Wednesday, Sept. 12th

Well, the day has finally arrived!  Norma and I have been planning this trip to Ireland for more than six months!  However, it is definitely anti-climatic.  We have such heavy hearts today, because our sister, Donna, lost her husband, Rod, suddenly on Monday evening.  What a shock this is to our family!  An apparent heart attack  just days before his 55th birthday.  I am so sad thinking about Donna and her children and grandchildren. I'm sad that Norma and I can't be there with her.  We know she understands and really wants us to continue on with this trip.

I am so thankful for my Sweetie, Tom!  Today is his regular day off, so he is driving me to Tyler, where we will pick up Norma, and then he is taking us both to the Holiday Inn , where we will board our motorcoach for the trip to DFW.  I'm glad we do not have to leave our car parked at this Hotel for 10 days while we are gone, since Tom is coming back on Friday night, Sept. 21st to pick up Norma and me.

8:30 A.M
We are on the motorcoach, on our way to DFW!  There are 25 excited guests on this bus, all anxiously anticipating our adventure in Ireland!  Carol K., our Tour Director, warned us not to do any "bonding" with our fellow guests until we reach Chicago and meet the rest of our group!  Too late, Carol!  We are already getting acquainted with our fellow guests!  Lou and Travis Rankin, from Lufkin, are a couple that are members of Norma's and Mom's R.V. Camping group.

10:00 A.M.
We are leaving our little "pit stop" here at the Terrell Travel Center.  It felt really good to walk, stretch, and get an ice-cold Mountain Dew!  We are a very diverse group of people on this Tour.  We seem to be a fun, lighthearted bunch!

Here we are at DFW Airport!

1:30 P.M. 
 Here we sit, awaiting the boarding of our flight to Chicago.  Norma and I just realized that our assigned seats are 10 rows from each other!  We approached the gate agent, and he switched our seating so we could sit together.  We called our sister, Ginny, and they have made it to Fort Collins, Colo. on their way to Cody, Wy. to be with Donna and her family at this most difficult time, following Rod's sudden death.  Ginny had just talked to Donna and Rod's funeral will be held Saturday.  Our Mom seems to handling the long drive to Cody, Wy. alright.  She is such an inspiration to all of our family!

Today is probably the most difficult day of our trip.  Traveling.  Hurry up and wait.  Sitting.  We have gotten in a fair amount of walking, between looking for a place to get a "hot sandwich" in the airport, and suddenly having our departure gate changed from A-20 to A-39!  Although, I much prefer to be walking than to be sitting!

3:00 P.M.
We are flying @ 33,000 ft. altitude, a very smooth ride to Chicago.  Besides meeting Lou and Travis Rankin, we've also met Bob Brackeen, the  NBC Today Show host on KETK Channel 56 in Tyler.  KETK promoted this trip and sent Bob as our host.  We met Albert Gary, a pharmacist w/Super 1 Food Stores in Tyler, and his "20 something" daughter, Brook Brown, who is vacationing with her Dad for the first time.  Albert and his wife had booked this tour together, however she had double knee surgery recently and was unable to go, so he called Brook, who lives in Louisville, Ky., and invited her to come along.  Brook is very pretty, bubbly, vivacious, and so happy to be on this trip with her Dad!

Also, one lady in our group, Barb, had a slight mishap, right after we exited the motorcoach at DFW, and were on the up escalator, heading up to be checked in.  She said her carry-on bag's wheels got caught on the escalator and pulled her over backwards!  Norma and I were just ahead of her on the escalator, and when I looked back, she was layed over backwards onto the passengers behind her and was desperately hanging on to the rail with only one hand, so I grabbed the handle of her carry-on bag so she could use both her hands on the rail to try to pull herself back into an upright position.  With a lot of help from the folks behind her, pushing her up from behind, she finnally righted herself just as we reached the top of the escalator!  First time I've ever seen anyone pulled right out of their shoes on an escalator!  She was wearing open-heeled clogs!

7:00 P.M.
We are boarded and ready for take-off in the largest plane I've ever flown in-a 767!  A very full flight!  Some stand-by folks could not board!  Norma and I are already tired from this long day of travel!  This should ba 7 1/2 hour flight from Chicago to Dublin.  When we arrive in
Dublin it will already be 8:00 a.m., Thursday morning, which is six hours ahead of our Central Time.  I hope to get a good nap on this flight!  While in O'Hare Airport, we met a young gal from Belfast, Ireland, who has been in the U.S. for three months working and visiting friends.  I called my Sweetie while we were waiting for this flight and was disappointed to get the recorder, and not get to hear his voice before I left the U.S.

   My sister, Donna and me, when she came to Texas for a visit in March. ( I think we favor one another! ) That is my brother, Don, in the background, as we were in his Dry Cleaners shop in Huntsville, Tx.