Day 5 - Last Day in La Plata & Flying Back to Los Angeles
Besides the hotel meeting room being open, no official events were being held on Sunday. But this did not stop many of us from heading over to the depot in the morning to again see train #4 arrive. As the train arrived, the photography began.
As the train left, I took one final picture of the depot. The man standing in front of the depot is Dusty Sawyer, the manage of Amtrak operations in La Plata.
Back at the hotel, I took a look around the entire property one more time. I also took a few photos of the pool area. With all the activity, I did not have a chance to take a swim. I will be sure to next time I visit La Plata. As you can see, even the pool area is flooded with railroad antiques!
A bit later, Ray Burns offered a tour of La Plata and Kirksville in his car. I accepted his offer and rode along with him, Jonathon Ortiz, Harry Ortiz, Richard Hamilton, Richard's girlfriend (sorry I cannot recall her name!), and a woman whose I also do not recall her name. We took a drive that lasted about 2 hours and saw all of La Plata. We also ventured into Kirksville. This was interesting to see the neighboring larger town. Kirksville is only about 15 minutes away, and has 2 colleges and a much larger population then La Plata. However it does not have the "small town charm" that is so visible in smaller communities such as La Plata.
When we got back to the Depot Inn, I informed Sara at the front desk that I would need the hotel courtesy shuttle to take me to the airport. This is a service offered on the hotel website and I was very thankful since it was such a convenience for me. The driver of the hotel courtesy shuttle is Harold Marshall, who is Tom Marshall's father.
My flight departed at 4:45PM, so I was a bit worried about running late. When Harold and Tom pulled up in the courtesy shuttle, they informed me that it was obviously a very small airport, and check-in only took a few moments unlike typical airports. On the way to the airport, they thanked me for staying at the Depot Inn, and I told them how wonderful it is. I also left them a TripAdvisor review with a 5/5 star rating. The Depot Inn and Suites is currently ranked #1 in the entire state of Missouri on TripAdvisor.com! This is very good, and it is not a mystery why. As we arrived at the Kirksville Airport, I said goodbye to them and assured them I would be back to visit La Plata again.
I checked in with U.S. Airlines (the only airline in Kirksville) and learned my flight would be on-time. As the plane landed in Kirksville, and I went through security, I was very surprised to see that only 4 people were flying on the plane. The plane was a Beechcraft 1900C which seats 19 people. This is obviously a very small aircraft. We took off and headed for Kansas City, and we were on the ground in less then 1 hour. There are no flight attendants on flights like this, but the captain and co-captain were both excellent.
A dark shot of the aircraft in Kansas City, MO.
Because of the airplanes small size, we exited by stairs and walked over to the terminal. I exited the US Airlines terminal and headed for Midwest Air. After checking in and retrieving my boarding pass, I stopped for a bite to eat at a small restaurant. As I walked in, there was nobody there to seat me. I finally took a seat and after having to ask 2 waiters, I learned that the menus were hidden on the table. After finally dealing with the rude staff I was able to order a Cheese and Chicken Quesadilla. This was by far the worst quesadilla's I have ever had. The chicken and cheese were cold and it was obvious they had cooked this piece of garbage up in the microwave. This did not stop them from charging about $10 for it though. After paying for my meal, I overheard the restaurants employees speaking to a customer about the Kansas City Chiegs loss that day! Now I knew why the service had been so bad. Living in the 2nd largest city in the nation and not have a professional football team does not bring the city together as I suppose Kansas City is since they only have 1 professional team. Luckily for the restaurant, I do not remember the name of the joint.
As I arrived at the Midwest Air terminal, I was surprised to see Steve Grande, Barbara Cepinko, and Jonathan Cardoza. They were also catching my 8pm flight back to Los Angeles. I was also expecting to see Chris Parker and Richard Elgenson in a few moments. As I was speaking with them, and waiting for the boarding call, I saw a sign for FREE WIFI. As I took out my laptop and searched for networks, I found out that the Wireless Network called "kci" got only 1 bar! Not even enough to get on the internet. This is pretty pathetic for an airport to advertise a service that is clearly not delivered. A few moments later Chris and Richard showed up. They told me about there interesting day driving around Kansas City and seeing the Norfolk Southern yard, as well as Kansas City Union Station. About 15 minutes later a boarding call was made for our flight and the six of us boarded the beautiful Boeing 717 aircraft bound for Los Angeles.
My seat was a window seat, as I had requested when I booked my flight on Expedia.com. I was also fortunate enough not to have anyone sitting next to me. The 717 aircraft series are 2x2 seat configurations. As the flight attendants made there welcome aboard's, I learned that Midwest Air also rents out DigEPlayers. If you have not heard of these, they are portable on-demand entertainment devices that look very similar to portable DVD players. They are pre-loaded with tons of movies, tv shows, music, and more. Midwest rents them for $10 a flight, and since it is harder to rent one on Amtrak, I decided it was worth testing out the service. It turned out the DigEPlayers are very convenient and I would definitely recommend one to anyone traveling on Amtrak or any other travel carrier that rents them out.
Since my dinner was so bad, I also decided to purchase an in-flight meal. I decided on the Asian Chicken with wantons. It was actually really good! I think I can say it is most likely the best airline food I have ever had. I accompanied it with a complimentary Sierra Mist and chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate chip cookies on Midwest Air are excellent! They bake them freshly onboard.
Cookie photo is courtesy of: AirlineMeals.net
We landed in Los Angeles with no delays. My luggage came rather quickly which I was a bit worried about since it was transferring airlines in Kansas City. My brother has lost his luggage twice on air carriers, and it has taken them over 2 days each time to return them to him.
On the ground, I said goodbye the Steve Grande, Richard Elgenson, and Chris Parker. It was a pleasure meeting them all and I hope to see them all again in the future.
As I collected my baggage, I caught a Taxi back home to end a perfect trip to La Plata, MO.
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