Road Trip: Southwest

Day 1: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 - Travel to Phoenix, AZ

Day's statistics:
Weather: low 70s (East Coast) to low 90s (Arizona), sunny
Steps: Steve 11,339; Linda 6,605
Travel: 2,146 miles including the flight

We had a morning flight, though not a "super early" morning flight, it was still early - 9:25 early.
As we did in the past, the checked bags were put in the car the previous night - last night.
We awoke at 5:00 and got ready to go. We loaded the carry-ons on the way out after finishing the last items on the vacation check-list.
At 5:55 AM, we pulled out of the garage on the way to the airport.
It was early enough to almost catch the sunrise going across the Reedy Point Bridge.

We arrived at the ExpressPark South lot at 7:05 after stopping for a light breakfast at Dunkin', and topped off the tank. We took the shuttle to the American Airlines domestic flights terminal.
We digitally checked in, and left our checked bags with the agent.
When we got to the security line, we found that our our boarding passes didn't have the TSA Precheck for some reason. So we returned downstairs and had it added.
We breezed through security and made our way to gate A8.
Our flight was on time.

We stopped by a Starbucks® and took a coffee to share to the gate by 7:35.
At 8:52 boarding began.
Our group was called at 9:07.
At 9:20, we were in our seats. But we weren't sitting together! We both had center seats one row apart. This was the first time in ALL our travels that we didn't pay for seats and didn't get seated together.
The plane started moving at 9:25, then we sat a bit.
Eventaully we took to the air at 9:55.
Somewhere an hour-plus into our flight we saw some mountains.

We were given a cookie and coffee snack at 11:20.

We used our T-Mobile phone plan to enjoy some in-flight entertainment, primarily just playing games.
In flight I received a text from Avis informing us that our Mazda CX30 AWD was ready in space W22 and awaiting our arrival.
We landed at 11:27 local time.
The captain informed us of the local stats - time, temp (93°), weather (sunny) - and that our luggage would be at Claim Gate 1.
By 11:33 we arrived at the gate, and deplaned soon there after.

At noon we were at baggage claim and waited on the far side, still able to see the baggage coming up on the belt from the baggage workers below. Our bag - burnt siena in color - was the first bag out! Great. Then it came around the carrosel. Umm... not so great.

Right behind us happened to be the American Airlines Baggage Customer Service office. So I stopped by to inquire. As I stood on line, I saw a "scan this QR code to file a claim". So I started the claim. The next day I received a response that the claim was denied under the "Condition of Carrier" clause, or some crap like that.
The bag isn't dented, is smashed in, and now deformed. And we PAID to check our bag.
I filed an appeal and await a response.

We reserved a Toyota Corolla - "or similar" - car from Avis.
While walking through the parking garage to the reserved vehicles, we passed an Avis office that had a sign that read "Welcome Avis Advanced Members" with a listing of parking spots to pick up cars. I checked, but our name wasn't on the listing. So I went inside to inquire.
The clerk could not explain why our name was not on the board, and then also directed us to a different parking spot to pick up a different car - a Chevy Malibu.
OK, no problem. We loaded up our luggage and headed to the exit.
I handed my ID to the attendant and she scanned the car's barcode.
"You aren't Steven Miller."
"No, I'm not. But this was a last minute change that the clerk in the office made." I responded while pointing in the general direction of the office we were just in.
"OK, give me a minute."
What else were we supposed to do. The attendant poked at her hand held device, and after a couple minutes complained about how slow it was, and that nothing was coming up on the display. She had to reboot the device and asked if we would mind going to another line.
As everyone behind us had already backed out and made their way to the other lines, that wasn't too much of a problem for us. So we made our way to the farthest one as by the time we backed up, that line was empty.
I pulled up to the attendant and we pretty much went through the same exercise. Her device didn't match reality. I made the same explanation to the other attendant.
She asked of we had the paper agreement. I said no as this was all done electronically, and the clerk didn't give us any when the change was made.
Eventaully this attendant actually called the office. I could hear her end of the conversation, and one piece of information she needed was the license plate number - which I happened to have as I took a picture of the plate when I loaded up the luggage.
During all this I at one point turned the car off as this was taking a while.
All in all, it took probably a half hour before everything was straightened out.
And we headed out of the parking garage. But then had to immediately pull over to wait for the cell phone to acquire a signal so we could map our first stop - the garage structure provided enough interference that we had no idea where we had to go next or how to get there.

Technology has advanced quite a bit, though it seems like it leaps, then crawls a little, then leaps again, etc.
While more and more cars allow "bluetooth" connectivity to devices (as basic as that conduit is), some are now offering Apple CarPlay® and Android Auto®. Our car had the latter as our phones are Samsung Galaxy® phones.
These technologies allow the infotainment system in the car to somewhat mirror the display on the cell phone screen, which also includes some of the apps on the phone. One of the apps that can be used on the infotainment system is the Media Player.
When we've been traveling, we go to the local library to check out audio books. I then further "borrow" said books by "ripping" (copying) the content to my computer. I then upload those files to our phones so we can listen to books on the plane, in our room, and or in the car (either on the phone itself or through the infotainment system).
We have been listening to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Murder Mystery series. Though Linda started the series with physical media, I didn't get involved until about book 12 - and now we're up 31.
Our trip started with us listening to book 28. We don't exclusively listen to just the audio book, we also do a good amount of talking.

Arizona doesn't follow the Daylight Saving Time clock changes, so sometimes they are three hours off the east coast while other times it is only two hours. Now it was three.
And Nevada and Utah are also in the same timezone - it wouldn't be until we hit New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming that we would only be two hours off.

Though it was "early"[ish], we needed to stop for lunch since we felt like it was really closer to 3:30 because of the time zones.
We stopped at 5 & Diner (a play on the name "5 & Dime") for lunch.

It was a cute little period place, and the inside was decorated accordingly, including small table-side now-inoperable juke boxes (similar to that we saw at in Rockin' 50's Café).




We perused the menu.

Linda had a tuna melt on rye.

I had the chicken cordon bleu sandwich (the top bun was lifted to show more of the inside).

It was a decent and reasonably priced meal.

Our first official sightseeing stop, as it was so early in the day, was at the Arizona state capital.
We had to drive through the city a bit to get to the capital, and saw a couple sites along the way.


We arrived at the front of the capital only to find that the only parking was for state employees. But we grabbed a couple pictures from the car before we made our way to the other side (the flags were at half-mast as the Pope had died the previous day).

The Arizona state capital is very unique as the legislature, senate, and house are all in separate buildings - this was due to the expansion / growth of the state's population.
We parked, made our way inside, and - first things first - got our stamp, the first of this trip (and not including the flight, probably the fastest we've ever aquired a capital stamp - but maybe the fastest even including the flight...).


We made our way to the rotunda. Though there was a dome, there was no decorative underside like most of the other domed capitals we've visited.

The main capital building was a combination of legislature offices and a museum. So while we visited the building, we viewed some of the artifacts as well - most were of Arizona's history.








There was a replica of the old senate chamber still on display (the old house chamber was closed for renovation).


There was a Lego® flag on display.


On the second floor, we were better able to see the state seal on the floor.

We headed outside - into the now 93° heat, though it was a dry heat... - and went, first to the house.
Right outside the senate building we took a picture of the capital (the figure on top of the dome actually did rotate... slowly), and our obligatory selfie.


We passed through security, and one of the guards took us up to the gallery.


The walls on the sides of the chamber had a relatively newly installed multi-panel large artwork of the Grand Canyon.
I originally had intentions of splicing the panels together, but once I started I realized it was going to be a bigger pain in the neck than I thought it was going to be.


After visiting the gallery in the chamber, we told the guard that we wanted to look at the artwork a little more. He told us to go ahead and take our time to look around. So we did, while he patiently waited for us in stairwell.
The art pieces were gifts to the state from various dignitaries. Here are the ones we thought were the most interesting.





After the house, we crossed the courtyard sort of area toward the senate.
The sun was "just in the right spot" at this moment, so I got this.

We entered the senate and greeted the security guards. They told us we had free reigb to wonder about. So we did.
The senate did not have any artwork on display, so we just looked at the chamber.




We finished our visit inside and headed to the courtyard area that we saw from the road earlier.
There was the Liberty Bell replica, as well as a statue.





We made our way around the building and on the side where we parked - we missed this on the way in - we saw a number of cacti and palm trees.

Though it was "only 5:00", we headed toward the hotel. After all, to us, it was really 8:00 due to the time zones.
We had a bit of a drive too, as the hotel, Papago Motor Hotel, was essentially on the opposite corner of the city.

Not too far down the road we came across this self driving car - a Waymo car (one of the companies developing autonomous vehicles). We saw a few of them - too many for it to have been the same one we saw in different locations.


We missed the hotel sign the first time, and turned off in the lot next door - though they weren't connected - so we had to go up the road, do a u-turn, and come back.
After registering, we found out where the nearest supermarket was - and it was only about five miles away.
We went to Albertson's just a few miles away and picked up a salad for dinner, some wine, and a couple 6-packs of water to have in the car (we only got 12 because last time we had so much water, we took bottle home with us).
And then we returned to the hotel. As we were unloading the car, I noticed that the car came preinstalled with some dents. I took a picture of them in case they tried to get back to us about it, I had proof from our first day that the dents were there.

We made our way to our room.

 <    Summary    1     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     11     12     13     14     15     16     17     18     18     >