From Freeport to Freeport

Hi All. It's been a while and I apologize. Summer is so busy. Time just flies by. Before you know it it's almost fall and you haven't been on the computer for weeks! I guess I'm grateful I have such a busy life. I could be sitting at home wringing my hands and wondering what to do. So far this has not happened to me. In fact, quite the opposite and I'm happy about that.

Let's see.....where did I leave off? Oh yes, a lovely couple from Freeport, Maine hired Air Companions to go to Freeport, Illinois to accompany the Mrs.' elderly parents from a nursing home there to a nursing home in Maine. Since both the elderly man and woman were very compromised and in wheelchairs I decided to ask my husband to go along to assist me. I was very excited to have another adventure! Plus I was happily anticipating seeing some of the state of Illinois. I really had never been there. I have landed in O'Hare a few times, but that doesn't count.

We flew out of the Portland Jet Port on Monday evening, July 26. The weather was perfect as it has been all summer in Maine. However, our flight was delayed because of mechanical problems with several of the planes. We landed in O'Hare about an hour later than originally scheduled. I said a silent prayer that there would be no delays on our flight back to Maine the next day.

As you can see I snapped a picture of my dozing husband on our flight out to Illinois. I hope he really got some rest on the plane because we surely didn't once we got into the rental car at 9:30pm and started the second leg of our trip from Chicago to Freeport! Once we left the city it was quite dark out so we didn't have much of a chance to enjoy the scenery. One cool thing we did notice was that the city didn't just gradually fade out to a suburb to a town to country. We were in the city and all of a sudden we were driving through miles and miles of corn fields. Just like that! City....corn fields.

Finally, after what seemed hours of driving we arrived in Freeport, Illinois only to find that the main roads were blocked. There was no detour and no reason posted as to why the roads were closed! For the next hour or so we drove around in corn field and prayed until we found an open road into the heart of the town. At 1am we drove into our hotel parking lot. Needless to say we were exhausted. We asked the friendly clerk why all the roads were closed. He told us that the town was flooded from heavy rainfall over the weekend. We told the clerk there were no detours mapped out and it was only by the grace of God that we found the hotel. He was as perplexed by that as we were. We got our room keys, found the room and collapsed into bed!

Next morning we got up, got ready, ate breakfast called our contact person and headed for the nursing home. When we arrived we met the elderly couple, their son and daughter in law and the staff of the nursing home. All were very nice and helpful. I will call the elderly couple "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". Mrs. Smith is a small woman who suffers from dementia. She also walks with a walker. Mr. Smith was in the end stages of Parkinson's Disease. He could no longer walk and he was very stiff from the Parkinson's. He also suffered with dementia. I could see that the trip home was going to be a challenge and I was so glad my husband had come along. I could of not done it without him! Once we got all the instruction we needed and all the necessary things were packed we got our new friends into the rental car and set out for Chicago. It was another beautiful day and we really enjoyed viewing the scenery. Even Mrs. Smith commented several times about the beauty of the state of Illinois.

When we got to O'Hare Airport we were greeted by wonderful people who immediately came to our aid. All airports contract with companies who provide in house escorts. I think we were assigned the nicest escorts ever. They helped us in every way possibe and and made our time at O'Hare easy and pleasant. I took a picture of the two young ladies who assisted us. They were awesome! I truly do not know what we would have done without them. O'Hare is like a city unto itself!

Once we got to our gate we had to wait for about an hour before we could board. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith were cooperative and patient and even seemed to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the airport. We all ate a light lunch and soon we were on our way on non-stop flight to Portland, Maine.

The flight went amazingly well. We had first class seats which was a big help because the seats are bigger and there is more space to move around. The Smiths sat beside eachother. Mrs. Smith held and patted her husband's hand thoughout the trip. It was very sweet.

When we landed in Maine a very nice group of young men employed by the escort company assisted us all the way to the sidewalk and waited with us until my husband came around with the car. The young men even helped get the Smiths into the car! I was so grateful. From Portland we started the last leg of our trip. We took the Smiths to a nursing home nearby their daughter's home. At the nursing home we met up with our employers, the Freeport, Maine couple. We assisted the Smiths into the nursing home, gave instructions, said our good byes and left for home. Another Air Companions job well done!