"The best $50 I ever spent"

I went to work the day before my flight. Thankfully, I asked my co-worked for directions and managed to get to my hotel, The Hacienda Inn at LAX, a Half hour before I had planned. Unfortunately, There was a line at the desk. When the clerk handed me my key. he said “you're going to really like your room.” he was right. it was a suite:

I then headed out to dinner. While there was a Sizzler and El Pollo loco across the street, The street was Sepulveda Boulevard. I decided to patronize the in house coffee shop. I ordered some Pork Tacos, But when I got my dish, it was a pork chop. After a bit, I had my tacos. Not bad.

I started early in the morning, since my flight's departure time was 6:55 am. There were several other folks in the shuttle bus. The driver took a round about route through the terminal, which mainly consisted of dropping off the Air crews first.
He finally made to Terminal 4, which was my stop. I got off , checked in my bags, and proceed to the security line, which took the majority of the morning.
They weren't using the “Nude-o-scopes”, or full body scanners, but they only had one of the traditional scanners working. Once I made it past, I went to gate, and bought a Copy of the L.A. Times, a Coke Zero, and model of an Airbus A380, which was priced at $7.67 (some one has a sense of irony! Maybe the 777 is on sale for $3.30)

We all got on the flight in an orderly fashion, and the crew was able to push off early.

Despite sitting in coach, I had some good legroom, until the lady in Front of me reclined her seat (Maybe American could buy some of those non-reclining seat that some of those low cost airlines (Spirit, Ryanair, China Spring)use).
I left my Camera in my purse, and I regretted it, as I could have gotten some good shots of the Theme Building and a couple planes.
The “Mad Dog(a McDonnell Douglas MD80)” made the Turn, and howled off the runway, We were soon over the Pacific and made a 180 to head back over the LA area. I managed to get my camera out for a shot over the San Gabriels:

And the Desert:

The Captain announced that we were flying over the Grand Canyon. I didn't think I could get a good pic, so I kept the camera in the seat pocket.
We were flying over the plains of Kansas:

And the Ozarks:

And before we were knew it we were at Saint Louis. We flew past Lambert Airport and made what I call the “Arch Approach” Fly to the Gateway Arch and turn until you line up with the runway.
We were at the Gate a full 40 minutes early! Good Job, AA! I proceed to what I thought was the new Cape Air Gate C6. When I got there, there was an American MD-80 parked there. Oops!
I started down to the where the Gate used to be on the D Concourse. They had the D Concourse completely blocked off. Hmm.
Well, when all else fails, read directions! The Cape Air Gate was C7. I sheepishly made my way back. The Terminal was busy, a reminder of its old glory days with TWA. One of the Shots I missed at LAX was a plane at the Delta terminal next to us, a 757 with the Tail number N727TW, an old Trans World bird ( I was not able to get the Number of the MD-80 I Flew in on. Let's Pretend it was another TWA Bird, as the Flight crew was based in Saint Louis)
some shots in STL:


I asked the Gate agent if could get on the early flight to Cape Girardeau If my bag made it on time. She said they would see if they could. I took some pics and signed up for a day's internet pass, which was about the time the Gate Agent told me they had my bag, and would be able to get me on the 12:45 flight instead of the 3:20.
Flying in the 402 is quite different than your typical airliner:




The Captain made the typical pre flight announcements by turning his shoulder, instead of using a PA. This turned into a Q&A session “We're doing great (They had one unused seat, and most EAS planes fly empty)” “We Just got the contract for Ft Lenard Wood, and will be getting more planes, and upping our frequencies, know any pilots who need a job?”
The weather was clear , so my fellow passengers and I turned it into Sightseeing expedition. We had a very discussion on the History and Geography of Kaskasia Island.


Before we knew it, we were at CGI.


The greatest endorsement of Cape Air by my fellow passengers “They best $50 I ever spent”
We made another 180 and landed. I was not able to get a hold of either my mother or my brother to let them know I had made the earlier flight. I sat down at Sandy's place - the restaurant inside the airport - and waited. My mom arrived at the same time as my entree. Life is good!