Quentin got his wings!

Greetings from Iowa! The family made it to balmy (and I'm not kidding) Iowa. This is a live report from the farm... When I boarded my plane in Tampa yesterday morning they had ice on the wings. Ice! In Florida they don't have de-icing equipment. Hmm, not safe to fly with heavy ice on your wings and don't have the necessary equipment to get it off. What to do, what to do. Well, we enlisted the help of God. They towed our plane to a sunny spot on the tarmac and there we sat until the sun de-iced the plane. This was not the most efficient way of doing it and it took over an hour for us to be deemed safe enough to leave. I was sitting next to the door and the flight attendant told me she had been based in Florida for 25 years and never had to de-ice a plane in that time. I feel so fortunate to be there for yet another first in aviation. Traveling is such a joy these days. I checked my first bag in years and well I am handing it to the gate agent I notice the zipper is open about 4 inches so I decide to close it ripping the zipper right off the bag. The other 5 zippers had been ripped off throughout the years of abuse. I now have a zipped up garment bag with no way to unzip (us Spiegelhoffs can get anything open with a generous helping of force so I really didn't see this as my issue) but rather how to zip it up once I unzipped it. It looks like I am going to be doing some luggage shopping in the great corn belt state of Iowa. While riding the train to the next terminal in Atlanta I saw a young woman bolt off the train to her terminal and leave her backpack behind. I figured it was better for me to pick up then have them evacuate the train when someone realized there was an unattended bag. Well, due to the de-icing I was hauling to make my connection so I brought it to my new gate only to have that lady have a total freak out. "It's a bomb! I don't want to open it. Why did you bring it to me?!" Oh my lord, she must be still in the George Bush camp of fear politics. Take it easy and call TSA. Man alive, what a drama queen! After that I was the 2nd person to board my CRJ dinky plane when they decided that plane wasn't safe to fly and we deplaned and had to wait to get another one. At the end of all the drama my luggage and I made it to Iowa. Carrie and Quentin took a direct flight and it worked out beautifully.

Well, it just about figures. Quentin was an angel on the plane. He was cooing at the guy he was sitting next to and not a cry, scream or any objectionable noise of any kind. Not even a blow out! I knew he was being crabby at home to get it out of his system. Who knew he would be such a good travel companion. Maybe he will get to come with us to Hawaii. He also took in his first high school basketball game where he witnessed the Dons taking out the Janesville Wildcats. There were two T's in the game and an adult altercation resulting in the refs asking to be escorted out by security. These catholic schools are rough these days. The entire extended Iowa family was at the game so we made quite the scene coming in. Quentin was literally crowd surfing as he was being passed around. By the time he got back someone had taken his pants off. What kind of place is this? Apparently, it was hot and decided Quentin's legs needed some air. They did keep his diaper on so there was no full frontal nudity. He didn't like it too much but eventually settled down and was relatively relaxed for the rest of the game. Afterward some friends and family came back to the Reiter's for a victory party and some catching up.

We received some nice compliments from blog readers so that was nice to hear. I enjoy writing it so I am glad to hear people have enjoyed reading it. Carrie's cousin and psuedo-child (carrie's words) is apparently the president of the Quentin blog. So, Rachel if you need any personal appearances or book signings I am available and come to Iowa about three times a month. Maybe we can do a joint presentation for one of your classes.

The big Quentin party is today. I have to get going so I can get my gear together for the ice fishing tourney starting in a few hours. I don't want to be here when the female invasion occurs. No pictures today because I am on the road and don't have access to them. We'll post a bunch from the weekend late next week when we return.