I have a saying when it comes to flying.
There’s no sense in being scared once you’re 30,000 feet in the air.
Nevertheless, I had not been on an airplane in about a decade until last Thursday morning when our family traveled to the Mid-Delta Airport in Greenville just before sunup.
I was a little nervous about the experience. We had never flown with Contour, the airline that routinely flies in and out of Greenville.
Our girls wanted to fly in an airplane, so Callie and I thought that nonstop flight from Greenville to Dallas, about an hour and a half in the air, would be a good starter.
There was no agenda for the trip. No particular sights had to be seen, and no zoos just had to be toured.
We had heard mixed reviews about the Contour experience, particularly when it came to the trip home.
We planned for that. Rather than risk a weather or otherwise delayed flight home on Sunday evening, we decided to fly one-way and rent a car for the remainder of the trip.
The entire experience at the Greenville airport and on the Contour flight over could not have gone any more smoothly.
The people, from the folks at check-in to the pilot were all very professional, and we had about the least amount of turbulence we’ve ever experienced on an airplane.
Contour may not be able to take credit for the latter part, but it was a great experience.
Dallas was great too.
Or rather, I should say the Dallas area. We didn’t really drift into the heart of Dallas and Arlington during this trip.
The first night, we visited some friends from my old college days.
I guess I should mention at this point that the flight over was about the only time it did not rain.
We felt raindrops leaving Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, and we didn’t see a break in the clouds until the drive home on Sunday.
It was even hailing as we flipped steaks at our friend’s house in Roanoke Thursday night.
The next day, we drove to the Fort Worth area and took the kids to a giant mall where they were able to ice skate, eat pizza and buy a bag of candy at a mall store called Candy Land.
I’m glad, at least for my own health’s sake, there is no Candy Land in the Delta.
The next day, we met up with my cousin, who lives south of Fort Worth. We drove to the Stockyards.
The “cattle drive” through town barely beat the first raindrops, and once again, we were ducking for cover.
If there’s one place you don’t want to be ducking for cover during a rainstorm, it’s at a tourist trap.
Droves of people were piling in, paying whatever price of admission was required in order to get out of the rain. Meanwhile, I was trying to ignore my youngest’s pleas to buy every stuffed animal in the place where we sought cover.
I made all kinds of promises to avoid paying $12.60 for a stuffed pig.
That afternoon, despite the rain, we started home. We got as far as Texarkana, and we stopped for the night. We were tired, but I had promised them a trip to a more affordable store, where they could buy more affordable stuffed animals.
We had a good night’s sleep there, and the next morning, Sunday, we set out for the Delta.
It was a much-needed and fun long weekend, but it was also good to get home and back to work.
We look forward to our next Contour flight. Maybe the next time we’ll do it round-trip.
