On the first leg of my trip, I found myself next to Cal Ripken Jr. Now, I didn’t know who he was. He put my bag in the overhead. After a while one of the cabin attendants came and shook the man’s hand. Then the first officer comes by and shakes hands. More flight attendants so up. This large man shakes hands and signs autographs. Actually writes messages to people. No one asks for a selfie. This large man takes off his sweater revealing a shirt advertising a Cal Ripken Sr Foundation Golf Tournament. Finally, I asked the large man if he was Jr. He said yes. I told him that I had read that he was a gracious man and that I was happy to see that he really was. The man was allowed to fly the rest of the way in peace. And when we got to Phoenix he got my bag down and went off to where ever he was going to deliver a speech. And I headed off to my next flight. Where I was really lucky to be next to a woman that I didn’t know, but we know a lot of the same people. We spent the entire trip talking. That made the 6-hour flight go very quickly.
Billy picked me up and got me to the condo. I went across the street to check out the ocean. Happy to report that it is still there.
At 5PM I am totally exhausted. The goal is to stay up until dark.