The NW flight to Tokyo’s Narita airport has started. From the number of people here at the gate area, this flight will also be full. Lots of folks not only leaving Portland but also leaving the US. After boarding and turning this phone off, I’ll not have any other coverage until I arrive in Manila and my Blackberry starts working.

This phone won’t work again until I get back to the US on the 20th.

The airplane arrived from Salt Lake on time at 9:10 am — and empty. Only the flight crew were on board. No one wanted to go to Pocatello this morning. On the other hand, sixteen of us left Pocatello on the outbound flight.

The Salt Lake City airport was very busy. Lots of people coming and going. The flight in the gate next to my flight to Portand was headed for Spokane. I guess lots of folks wanted to go to Spokane today as the flight was oversold, which is different than overbooked. More people had checked in for the flight than there were seats. Further, there isn’t another flight to Spokane today. The last offer I heard was $600, a flight to Pasco (wherever that is) at 12:30 pm and a free car rental to drive the rest of the way. That offer will probably go up some more. They needed four volunteers as well. I suspect people don’t very often compete for seats on flights to Pocatello!

This flight to Portland had two coach seats open and 118 claimed. People definitely are wanting to go to Portland as well. Another cramped airplane.

I’ve got about 90 minutes before my flight from Pocatello to Salt Lake — the first leg of the trip to Manila. Because I don’t want to leave a car here at the airport, I had Nina drop me off before she went to her 8 am meeting. The airport is very quiet, even for Easter Sunday. Sky West (Delta Connection) is now the only airline serving the airport and their only destination from here is Salt Lake. Even the Airport Manager is leaving the airport to take the same job in Idaho Falls. That also doesn’t bode well for this airport.

There are a number of problems with this airport. It was originally an Army Air Force training base in early WWII. So it’s got a couple of long runways, which is a benefit but requiring more maintenance and upkeep cost. It is too far from town and with Pocatello’s abysmal public transportation, there are no buses that come out to the airport.

The airport also serves as an aerial attack base for fighting wildfires. That may come in handy this summer which is likely to be a significant fire year since there was so little snow this past winter. That is, if the air tanker fleet is allowed to fly this year.

I’ve caught a cold. This is the third one this year so far. I’ve come down with a cold just before every big business trip since January. So far this one has been fairly light. Will that last?

We were loading up to go to the morning session of Conference when the phone rang and Pam (Nina’s sister) asked for additional directions to Dawnmarie’s house. As she was talking, she exclaimed “Oh dear! Oh my!” That was followed by a couple of thumps and then silence. Eventually she responded that her car had been hit by a deer. The animal had literally jumped into the driver’s side of the car, leaving a couple of big dents in the car and taking the side mirror with it as the deer bounded away.

I’ve really enjoyed this conference. We’re in the final session, watching and listening to the session with some nine other members of the New Castle Branch. Dawnmarie and Kirk’s children are a delight to be with at conference. Modern technology has made Conference a different experience over the years.

I grew up watching Conference on KSL TV at home. In those days Conference was three days long. In the April Conference, one of those sessions was always on April 6th, even when there was a gap of a day or two when the 6th was in the middle of the week. In the Fall, the baseball World Series always came during Conference and I remember when the TV switched from Conference to Yankee Stadium instantly when “Amen!” was said in the closing prayer to pick up the final Series game in the middle of the third inning. I don’t remember who won, just that at 2 pm, the TV switched back to Conference. When I was 12, I then went to the chapel at 7 pm on Saturday evening to listen to the Priesthood session which came in on the telephone.

Years later when we were living in Ohio, we would take all of the children to the Stake Center. By then Conference was held on the first Sunday in April and October and on the immediately preceeding Saturday — two days instead of three. The proceedings still came in on the telephone. A great innovation came when each Stake was sent a set of slides with the pictures of the General Authorities so we could see a picture of the speaker projected on a screen while he was speaking.

Then came the next step. The Saturday morning session was taped and sent out by airplane to cable TV stations who would broadcast that two-hour session on Sunday morning as a public service. Eventually some stations would pick up the video feed and show the Sunday morning session as it was broadcast from Salt Lake City. Then we would go to the Stake Center for the other sessions. I am still in awe of Nina’s faithfulness in marshalling the children and getting them all to the sessions of conference. Some of that seems to have gone down a generation as we see some of that same devotion to Conference in our children and grandchildren.

Now in almost all parts of the United States we can watch Conference from the comfort of our homes. I have come almost full circle. Almost, because while I still go to the Stake Center for Priesthood Meeting, the proceeding come in over a satellite video transmission rather than by telephone.

What will come in the future? I can imagine holographic images where it will seem that the speakers and the choir are right in our room. Will we then go to the Stake Center for that experience? Will it then go full circle back to our homes?

As usual, the music of this conference has been beautiful. The Tabernacle Choir has provided the music at all sessions except Priesthood Meeting where the music was by a choir from BYU. The closing song was the Sibelius hymn “Be Still, My Soul” with different words, “I Love The Lord”. I would love to hear that arrangement again. It was very moving.

Our visit is coming to an end. It has been a good weekend, a lovely baptism, and a delightful conference. It was also punctuated by a deer! No lions, no tigers, no bears, Oh Dear!

Someone said that a good landing is one you can walk away from and a great landing means the airplane can be used again. By that definition, we had a great landing in Pittsburgh. That airport is quite spread out, carved out from around other industry already present. That usually means a long taxi, similar to taxi times in Denver.

The drive to Dawnmarie’s house takes about an hour from the airport. We’ve arrived safely and are having a lot of fun here. We’ll fly back on Monday evening.

Meanwhile, this is Church General Conference time. We’re now at the New Castle Branch building watching conference on the big screen. Dawnmarie’s entire crew is here, and we take up the entire front row. We are quite spoiled in Pocatello where everyone watches on TV (or at least they have the opportunity to do so). After the second session today, Rachel will be baptised, our primary reason for coming here. All is well.

The Captain said we’re cruising along at 31,000 feet on our flight from Salt Lake City to Pittsburgh. Outside we’re well above the clouds and a bright sun is shining. We’re about two hours into a three-and-a-half hour flight, so I guess we’re somewhere over eastern Nebraska, but with a solid cloud cover below, there’s no way to tell. I thought about bringing my GPS with me, but I’m sure it’s prohibited. Then I forgot it!

Nina’s sitting across the narrow aisle from me, snoozing. It was a very early morning as we had to drive to the SLC airport and be there by 9. We left the house about 5:30 and got into the terminal at 8:55. Then our flight was delayed about a half hour. “No problem,” says the captain, “we’ll only be about 5 minutes late.” We must have a pretty good wind helping us along.

This is a small airplane! Two seats on either side of the aisle. And small seats at that. We’re flying what’s called a Regional Jet (or RJ for short) which is being pressed into longer and longer routes, routes which used to be serviced by a 737-class airplane. These planes are not very comfortable and there isn’t much service available (no place to store and carry much in the way of food or drink items). This plane has three rows in First Class with three seats across and 20 rows in coach class with four seats across. All seats in the back are full. Half the seats in First Class are empty.

We’ll rent an Avis car in Pittsburgh and should arrive in New Wilmington by 6:30 pm EDT at the latest. Our return flight is on the same type of an airplane late Monday afternoon.

So, I’m moving eastward at some 300 mph, six miles up, listening to tunes on my iPod and feeling more than a little cramped. Flying used to be a lot of fun. Now it’s just a big hassle.

The SLC airport was mobbed again this morning. Lots of people are putting up with the issues and hassle. Why are the airlines loosing money? It doesn’t compute in my brain.

Now all I have to do is remember to send this when we get on the ground and I can turn on cell service once again!

The flights were all uneventful and early. Belgium was quite foggy when we arrived which made for a slower drive from Brussels to Gent. I’m back at the airport waiting for a collegue from Manila to arrive. Her flight from Manila to Amsterdam was early, but her flight from Amsterdam to Brussels, at best a 20 minute flight, is now 1 1/2 hours late. I’m sure she’s right ready for this day to come to an end.

We’re staying at a new (for us) hotel in Gent. It’s somewhat quaint but serviceable. It does have wifi in the room, which is very nice.

I’m glad I brought my iPod with me to the airport. The flight continues to be delayed.

I got to the hotel and into bed about 11 am this morning. I got up about 4 this afternoon, showered, and met some other collegues for dinner. We ate at a small restaurant run by an Iranian fellow. Good food!

The weather here is normal winter weather. The high today was about 40 degrees Farenheit, sunny this afternoon (after a foggy start), with a slight breeze. That’s good enough. Now the airplane needs to arrive!
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Mother called last night to say that dad will be released on Friday. Dad is delighted to finally get “out of jail”. It’s a good step along his path to recovery. My brother Perry and his wife Chris are going to Soda Springs Friday to Saturday, so Nina and I will also go over to Soda tomorrow morning (Nina owes dad a chocolate chip cookie) to visit. Welcome home, dad!

Today is Daryl’s thirtieth birthday! Congratulations, Daryl!