En Route to San Francisco, Claremont & Phoenix

            Tuesday, 14 Jan 2020 – We just embarked on our longest cruise ever – 74 days!  (In 2018, we completed a 71-day cruise).  Our cruise was a portion of a world cruise.  Around-the-world passengers boarded the ship at various ports, including New York, Miami, and San Francisco, so the duration of their cruises varied.  Roundtrip from San Francisco was 162 days; Miami to San Francisco was 180 days.  We embarked in San Francisco and would be disembarking in Cape Town.  Many passengers were booked only to Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, or other ports. 

We started our trip 12 days early to allow time to visit Jesse’s brother, Jon and his family, in Claremont, CA, and Jesse’s kids in the Phoenix, AZ, area before the cruise.  Our flight to San Francisco was scheduled to depart Moline, IL, at 11:18 AM, Tuesday, 14 Jan 2020.  Our friend, Katie, picked us up at 8:20 AM.  Unlike last year, there was no snow or ice on the road, so the drive to the airport was uneventful.

We made it to the Moline airport by 9:00 AM.  Despite flight delays, we connected with our flight in Atlanta and made it to San Francisco at about 9:30 PM.  Upon picking up our checked luggage, we found that the pull-out handle on one of the suitcases had been damaged, so it was almost impossible to pull it to the rental car desk.  The smart thing to do would have been to rent a luggage cart; however, the rental cost was $6.00, which Jesse refused to pay.  He decided to manhandle his half of the luggage all the way to the rental car desk, which was quite a distance.  We were both exhausted by the time we got there!  After picking up our rental car, we drove to a motel for the night. 

The following day, we drove to Claremont, CA and then the Phoenix area, where we visited with Jesse’s family for a few days.  Also, we purchased two new sets of luggage to replace the ones that had been badly damaged by the airlines over the last couple of years. 

Saturday, 25 Jan 2020 – After saying our goodbyes to Jesse's family, we drove back to San Francisco.  Along the way, we stopped in Avila Beach, CA, to have lunch with Donna & Ann, whom we had met during our Oceania cruise excursion to Ayers Rock last year.  We checked into our motel at about 9:30 PM.