Weight and Balance

October 8, 2024

This is the trip that almost didn’t happen. 

About five and a half weeks ago, Ken fell off the roof. He was doing his annual inspection of roof, shingles, snow guards, gutters, chimney, etc. He suffered a concussion, eight broken ribs, and a shoulder injury. The first week or two after the fall were very difficult. It was very painful and we didn’t know what the trajectory of his recovery would look like. 

Fortunately, he has improved steadily. We are grateful for the wonderful physical therapist who has been working with him for the past few weeks. About a week ago we decided that we would be able to undertake this trip. So here we are in LA.

We got up before the crack of dawn this morning, and left home at 5:00 am. Our flight from Anchorage to Seattle was uneventful. It was your typical Anchorage flight - completely full, and with a lot of coughing happening.

I noticed a woman in the gate area leaning against a column and coughing something fierce. She coughed with her mouth wide open and didn’t try to cover her cough one bit. After we boarded I realized, with a sinking feeling, that she would be sitting directly in front of me. (Would it be rude to offer her some cough drops? I always carry some in my purse when I travel. She clearly didn’t have any of her own.) 

Ken and I had masks, and we knew how to use them. Three and a half hours later we arrived in Seattle and were able to unmask in the Alaska (Airlines) Lounge. We enjoyed watching the planes come and go.

Planes line up to wait their turn to take off

Alaska Airlines teamed up with Pixar for this whimsical plane. We also saw a Disney-themed plane.

The flight from Seattle to LA was “interesting.” For the first time in well over 10 years we flew on an Alaska Airlines flight that was not completely full. In fact, it was so incompletely full that the airline was concerned about “weight and balance” and we were told this would be a “weight and balance flight.” Hey, those are two of my biggest concerns, also!

So they moved a lot of passengers from the middle to the back of the plane and told us repeatedly that we must sit in our assigned seats because - weight and balance.

Note: I have experienced something like this in a Cessna, but never before in a 737.

Some questions: Did they actually LOOK at some of these passengers before deciding how to distribute our weight? Did anybody get moved from an aisle seat to a middle seat? How did that go?

The other interesting thing was that our boarding was delayed, on an overcast, 60-degree day in Seattle, due to the cabin being “too hot.” Their solution was 1) delay boarding, and 2) reverse the order of boarding so that those in the rear boarded first and first class boarded last.

We had to keep the window shades closed to keep the plane cool and then I forgot to open them and take pictures until later in the flight. I really enjoyed the clouds because they may be gray when you are on the ground, but they are white and fluffy from above. You feel like you are floating on cotton and you don’t have to think about your own weight or balance.

And there was beer - cheeky beer - from Chico, CA.

Upon arrival in LA, we walked forever to get to the ride share lot, but it was pretty well organized when we got there. There was a shuttle that we could have taken to get there, but it didn’t seem worth it to have to manhandle our giant suitcases onto the shuttle in order to avoid a walk - but I would probably take that shuttle next time.

We had a lovely dinner with friends Nancy and Bob zt a place called Charcoal, and that was the end of our rather long day doing basically nothing.

Please know that upcoming blogs are expected to have much more interesting content, so don’t give up. We are just getting started.

Today’s fabric is quilt batting. Batting is the layer of material between the quilt top and the backing that gives the quilt weight and warmth. I almost said “weight and balance” but that doesn’t even make sense. Most quilt batting is made from cotton, wool, polyester, bamboo, or some combination thereof.