plane with a view
A good window seat on the airplane is like a really slow ViewMaster. Thursday, I awoke from my nap as the plane neared St. Louis. I began scanning my home state looking for something familiar. I saw some lakes and rivers that I wasn't sure I could identify. I saw the road split around a warehouse in a place that might be Osage Beach. Eventually I was able to identify the Missouri river. It's big and brown, even from the sky. From the river, I knew I would eventually come to Interstate 70 (my favorite-est Interstate). The question on my mind and on the minds of those like-minded was whether I had passed Columbia. Near the river I spotted a large road, one with an interstate quality; it turned to the North and crossed the big brown Missouri in a rather familiar way. I followed the road through a town and soon my eyes arrived at the big "M". Much Merrymaking Mandated Mindfulness in my Utterly Unexpected excUrsison over Utopia, MU. Soaring by my alma mater at 600 mph, I was able to make out various stadiums and arenas, Stankowski field, the South Quad, and Jesse Hall. Old Missouri, Fair Missouri, you're really small from 15,000 feet.

The glory of my window seat was not just about being up on the top, upon the top of Columbia. No, no, my window seat had more fight. And a bully for that. As I arrived in St. Louis, my ViewMaster of alabaster came through again unveiling downtown and the gateway to the West in the east, the 630-foot tall arch. Cruising into Illinois to make a u-turn, I was able to view the arch from all sides.

To cap off my day, we punched through the clouds just after dark in DC and I stared right past the Washington monument, down the mall, and into the twinkling lights of the capitol. We squealed to a stop and the circle of tiny slides was complete.