Back where I want to be

I am back from my vacation. I always regret that the time goes by so swiftly, but I also feel a great curiosity as to what has been going on while I have ceased to pay attention to the happenings in the numismatic field. It also is simply nice to come home, especially when the flight connections work as well as they did for me yesterday.

A 5 a.m. taxi ride to the airport started my day. My flight from San Jose, Costa Rica, took off on time. We left the gate at 7:25 a.m. I got back to Iola at 9:30 in the evening. Costa Rica during the summer is one hour behind Iola.

This trip I had an odd connection. I went from San Jose to Miami, then to Charlotte, N.C., on a regional jet. This is the first time I ever passed through this airport on my way home from Costa Rica, but the summer travel season fills up the planes on the main routes and Charlotte was an alternative route that actually cost me less money than going directly to Chicago. What’s more, my arrival time in Green Bay, Wis., was not affected at all.

More connections mean more possiblities for delay or misrouting baggage, but I had no delays and no lost baggage. Everything went like clockwork. I had my nose buried in a book the whole way. Paul Green’s wife had given me the paperback The Da Vinci Code. It was in English and she had no use for it.

I had not read it during the craze, so I finally got to find out what the hoopla was about. I enjoyed it. It certainly made the time pass quickly. I had seen the movie, so the plot was not a mystery to me. I have to admire the way the writer constructed it. For me it was easy to read. I like that.

I hope what I write is as easily read. I feel rusty this morning and stiff from sitting in airline seats.

I have some catching up to do here in the office as I listen to my recorded voice messages and look at acccumulated e-mails. My recorded voice message tends to keep the number of messages left for me to a minimum. I always state that I am away. I give the date of my return and tell the listener that I will return calls when I get back. Few callers want to wait, so I am generally off the hook with two or three calls.

E-mail is another matter. It is relentless. The sooner I start, the sooner I can finish. Wish me luck, but please don’t send it by e-mail today.