THE JEWEL OF THE DESERT

LINES AT THE BILTMORE

     The Arizona Biltmore is one of those special places. A rich history and an elegance of another age makes it a place

worthy of returning to. It is also a photographer's dream.

    I'm back for a round of meetings and enjoying the visual texture.  People think they see Frank Lloyd Wright's work here. In a sense they do.  The architect was Albert Chase McArthur who was mentored and guided by Wright.

 It's been a hang out for stars since it opened in 1929. In what could be one of pop cultures greatest disconnects, Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas here-in the Valley of the Sun.

 Every American President since Herbert Hoover has stayed here.  One night Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra and Liza Minelli surprised late night patrons with an impromptu performance in the famed lobby bar.

  Of course this time of year it is a tad warm.  At this writing it is 100.  It is bound for 108.  The evening cool may get down to 86!

   See you down the trail. (in the shade)

MORE FROM THE ROAD

MISERY MUST LOVE COMPANY

Update

Arrived Phoenix with prospects of a seven hour wait and

the best plans of the day- radio and tv interviews and

dinner with friends-down the drain.

US Airways could take us to Pittsburgh and then in,

saving two hours but still missing the events, or through

Charlotte with the same outcome.  We opted to avoid

flying directly into a snow storm or through one so we could

enjoy the thrill of two more plane changes.

Delays?  Phoenix is the capitol of misery today.

As the harried but cool customer service rep told us,

"we are down to just one runway today.  We have planes sitting on runways and people missing connections all over the place."  Don't you wish you were here with all these happy campers?

Maybe it is good then that people traversing airports

 go into this kind of zombie mode?

 Stunned, bewildered, confused, eyes a glaze.

Maybe it is the carpets.  Something in the patterns

akin to hypnosis-some old mind control research

sold to the keepers of the nation's airways.

Maybe that explains how an airline can delay the 

first flight of a trip, making you miss a connection and

not bother to change the rest of the flight plan to 

accomodate and for this you say 

thank you.

7 Hours in the Phoenix airport?  And I say Thank you?

Oh--I understand there could be 3-7 inches of snow when

we get in early tomorrow morning.  Hope the rental car

agency is open.  I wonder if any of my fellow 

Phoenixians for a day travel with a snow scraper?

A snow scraper?  

Thank you?

See you down the trail. 

NOTES FROM THE ROAD

AH, TRAVEL!!

Posting today in a series of airport waits.

Fog delayed the "equipment"-read that as plane-from arriving

our small airport last night.  Thus our 6:30 AM departure was  delayed, making our intended connection out of Phoenix impossible-unless the inbound "equipment" onto which we would transfer is also delayed by something.  That something today most likely would be weather. A lot of snow is 

expected in the Great Lakes, near our intended destination.

The already delayed flight is further delayed, but we

now have a 7 hour window.  What we don't spend of that here in San Luis Obispo, will be spent in Phoenix. This time

we have time to give.  7 hours in the Phoenix airport!!

We've already dropped appointed meetings in addition to radio and television interviews that had been scheduled.  Same for a dinner with former colleagues and friends.  A 3:30 PM arrival in Indianapolis has now been scheduled for 1:00 AM.

Stay tuned America.

See you down the trail.