Ella had a relatively uneventful flight out to Tulsa. Her first flight was a short jaunt from Indianapolis to Chicago. She seemed less enthralled with the flight itself, and instead was more interested in the people seated behind her. Ella's next flight from Chicago to Tulsa was a bit longer and much more entertaining. Ella and Dad were fortunate enough to be seated next to the wife of a Southern Baptist preacher, who insisted on singing and feeding Ella throughout the flight. Dad leveraged this to his advantage and took the time to, among other things, clear the snot and spit-up from his attire and rest his increasingly weary arms and shoulders, which withstood every persistent wiggle Ella administered.
If only the returning trek to Indianapolis had been as effortless. Ella and Dad arrived at Tulsa International Airport around 11:00 am on Tuesday. They were quickly informed of inclement weather in the Chicago area, which is exactly where they were headed. After a 2 hour delay in Tulsa, they boarded the plane and were instructed they would be taking an indirect flight to Chicago to avoid another developing storm system in Illinois. They flew up to Minneapolis and then over to Milwaukee, and then finally to Chicago. This added an additional 45 minutes to their flight time. Upon arriving in Chicago O'Hare, they were informed their connection flight had already left. They were fortunate enough to be re-assigned to a new flight; however, they were required to wait 2 hours before it departed. Unfortunately, that flight was also delayed because the plane was late arriving at the gate. Once finally aboard their concluding flight, Ella and Dad impatiently awaited for the plane to back out of the terminal. After about an hour they were eventually informed the baggage weight aboard the plane did not correlate to what the pilot was expecting and, therefore, had to be recalculated. Ella and Dad eventually arrived in Indianapolis around 9:00 pm Tuesday night. However, their journey was not yet complete. After a quick visit with Nana and Papaw P., Ella and Dad headed for home in Noblesville. Unfortunately, they encountered a stubborn traffic jam on the east side of Indianapolis that occupied an additional 2.5 hours of their time. At approximately 12:30 am, Ella and Dad arrived home.
Ella, completely oblivious to the complications of the previous 14 hours of travel, is already looking forward to flying again w/ Dad. Although a long and tedious journey, Ella was very cooperative. She really enjoyed "people watching". She provided plenty of smiles and giggles to all travelers along the way. Her demeanor throughout the travel made the process much more tolerable for Dad.
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