Monday 13 August – Holy Land 2018 Day 1: Departure

Kristal, myself, Donna, Ann
Houston airport

Got up  at my normal time and went to Mass. Afterwards Fr. LaFleur gave me a blessing, and then Anne and I went to my 08:00 appointment with my cardiologist Dr. Ingram. My brand-new pacemaker is doing fine. By 08:45, I was able to send out a message that I was cleared to go and would be headed to Alexandria to meet up with my ride as soon as I took care of a couple of last-minute things in Natchitoches.

About an hour later, Anne and I headed out. She took the morning off work to take me to meet a couple from Pineville (just north of Alexandria), who had graciously invited me to ride with them even before the latest drama. About an hour later, she dropped me off at their house and we said our goodbyes. We were off within minutes of that, Anne back to Natchitoches, myself and Robert and Kathie toward Houston. 

We arrived at Bush Intercontinental Airport around 15:30, I believe -- the first of our pilgrimage group to do so. Others departing through Houston trickled in over time. We – myself, Fr. Emilio, my wife's sister-in-law Kristal, Robert and Kathie, Mary, Donna, Ingrid (whose son is one of our Alexandria seminarians) Jennifer, and Ann -- passed through check-in and security with no hassles, although my new pacemaker card got me ... personal ... treatment. Our plane departed Houston just a little late, about 21:30 rather than 21:05 --  Turkish Airlines Flight 34, for an 11h50m flight to Istanbul. It was mostly uneventful, although about three hours out there was a medical crisis of some sort two rows ahead of me. I'm not sure what it was, but the lady seemed okay and back in her seat several hours later.