Debby and Ohio - An Amazing Day...

***Hoping against hope that the rental car company would locate my lost camera I have delayed blogging... unfortunately they did not {sigh}. So now I have to catch up...

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time... parked the Jeep in covered long-term parking so it wouldn't be quite so hot when we return... got through all the baggage-checking and standing-in-the-security-line garbage... got something to eat (inlcuding a Cinnabon YUM) and finally got on the plane. We did not have seats together and I ended up next to a woman with an extremely busy and loud small child on her lap... and while it was better me than Randy, it would have ended up a disaster! Thank God for the woman who was to sit next to Randy, who agreed when he suggested switching... and I don't feel QUITE so bad about her being stuck with the small child because as it turns out she was ALSO seated separate from her husband, and the single man next to her agreed to switch seats so that they could sit together...

About halfway through the flight I got extremely antsy... I am not claustrophobic for small places (well, except for my feet and legs), but I AM claustrophobic for crowds... and I was SO done with being squished between two people on either side (yes even if one of them WAS my wonderful husband), with so many more front and back... (and no leg room wasn't helping!) I was never so glad to get off a plane...

We really thought we would zip through the airport in the middle of the night and had told Deb we thought we would reach their hotel around 3 or so... this was not to be. It took forever to walk through the airport... another forever for the luggage to come out at baggage claim... another forever for the rental car shuttle bus to take us to the rental car office... and THREE forevers for the rental car people to handle the 2 people in front of us and get us into a car...

I was so exhausted, we checked our directions and figured out how many miles Randy could drive alone on different sections of the trip and let me nap, before he would have to wake me to help him navigate a change in roads... but first we stopped at a convenience store so he could get some coffee to help him stay awake. Because I was planning to sleep I stayed in the car working on directions... because I wanted to be sure I knew where we were going, and because there was an odd-looking man standing on the sidewalk in front of our car staring at me. And then there was a knock on my window. I looked up, startled, and the odd man was RIGHT THERE motioning to me to rolld own my window and his lips were moving...

OH NO! There is NO WAY on God's green earth I was going to roll down my window... at 3:00 a.m. in Detroit!?!?!? UH UH!!! I shook my head and said "I don't know you and I am NOT rolling down my window" just in case he could hear me... he continued gesticulating and talking so I glued my eyes to my map, heart pounding, and prayed Randy would hurry... well GEEZ I forgot the car was running so I had AC (oh so muggy back east!!!) and Randy had told me to lock all the doors... suddenly there is knocking on the OTHER window which stopped my heart... but it was Randy! I quickly fumbled the door locks open as the odd man left the car and went back to the sidewalk, but as we backed out of the parking space he was gesticulating madly (and Randy said he was cussing!) {don't you just love that word, "gesticulating"? Yes I know I used it twice... but it's so perfect!}

So a 50-mile nap later, Randy wakes me in Clevaland to get him from one freeway to the next... and once that was accomplished, back to sleep I went.

Another 33-mile nap later, we reach Port Clinton and I must navigate the last few turns to the hotel... and CALL DEBBY! It's 4:30... She was so excited to hear we were close...

As we pull into a parking space she and Tim come running out... well, ok, DEBBY was running out, Tim was composed and geez, acting like an adult...

Debby was jumping up and down outside my car door saying "Get out so I can hug you" and silly me I was so groggy I was trying to gather my things... {smacks self in head} ok Debby's excitement permeated my mush brain and I jumped out and got the BEST HUG EVER...

Neither of us thought we would be able to sleep but within a few minutes we were all "out like a light". The plan was for Tim and Debby to wake up and use the facilities, then make sure we didn't sleep past 8... next thing I knew, Debby was touching my shoulder saying "it's about 8" and they went to get coffee from the office so we could have the "facilities" ourselves...

None of us being familiar with Port Clinton, we tried to ask for directions to a good breakfast place, the {very nice} East Indian hotel manager (owner?) directed us and lo and behold we discovered BOB'S BIG BOY! Now that chain used to be here, I ate there as a kid, but has been long missing from Arizona... we all opted for the all-you-can-eat breakfast bar and yes we ate all we could eat! On the way out the door I saw a chalkboard sign that said "Thank you" and "Have an amazing day"... In the car and heading for the ferry I was telling Randy, I can't believe it, I should have taken the camera in, and taken a picture of the breakfast buffet, and had the waitress take a picture of us... and that sign! I knew I would be kicking myself when I got home to blog and hadn't done that... so I resolved right then and there to document EVERYTHING from then on...

It was already hot and humid but the breeze off the lake made the ferry ride quite enjoyable... chatting away like old friends, the four of us disembarked at Put-In Bay and made our way to the beach to look for Petoskey stones, which Randy remembered from his childhood... now this is a rocky beach, not a sandy beach, so quite noisy as the waves roll in and out... and the wind is blowing in our ears... and we are talking... I heard a noise {sounded like a BIG belly-flop!) but it didn't really register until I heard Deb say "Oh my God, there is a PLANE in the LAKE!" We all turned around and sure enough, THERE WAS A PLANE IN THE LAKE!!! I was standing there with my jaw dropped, blinking... surely I don't see a PLANE in the LAKE?!?!?

Suddenly it occurred to me that I had a camera, so I started snapping pictures. And started thinking out loud, "There have GOT to be people on that plane... at least ONE the pilot... WHERE ARE THE HEADS? Please God I do not want to stand here and watch people die... we should be seeing heads!!!" The ferry captain had immediately stopped loading people and headed toward the plane which was about 25 yards off the end of the ferry dock (at this point about 100 years from us). Now we all know that ferries do NOT haul @$$... but I am telling you, he HAULED @$$! Huge clouds of black smoke pouring from the smokestack... and then we see heads popping up (I thought 3, Randy thought 4, turns out later Randy was right) and the ferry "staff" is throwing life preservers... and the plane was disappearing into the water. At some point it hit me that I have VIDEO on this camera and I quick switched over and caught the life preservers being thrown and the last few moments of the plane's wing and tail before they were gone...

This could have turned out SO differently, those folks were awful lucky... or God's hand was keeping them close! They could have hit the ground, or the ferry, or the dock... the water was a good place to crash!!!

Debby commmented that this was an amazing day and I vowed then and there to return to Bob's Big Boy before we left Port Clinton and take a picture of that sign!!!!!

Tim rented a golf cart and we toodled around the island some, Deb's description of the rest of the day is so good you should just go here and here if you haven't already... and DEB GOT PICTURES!!! Well ok I got pictures too but since I sadly left the camera in the rental car in Detroit... you will just have to go look at Deb's!

Oh and you might also want to go here for more on the plane crash... but really, although as Deb says my video is there, the big video that someone took from right ON the ferry was much better... however I will say that I am GLAD we were far away on the beach and NOT on the ferry!!!

The ferry ride back was uneventful {including, miraculously so I am told, NO BARFING from Debby!!!} and thankfully so was the walk away from the ferry this time... Debby and Tim surprised us with some souvenir coffee mugs and we began feeling sad that our time together was soon to end... somewhere in here and I am sorry I can't recall the exact timing, Tim was asking me if one was to fly in to where we live, where would they fly in... I distractedly answered "Phoenix" and he asked again a bit differently, finally it sunk in he wanted to know the name of the airport so I told him Sky Harbor... Debby is, meanwhile, clutching my arm and frantically whipsering that this is GREAT, if Tim is actually asking then he is actually thinking about REALLY COMING TO ARIZONA!!! {This is where Mikey, reading this blog post, will be jumping up and down and screaming, and Wade and Mercy and umpteen dogs will be staring at her with puzzled looks...}

When we reached the cars, Randy handed me the rental car key and much to my surprise said "I will ride with Tim, you take Debby with you so you can chat just a bit longer". AW... what a guy. {Side note - one of the symptoms from Randy's PTSD is extreme difficulty with not being in control so any time he rides while someone else drives it is a BIG DEAL!} We headed back to Bob's Big Boy so I could get the picture of our "amazing day" sign... for the blog... {sigh} You will just have to IMAGINE it!!!

A harder goodbye I have not said for a long long time...

And we headed for Aunt Carol's in Angola, Indiana. I tried to stay awake, I truly did... but I must confess to a nap on the toll road...

MORE TOMORROW!