From Ottawa to Dallas...

This morning, at 4:30 am, I was on my way to the airport with my son - who was leaving for Dallas, Texas - to spend a few days with my brother's family - and enjoy a football game in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

We had a quick breakfast around 4am - and soon afterward were on our way. At 6am he caught a plane to Toronto (a 45-minute flight - it would take 5 hours by car.) Then at around 9am he was on a direct flight to Dallas. I spoke to him in Toronto by phone, just before he boarded the plane, and watched, three hours later, (on "flight tracker," a computer program which tracks planes in the air) as his plane landed in Dallas - 6 hours after he left Ottawa.

After years of flying, I still have a hard time getting my mind around this AMAZING feat: he ate breakfast with me at 4 am and by noon he was with my brother 2,785 kilometers (1,730.5 miles) away!

I have a hard time comprehending how quickly one can get to Dallas by air - because I've driven there by car half a dozen times myself, and I know how long it takes, even speeding along a highway. It usually took us 5 or 6 days - all five of us packed inside a station wagon (much like the family in Chevy Chase's movie, Vacation) - to get from Ottawa to Dallas (and the same length of time to get back!)

The trip can be done in 4 days (or 27.5 hours) by car, according to Google Maps: Following our usual route, we went...
Day 1: From Ottawa to Buffalo, NY (approximately 5 1/2 hours of driving - a bit longer if we drove through Toronto)
Day 2: Buffalo. NY to Cincinnati, OH - approximately 7 1/2 hours of driving
Day 3: Cincinnati, OH to Memphis, TN - approximately 7 1/2 hours of driving
Day 4: Memphis, TN to Dallas, TX - about 7 hours of driving

But we never just drove to Dallas! There were interesting stops and detours all along the way. We'd usually stop to shop in Buffalo's outlet malls and visit Niagara Falls, not far away. We also had to see how the famous Louisville Slugger baseball bats were made in Louisville, Kentucky... And discovered that Louisville was also the hometown of Mohammad Ali, back when he was known as Cassius Clay. Another time we stopped at the Grand Old Oprey in Nashville, Tennessee, and listened to some country music. We toured Graceland, Elvis Presley's home in Memphis, Tennessee one year, and even spent some time in Hope, Arkansas, where US President Bill Clinton was born - and discovered it was famous for its watermelons. Then there were the caves and caverns Terry was always discovering. They had to be explored too.

Stopping here and there added a few days to our trips... But we saw the countryside and came to appreciate how large and beautiful this continent really is...

So when my son has an early breakfast in Ottawa and a late lunch in Dallas, it still boggles my mind!