10/15/2005 - Departure

Jean Reilly (from Dyer, IN and from the ride last year) and her husband Glenn picked me up to take me to the airport. Jean and I were surprised there by our fellow rider Cathy “Fearless” Huston. She lives in Grand Rapids and had found out what flight to LA we were on and booked a seat on the same one. Jean and I talk frequently but I hadn’t had much chance over the last year to really talk with Fearless, so it was great to have time on the flight to LA to catch up.

The flight was late leaving Chicago so by the time we got to LA our layover time had shrunk considerably. The four other returning US riders were meeting us in LA for the flight to Sydney, and not surprisingly we found them in an airport bar! We had a short reunion with Jen, Rhonda, Stacy and Linda before getting on the plane for the 14 hour flight. The flight was going along pretty well – free drinks, a decent dinner and a good movie followed by my new best friend – Ambien, and it was off to sleep. However, about 4 hours into the flight we were rudely awakened by an announcement that we were losing cabin pressure and that we should begin using our oxygen masks immediately – which alarmingly did not appear as expected. As we all stared at the ceiling waiting for the masks to appear, hyperventilating (but not from lack of oxygen - there did seem to be enough of that) the announcement kept repeating – adding the startling news that we would also be losing altitude. I was across from the galley, and soon realized that the flight attendants did not look overly alarmed, so I took some small comfort in that. Of course as it turns out it was some sort of malfunction of the alarm announcement, the Ambien went back to work, and I had a good nights sleep – waking about 2 hours before landing.