Timothy
arrived about 15 minutes later and promptly delivered us in plenty of time
to the U.S. Airways check-in counter at Blue Grass Field. We learned from
the airline clerk that our U.S. Express turbo-prop connection to Charlotte
would be leaving from Gate C-5; so after we checked in, we took our carry-on
backpacks with us over to the Gate C-5 waiting area.
After taking
some pictures of one another in the waiting area and of the plane out on the
tarmac, I then left my backpack with Jeremy and walked back to the entrance
to take some more pictures, trying to retrace our actual entrance into the
building. When I reached Jeremy again, I noticed that the number counter for
my camera was not changing when I took a picture. Just before we left the
terminal to board the plane, we had a brief prayer together, giving our
families, ourselves and our trip to the Lord, asking Him to use it in our
lives however He wills.
Sitting here
in the plane about 3:15 p.m. writing in my journal, I am trying not to panic
about my camera. I estimate that I have already taken about twenty pictures.
So when I reach the film’s designed limit of twenty-four, I will rewind
the film, put another roll in and see if the counter resets itself. Even
though the number was not changing, each time I took a picture, the motor
inside of the camera sounded as if it actually was still moving the film.
Anyway, I will check it when we land in Charlotte.
We finally
boarded the plane at 2:40 p.m. and left on time at 2:50 p.m. The information
card on the back of the seat in front of me describes our twin propeller
plane as a British Aerospace Jetstream Super 31. Jeremy and I were supposed
to be sitting next to each other, but the seating in these small planes is
so tight and the number of people on this trip is so few that the flight
attendant let him move into the seat behind me and next to the window. He is
now in seat 3A, and I am in 2D. Both of us are right next to the engines.
After our
flight lifted into the air, the pilot announced that our trip to Charlotte
should take us about seventy-five minutes. The actual schedule allows for
eighty-five minutes. So that gives them about a ten minute fudge factor.
Right now, at 3:25 p.m., we have just hit some turbulence; in fact, it feels
as if we are riding on a roller coaster. I even had to stop writing in my
journal because I could not read my own writing. Everything seems okay now
as the pilot took us up above the turbulence.
Our flight
from Lexington arrived in Charlotte at 4:05 p.m., about ten minutes early,
and we deplaned into Concourse D. Our flight to London would leave from Gate
C6 in Concourse C; so, now we must find our way there. Once we had found our
new waiting area and since neither of us had brought any British money with
us on the plane from Lexington, we felt that our next task was to find a
bank in the terminal which would sell us some. We found just what we needed
downstairs next to the British Airways ticket office. I exchanged 376 US
dollars for 235 British pounds. When I did the math on this exchange, it
turned out to be that each pound cost me $1.60. Jeremy decided that he
wanted to test out an ATM machine to buy his pounds. His 200 British pounds
cost him 324 US dollars or about $1.62 per pound.
Once we had found our waiting
area and had bought some British money, we hunted for a place to eat. When
we went back to the center of Concourse C, we found a food court and decided
to eat supper at Burger King. I had a fish sandwich and Jeremy bought a
Junior Whopper combo. When we finished our meals, both of us went back to
the waiting area where Jeremy spent some time reading George Sayer’s Jack.
We are hoping we might be able to meet Mr. Sayer in Malvern although there
is no guarantee, since I have not received a response from him as I did from
James O’Fee, Tony Wilson, Dorothy Rogers, David Bleakley, and Walter
Hooper. While Jeremy was reading I decided to walk around and take some
pictures at the airport in order to finish up my roll of film that had been
stuck on number 6. I took my 24th picture and then rewound the spent film
and put in a new roll. Hopefully the counter will work the whole time on
this roll. I then went back and sat down with Jeremy and read some more of
Perry Bramlett’s tour guide of the C.S. Lewis sites (Touring C.S. Lewis’
Ireland & England). It had been very helpful to me as I made our
itinerary for the trip. I had started reading it again when we had run into
turbulence on the plane earlier today and I was unable to write clearly in
my journal.