been only a couple weeks since I left and it already lost its 'home' feel. I am sure I will make it back to Peoria once in a while. It's always great to meet good friends again.

Air Travel Fun: Part 2
Sitting in an crammed airplane seat waiting for the time to pass, I couldn't help but smile at some of the funny situations that have been described by comedians for decades. Example, when we got served drinks during the flight, three people in the seats around me ordered tomato juice. What is it with flying and tomato juice? I don't think I remember anybody around me in a restaurant ever drinking that stuff. Maybe tomato juice tastes better at 30,000 feet or the higher air pressure triggers the tomato juice gen in the brain. It just seems odd.
Or the fact that the flight attendants still do their song and dance to show how to buckle up. Come on, it's the 21th century. If you don't know how to use a buckle, maybe you should choose a horse wagon as your mode of transportation. Also, I find the possibility of a water landing between Bloomington and Chicago rather unlikely, so I don't really care that my seat can be transformed into a 'floating' device. I am sure, if we crash into a little stream in Illinois, I'll be able to wade to safety. At least it's a little comics relief for flying is otherwise rather boring.