Lots of Ice, Home is Nice, Jerry Rice?

My 36-hour day is winding down to a close and as you can tell from the title it's wearing a bit on my faculties. Something I didn't realize before taking off from Beijing this afternoon (yes same day) at 5pm is that when you fly between two cities in the northern hemisphere, the most direct route is not parallel to the equator as the in-flight catalog would have you believe, but rather somewhere over the North Pole. This makes for beautiful, cloudless, scenery below, however during the summer months, when these regions lack nighttime, it makes for a very long and confusing day.

(Beijing to Chicago flight path)

United Flight 850 from Beijing to Chicago left China about 2 hours before the sun should have begun to set; however, instead of dimming as you would expect, the light outside of the plane windows actually grew brighter as we headed north. Finally when we arrived in Chicago around 4:30pm on the same day, 12 hours into the future and, according to local time, 30 minutes into the past, the sun was nearly in the exact same position as it had been when we left. East-West 'time travel' is a convenient trick for those wishing to traverse the globe in a single afternoon, but it plays some crazy tricks on the mind, and leaves you seriously dragging at the end of what on arrival seems like a normal length day.

(North Pole ice 6 miles below; where are the drowning polar bears?)

Fortunately, my wits were not so far lost as to let me miss a new but familiar face when I touched down in Jackson, MS around 11:30pm this evening. Along with the other 50-odd weary travelers who had just arrived from Dallas or Charlotte was 13-time pro-bowler, Mississippi native, and Valley State alumni Jerry Rice. Without shoulder pads or a Montana rocket in his outstretched arm, I was slow to recognize Rice; however, after seeing the helmet tattoo on his right bicep, I quickly realized that even the greatest receiver in NFL history has to wait in line for his bags when he comes to Jackson. However, unlike myself and a handful of others from the two flights, Mr. Rice actually received his luggage. Fortunately, we had just enough time to snap a quick photo before he headed outside to a stretch limo and I headed upstairs to file a missing luggage claim at the UA desk. This last memorable moment of the trip reinforced the idea that had been driven home so many times over the last 10 weeks: no matter how much you plan your travels, things will go wrong; however, with this same unwanted uncertainty comes the chance for great adventure and the occasional pleasant surprise.

(Jerry Rice at baggage claim in JAN)

Now that the 10-week trip is over and my real job starts in a week, this should be my last post for a while (pending dire economic downturn or winning the lottery). Thanks for following along; I hope that you have enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed writing. There's a few extra photos in the flickr gallery so make sure to check it out one last time.