According to the U. S. government Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) website "The Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year’s holiday periods are among the busiest long-distance travel periods of the year. During the 6-day Thanksgiving travel period, the number of long-distance trips (to and from a destination 50 miles or more away) increases by 54 percent, and during the Christmas/New Year’s Holiday period the number rises by 23 percent, compared to the average number for the remainder of the year. And although heavy media attention focuses on crowded airports and bus and train stations on the Wednesday before and Sunday after Thanksgiving, when personal vehicle trips are added to the mix the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) reveals that Thanksgiving Day is actually a heavier long-distance travel day than Wednesday."
I flew to LA yesterday, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Brian is housing me and hosting Michelle and Dave, and James and Ashley, and Brian's friend Frank. My two married "children" arrived. It is disappointing not to have Ardmore but he does not like to travel. It is also too bad that our grandchildren could not be here.
The trip from Fargo to LA was wonderful although about an hour longer than usual due to 150 m/p/h head winds. We arrived to rain which was disappointing but by the time we picked up our luggage and walked out of the building the rain had stopped and everything was dry. Welcome to LA!
I would like to ask one question. What kind of problems do you run into when you rent a car? The last car I had had two flat tires during the time I drove it. This was annoying as I had to take it to a nearby rental place and switch cars one time and I called the company the second time and it took about an hour for someone to show up and they couldn't repair the tire, of course, just pump it up so I could take in it in. This happened the first day I drove it. I wonder if the party who rented it before me had problems and perhaps didn't report it or the company didn't check the tire after they did. I was also charged an extra $10 for having them come and fix their OWN tire. Tell me your car rental issues in my comments!
Yesterday morning I decided to check my checking account to see if any recent checks had come through. There were debits on the account; they just weren't my purchases! Three to be exact for about $205 from my cash card. They were dated yesterday from St. Paul. Now I didn't remember paying $70+ for gas at two places on one day. Has this ever happened to you? I called the bank immediately and it was taken care right.I hope that it was a rude shock to the person who thought they would be able to use that card a few more times and I hope they were caught. How do they get another person's card numbers and forge a card to use?
Although we have had our cards changed by our bank a couple of times due to fraud, our cards were never violated . . .until yesterday.
So what does Thanksgiving mean to me?
- A loving husband and great children and grandchildren.
- The gratitude of knowing that at some time a group of people decided they wanted religious freedom. We have that.
- The wonderful freedom we enjoy. After all, I am visiting our family 2000 miles away and although I did get "the Treatment" due to having the hip and knee replacement, it was a quick and easy trip, and also was for our children. No armed vehicles traveling along our roads, no check points, just a drivers license, and the money to pay for the flight or gas.
- The ability to purchase almost anything, either online or in a store.
- The safety of the small town where we live.
- The abundance of food. We eat way too much!
- A job that I love and wonderful people to work with
- Great Friends
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