Hamilton Herald Masthead

Editorial


Front Page - Friday, August 26, 2011

A Day in the Life




My commute to work has become interesting in the last week. Large, rectangular orange boxes keep getting in my way. I don’t know how they drive in other parts of the world, but Arkansas school bus drivers drive like the kids inside are on fire and they need medical assistance. It’s wild and, in my opinion, dangerous!

I don’t have any kids, but when I do, I think I might opt to drop them off in my car. I know I recently wrote about my fender bender, but hey – it wasn’t my fault. The other morning, I left around my normal time and almost ran into a bus picking up kids at the bottom of the hill where I live. Running over an eager learner is not a good way to start the day, so I waited until the STOP sign was safely tucked back before I hit the gas. There was moderate traffic, but it wasn’t too bad. I decided to try leaving really early the following morning to see if that made much of a difference. I actually woke up two hours before my alarm came on, but decided that was way too ambitious. In the end, I was about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Baby steps…

This time it looked like every school bus from each district was on the road – and a lot of parents were closely following the buses to make sure their precious cargo made it point B. Traffic was congested, and I my foot alternated between the brake and gas continuously for about 15 minutes. Now I’m at a loss. I don’t know if it’s smarter to leave at my normal time and face the school traffic or leave early and fight for my spot on the interstate with the rest of the world. Weren’t we supposed to be flying around by now?

Speaking of flying, I read some of the best news the other day. Frontier Airlines is now flying from Little Rock to Denver. Oh happy day! They also have reasonable, direct flights.

I almost booked a ticket after checking flights for our annual Christmas trip. We are used to paying around $400 (plus) per ticket. You can only imagine the squeal I let out when I found a flight on Frontier for $239 per person. Two tickets for the price of one? Is it my birthday?  Parish was on a job site, so we couldn’t talk about it until the following day.

He was excited, but didn’t hoot and holler like I did. He said to wait and watch it and we would make a decision by the weekend. I logged on to the Frontier Web site the following Saturday and found the same great deal.

We decided to watch it a little longer because I had to request the days and Parish wanted to make sure his schedule was clear. Out of curiosity, I checked Frontier the next day, and guess what? The flights went up about $100. If there is a sound opposite of a squeal, I made it. Now the yearly flight watch begins, and it’s bound to be a crazy time with the fluctuating gas prices and my nerves.

My faithful readers, I will keep you abreast of any changes. In the meantime, if you know how to build a personal airplane or know someone who wouldn’t mind me borrowing his or her plane for a week, let me know.