Seeing the World on a nickle

Paul and I have begun another memorable "Space A" trip, this time to southern Texas, flying out of Dover Air Force Base yesterday on a C-5 US government aircraft, a big belly plane used for a ton of cargo, mostly to Iraq and holds about 70 passengers on the top deck with no windows and seats heading backwards (really don't know why)

Up at 5 am in chilly West Chester, at Dover by 9 am with a take off time of 11 am.......but as typical with our govt, we hung around the empty terminal for 7 hours until we got off the ground at 4:30pm.  We have become very accustomed to these delays, almost expecting them, it is part of our Space A adventure of just getting to a location.  Fortunately, I packed sandwiches and lots of goodies for our long day, so our bellies were happy.

Paul is getting settled with lots of leg room in the middle seat

Traveling Space A is quite different from commercial airlines with no long lines, just Paul and I, waiting in a terminal. When the plane was ready for us, we were taken to a holding room for a half hour, then into a van to be taken out on the tarmac to the all dark gray aircraft, a truck operated stairs were brought to the aircraft which we climbed 3 flights, about 30 steep steps outside, to board the empty plane, that's right we were the only passengers on this huge plane, other than the crew. A young gal GI, dressed in fatigues, welcomed us, went through emergency procedures with us and told us to buckle our seat belts, then we waited, and waited, and waited.  There was some engine problem first, then they needed to refill the fuel tank so we patiently waited, thinking about the car we rented for 2pm at Fort Hood, Texas and the room that we were holding, supposedly arriving at 3 pm.  It was 4:00 pm in Delaware and we hadn't even taken off yet.  OH dear......

These are the stairs that are driven to the plane to the upper door for us to use.

Once in the air, we both stretched out on 3 seats each, with the pillow and blanket provided, and I know I slept for 2 hours,  being very comfortable.   Arriving after 3 1/2 hours in the air, we again waited for at least 45 minutes while they unloaded the cargo from the bottom of the aircraft, then climbed down a 20 step 90 degree ladder to de-board the plane.  A pick up truck was waiting to carry us to the operations building where we picked up our Enterprise rental car at 9:30 pm, which we had reserved, and headed out the gate for our 2+ hour rainy drive to Randolph Air Force Base, near San Antonio, Texas, where we booked a room for the night. 

Even with all it's delays and disappointments, Space A is the best way to travel.  First of all, it is FREE and secondly, we meet some of the best people on earth, our GIs, men and women who truly love our country and show it, and thirdly, it is always an adventure with fun memories. lasting forever.