Vacation In Panama

Riande Hotel near the Tocumen Airport in Panama

A continuous look at our assets and liabilities, and a real desire to learn and grow by this means are necessities for us. (As Bill Sees It, p. 161)

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Last night we drove to Bethesda to pick up Cyndi. We got back to the house about 9:30 p.m. Melva and Cyndi worked until midnight repacking the three suitcases. I helped by lifting the bags each time we wanted to weight them on the bathroom scale. The goal was to be certain that none of the bags exceeded fifty pounds. They left behind some of the bulky and heavy items. Each bag was full before we reached the weight limit. While doing some last minute printouts Cyndi noticed that there is a summertime embargo on extra bags and boxes to certain countries. We got lucky, Panama was excluded.

Cyndi set the alarm for 2:15 a.m. We left the house for National Airport by 3:00 a.m. There was heavy traffic on New York Avenue and we saw lots of flashing lights where there was police activity. We arrived at the American Airlines counter before they opened. Cyndi was the first one in line. She had to wait for one of the clerks to turn on the check-in machines before she could printout her boarding pass. I paid the extra amount to ship the third bag. We waited for Starbucks to open at 4:30 a.m. Melva and Cyndi each bought something. After they finished what they bought we went downstairs to the security check. Because Cyndi had a First-Class ticket she was able to move to the front of the line when she decided to go though the checkpoint.

We took a different route back to the house. We were already in the house before the airplane took off at 6:10 a.m. Cyndi called from Miami where she changed planes. She called again about 2:00 p.m. after she was in her room at the Riande Hotel near the airport. Melva had the portable phone in the basement, ready to take the call when it came. Cyndi will stay at the hotel for two nights before moving to the beach in the hotel van on Monday. She reported that she enjoyed the First-Class treatment. Maybe one of her cousins will come to the hotel to visit this afternoon.

Cyndi left her thumb drive with me. I copied the photos she took the day she took us out to eat at Edgewater, MD to celebrate my birthday and Mother's Day.

Mr. Dickie
12/Jun/2010 14:25