Returning Home – OKC Visit Part 5 of 5

Whew, writing those last four posts was a marathon! This final one should be brief, mainly keeping up my tradition on noticing trivia and oddities in the airports through which we travel. Wednesday morning May 25th we posed for our "photo on the couch before leaving".

We did get a photo with Robin in it but she is the only one looking at the camera. Everybody else (including Frank) have their eyes glued on the television.

We returned our rental car at the satellite facility and the shuttle bus took us back to the terminal where our driver pointed out the outdoor statue of Will Rogers who greets all travelers. I was going to insert some quip wondering about the timelessness of his quote "I never met a man I didn't like" as he surveyed the throngs passing through the airport. When I researched the exact wording, I learned this tidbit.

ONE THING WILL ROGERS DIDN'T SAY
“I never met a man I didn’t like.”
Ironically, for somebody who came up with so much Grade A material, most people associate Rogers with a long-lived misquote. In actuality, the full, unaltered line was: “I joked about every prominent man in my lifetime, but I never met one I didn’t like.” A few years before his death in 1935, Rogers proposed it as an epitaph for his tombstone. However, the shortened version does appear chiseled upon his final resting place in Claremore, Oklahoma.

Mentalfloss.com had a fun article on eighteen other timeless Will Rogers quotes.  I especially liked, "Eventually you reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it."

We had a mid afternoon flight out of Oklahoma's Will Rogers airport into Phoenix.

As we stood on the moving walkway in Phoenix I looked out the windows and watched the planes taxiing to their various assigned gates. I was surprised at how upturned the wingtips of the planes were. Was that true of all 737's? Apparently so, I just had never noticed. Once on board the plane I made a point to look out the window. Sure enough those tips were way upturned but since they were painted silver they were camouflaged against the sky once you were in the air among the clouds and had no background contrast. Those wings go out farther than you'd think. I learned that winglets, as these upturned ends are called, cut drag and boost fuel efficiency by up to 5%.

Winglets could bring other environmental benefits besides saving fuel. The altered air flow around the wingtips also reduces the formation of contrails, wispy streaks of cloud left behind when water vapour condenses around particles of pollution in engine exhaust fumes. How contrails could influence global climate is still debated, though some scientists say they promote the formation of long-lasting cirrus clouds, which help to trap heat at the Earth's surface.

Also seen out the windows along that moving walkway in Phoenix was this commemoratively painted plane for the state of Louisiana.

Dubbed the "Louisiana One," the plane is decorated with a giant pelican spreading its wings against a blue background. The engines of the plane feature baby pelicans chirping from a nest.

Other states have planes commemoratively painted by Southwest Airlines. They are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Texas, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico and Tennessee. You can read the article at the link https://www.chron.com/life/travel/article/airplane-Lord-Rings-Pokemon-NBA-Orleans-12738676.php. Perhaps one day in my travels I will spot a few of them.

Well we have reached our gate and are waiting to board our second flight and journey back to Oakland, California.

The flight is on time, slightly under two hours in duration, and the Oakland weather in our destination is to be enjoyed – a trifecta of perfect travel. 

As Frank and I get on line to board, another bonus was that we had passes in the A boarding group. I happened to glance down at my feet as we filed forward. Did you think the carpet was just some random abstract design. No way! Look closely. Those are all little blue and white planes on a grey background! Cool, huh? (I am easily amused.)