Today would have been Trevor’s 33rd birthday and later on Nina and I will release some balloons in his memory. There’s a pretty good wind blowing today so the balloons should get a long ride before coming to the ground.

However, rather than being 33 today, Trevor will be forever 29. Somewhere around 2 or 3 a.m. on Thursday, January 18, 2001, Trevor and John (aka Fred) Adamson were driving up Mill Creek Canyon on the east side of Salt Lake City. Trevor was driving the car, failed to negotiate a turn, and both of them were killed. Details about the accident and funeral are in the "Trevor G. Smith" link on the right.

We didn’t know that Trevor was in Salt Lake City that day. I had tried to reach him on his cell phone the day previously without any success as I was in California on business and could have arranged to fly back to Colorado Springs through Los Angeles and perhaps see him at the airport. The accident intervened and Trevor stopped getting any older. It is still a very tender wound that will probably never really heal. Trevor loved Yellowstone Park and the last time we spent any significant time together was at a family reunion at Yellowstone Park. He drove his old, brown Volkswagon bus (there aren’t many of these old busses around anymore, but whenever I see a brown one I’m reminded of Trevor). So Nina and I will go to Yellowstone this weekend on a small camping trip and will remember Trevor while we are there. Thanks for calling, Jim, and remembering Trevor’s birthday!

Just about the only cure for jetlag is sleep — and a lot of it. Today I finally feel back to normal and will probably make it all the way to a normal bedtime. That’s just in time to get ready for a short camping trip this weekend. I’ll take Friday off from work and we’ll head somewhere into the mountains. The main candidate right now is Yellowstone, but Challis also is a possibility. We’ll be working on putting the RV back in shape tonight and will probably make the decision. Bradica (the dog) will have surgery on Thursday to remove a cyst, have her teeth cleaned, and her nails done, so leaving before Friday morning is out of the question. The landscaping guy will also come over Thursday evening to show us some options for doing the yard.

I’m also having some trouble coming to grips with it now being September. This has been a very eventful summer and time has gone by so quickly it’s like there was no summer at all. On the other hand, the cruise to Alaska seems to have been an eternity ago. In less than a month we will be on a cruise boat headed downriver from Budapest and that also seems to have come up very suddenly. Time certainly is relative!

Mom and dad stopped in for a while on Monday morning (Labor Day). Dad needed a few things from Home Depot, so I went over with him to do some shopping myself. What’s a week without a visit to Home Depot! I want to move the refrigerator in the garage to the other side and need to put power over there to plug it in. I’ve now got most of the parts I need to make that move. One more trip to Home Depot should do the trick. Saturday afternoon Nina and I went to Blackfoot to the Eastern Idaho State Fair, along with several thousand other people. The fair was so crowded as to be uninviting. We were there for about three hours before coming home. We both felt we had pictures and other items worthy of entry into the fair. Maybe next year?

It’s surprising how wonderful the bed feels after being up and traveling
for about 22 hours. Just being able to lie down and stretch out is a great
feeling.

The flight from San Francisco to Salt Lake City was significantly delayed,
but there was plenty of time to catch the connection to Pocatello. Because
of the delay a bunch of people making connections changed to other flights
on America West through Phoenix. So the airplane was pretty empty. It was a
Regional Jet capable of 48 passenger with about 15 total souls on board.

Nina picked me up along with Bradica (the dog). By 11:30 p.m. I was
stretched out enjoying being back in my own bed. Life is good!

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I’ve arrived in San Francisco and am waiting for my flight to Salt Lake City. My worry about getting through immigration and customs was completely unfounded! What a pleasant surprise! I was among the first folks off the airplane and had about a 10 minute wait to get to the immigration official. A couple of questions later I was on my way to pick up my luggage and go through customs. Both of my bags were already there and had been pulled off the luggage carousel, just waiting for me. The customs official waved me through the “nothing to declare” line and I was on my way to Terminal 1 and my flight to Salt Lake City. I was really impressed. Way to go San Francisco Airport!

On the other hand, the flight to Salt Lake City is delayed. I’ve got a long layover there, so that’s not a problem. I guess I wait either here or there. The SFO airport is fairly quiet this afternoon. It’ll be interesting to see how many people are on my flight to Salt Lake. Right now there are about 15 people waiting with a little less than an hour before we board the flight

This is the first time I’ve been able to download e-mail for several days. The Sprint PCS Wireless Card comes in handy, although it is not a real speed demon. I had 957 e-mails waiting. About 30% are spam, all of the rest from one of the two e-mail lists that I subscribe to. The e-mail should be downloaded by the time we board the airplane. I’ll do some reading of e-mail on the way to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, it’s good to be this far on my way home from a two-week business trip.

The flight from London to San Francisco crossed over from Canadian airspace
to United States airspace a few minutes ago, meaning that technically I’m
back in the USA. The 10:06 flight is about 80 minutes from landing.

Everything has been uneventful. Service has been OK and I’m only somewhat
tired. I’m looking forward to being up and walking around more than
anything else.

This routing was picked to determine if Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic
was a reasonable substitute for Business Class on Delta. Answer: No. The
seating is not nearly as comfortable and the service is essentially
Economy.

The next question was if it was worth it to have one very long leg and
three shorter legs rather than one short leg and two longer legs with one
of the long legs in economy. Answer: No. The accomodations on this flight
are pretty tight making it difficult to get up and walk around. A break in
the middle has good value. Also, it’s about a 50-50 chance of beiing
upgraded on Delta’s economy leg.

On the other hand, the accomodations in Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic are
pretty nice. I’ll want to check out the pricing.

My next trip is in early October and Nina is coming with as we’ll do the
European river cruise right after that. That trip is already booked on
Delta since we need to use some frequent flier miles to buy an upgrade for
Nina.

The next trip after that will be after the beginning of next year. There is
a very slim possibility of a trip to Manila in November, but more likely
after the begining of next year.

We’ve just flown over Walla Walla, Washington. The next big ordeal will be
immigration and customs in San Francisco. It is never straight forward and
always takes a long time. I’ll get plenty of stand-up time there, for sure.

My day started at 7 am London time, about midnight Pocatello time. If
everything goes as planned, I’ll arrive home about 11:30 pm — meaning I
will have been up for 24 hours on this return trip. Isn’t travelling
fun….

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