Arwin & Maryanne's Uncharted Desert Isle

I have the world's best wife.  Not only did she handmake a Valentine's Day card for me while she was traveling on business, she bought a couple of shirts and had a Russell Stover peanut butter heart for me to munch on while waiting for my flight home, and best of all, before her travel, she prepared homemade cake truffles secretly waiting for me in the freezer when I get home.

"but most of all... I wish you love."

My inventor friend handed me drawings of his latest creation - a motorised piece of luggage on which you sit and steer via the carry handle, perfect for large airports, especially ones that don't mind packs of LiPo batteries strung together to power the wheels.

I asked him to design me a pedal-powered version for today, because the 1984/Brazil thought sets have not yet passed into the storage bins of history.

"Paging J. Smith."

Thanks to 7-Eleven for a CA map and a topped-off tank of gas.

I was in a meditative trance most of St. Valentine's Day

Friendly fellow ready to clock out at 12:30.  Boarded and ready for a long snooze.  20 til 5.  Red blankets on St. Val. Day keeping us warm and cozy.  Sleeping. Arms crossed. Reading.  Fedora, shaggy hair, bald spots.  Baseball caps.  CRTs like eyes hanging from the underbelly of a giant caterpillar.  Bye-bye brown grids and mountain ranges.  Five hours of silent solace like eulogising in "The Sting."  First moments away from my wife, looking at snowy peaks below.  Turbulence.  Air rushing, as if air can rush, through vents.  Sweater.  Chewing gum.  The curious watching topo maps in action.  Riding in a tube like Cuban cigars.  Another manic Monday.  Another trip around the core.  Missing my wife, cats soon to feed.

And then?  More silence.  Thoughts.  Digging for words, you dig?  Sleep.  Peace.  Hermit meditating on eroding hillsides and mice.  Fasten seat belt while seated.

3-4-6-7 - the stitching patterns of the red blanket - codes can be put in the most obvious places.  Also look in lavatory tissue box or sink for "invisible ink" messages, read by special glasses, tied to page numbers of ebook.  Wiped clean and thrown/washed away.

Cue: look for the old lady in the panda shirt.

Pretty Asian faces.

Boy Scouts having Nat'l Jamboree reunion (son, 16, with 4 palms and just finished last 2 merit badges but needs to complete Eagle project) and Sea recruits @ Ronald Reagan museum.

Baseball hopefuls heading to Atlanta?

Laws of Branding.

"She" by H. Rider Haggard.

Downtown to our left before we bend and turn.

Thanks to pilots and crew of DL1554 - I was lost in thought and did not have my notebook open to write down your names as I heard them.  A special thanks to the pilot for pointing out Huntsville, Alabama, on our right.

Now on to Big Cove, take off scheduled for 23:00.  From Gate C57.  Fun watching all the smartphone/laptop computer users - habit, necessity and/or addiction?

Thanks to Eddie and Barbara at Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Delta crew members come and go by the dozens.

Making funny faces with a baby and chewing the fat with a barbershop owner about the similarity between HSV and Denver/Boulder.

A lovely lady, half-asleep, waiting on our escorted luggage to ride the elevator.

Home.