The First Flight

Midwest people have a simple kind of charm. We tend to be overly friendly to new people we barely know. We love to welcome people into our home and cook them dinner or offer our company. On my first flights, I exemplified a midwest type of person.

On my first flight, I was seated next to an older couple. I still am not sure where the woman's accent was from and I was too polite to ask. The older gentleman was definitely American (or he could have had excellent english I suppose) and was definitely a social person. Naturally, we struck up a conversation. He was heavily involved in the business of airplanes and had a lot of experience flying with most of his experience coming from one state in particular: Alaska. I began telling him about my recent employment which he kindly congratulated me on. I mentioned how excited I was and how I was so ready to experience something outside of Kansas (my home state). Immediately, his mood becomes much more somber. "You seem like a nice young man. You have the world ahead of you. I sure hope you are prepared for life in the villages." I shrugged off this statement and continued talking about wildlife and aircrafts the rest of the flight. Later, we touch down in Seattle. After 4 hours, I was ready to get off the dang plane.

Here is an image from the first flight. This would have been taken somewhere between Kansas City and Seattle. I couldn't tell you where.