As with most vacations, we are always anxious to leave on a trip, but we are always ready to return home. Perhaps just getting back to a routine is a lot of it.
We were at the airport around 4:30 am. I dropped Mary and the luggage off at the Delta terminal of Sacramento Airport then drove to the rental car return area. The Enterprise representative checking in the cars was very pleasant and helpful directing me to the place to catch the shuttle to the terminal. We left a note on the seat of the rental Ford Fusion describing the many problems that we found with the car. We made sure to notify Enterprise of the car’s problems when we were consulted on the satisfaction survey. We had driven over 2500 miles on our trip and tolerated the car, but I would never take another one like this for any extended travel.
The shuttle returned me to the airport quickly, and Mary had already checked our bag. This time it was just under the 50-pound limit thanks to Mary shifting some heavy items to our carry on. However, that caused an issue at security. The huge bag of wheat pennies caused my camera bag to be pulled for inspection. The TSA agent was pleasant and found no problems with the bag, and we made our way the short distance to the gate. We had some time before our flight, so we ate the granola bars and other things we had packed for breakfast.
The short flight from Sacramento was fairly full but because of COVID-19 social distancing, we had an empty seat between us. We watched some of a rock documentary on the life and career of David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young before landing in Salt Lake City.
We bought a sandwich to share from a vendor at the Salt Lake airport. It was too early for lunch. but there would be no meal service on the flight, so we took it onboard with us to have during the flight from Salt Lake to Cincinnati. We were pleased to learn that the CDC was reporting that air travel is very safe during the pandemic because of the precautions that airlines are taking. The HEPA filtered air exchanges appeared to be a major reason for the safety of the flights. As with our travel two weeks earlier, the cabin was sanitized between all flights, and the crew gave out sanitizing wipes as we boarded.
We finished watching the David Crosby documentary then watched a similar program on Linda Ronstadt that had many of the same people being interviewed. Both were part of the Southern California musical movement of the 1970s giving rise to the Eagles, Poco. Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, Jackson Brown, Buffalo Springfield, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and many other of our favorites. We both enjoyed the programs although we had seen part of the Linda Ronstadt special a year or so ago.
We landed in Cincinnati on time and picked up our checked bags quickly and made our way to the area where the Hilton shuttle picks up. We waited for the shuttle for nearly an hour before I called the number from onestopparking and was told that the shuttle now runs on an “as needed” basis as travelers call from the airport. The van came shortly after our call. The driver, originally from Williamson, WV, was very pleasant and helpful taking us to our car at the Hilton for the hour drive back home. We knew that we would have a mountain of laundry, mowing and other chores in the next few days, but we were happy to be home. The pandemic would require us to have a two-week self-quarantine, but with all of the upcoming work at home, that wouldn’t be a problem.
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