Not so friendly skies....

Greetings from Northern California - Etna to be exact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etna%2C_California).  It has been a long journey to get here and this is how it went down:  Saturday Robert dropped JJ and I off at the airport in Little Rock to begin the day.  It all started at check-in when my bag was 5 lbs over the limit.  Instead of paying $25 I took out 5 lbs of stuff and stashed it in the stroller.  I got a plastic bag from a vendor to store it in giving me a third bag to keep up with on top of JJ.  The flight was booked so I checked his car seat at the gate with the stroller.  Upon boarding, I eye-balled two grannies towards the front of the plane with an empty seat between them.  I knew it wouldn't get any better than this.  They loved JJ and freely allowed him to crawl all over them.  With 45 minutes left in our 3 hour flight JJ was so tired not having had his morning nap and began to get fussy.  I walked the aisle a bit and we found another grandmother with her five small grandchildren to which JJ took a liking.  JJ sat in her lap and eventually she was fine with holding him for a few minutes.  This was the only thing keeping him calm.  I went back several minutes later and she says, "He peed on me."  His diaper leaked and sure enough, made a deposit on this nice woman.  It wasn't much but enough to get him kicked out of seat 16D.  The grannies helped me change his diaper and we stuck out the remainder of the flight as he cried restlessly.  Upon landing in Las Vegas, I went to the restroom and air-dried his pants.  I was in a hurry to meet my friend for lunch during my three hour layover so I tossed the pants on his stroller and off we went.  I met my friend Chris and we headed out for lunch at Chili's.  It was nice and quiet and a good break.  I got back to the LV airport and had to go through security.  Remember the extra 5 lbs.??  Well it came back to haunt me as they pulled me aside to work through my medicine bag of lotions, hairspray and the liking.  This was never an issue in LR so I never gave a thought to encountering an issue in Las Vegas.  They took my lotion and JJ's special eczema lotion.  I was really irritated considering I already had to wake JJ from his slumber to go through security (send the car seat and stroller through the x-ray machine) and now they were TAKING MY THINGS!!!!  What could I do?  Nothing so I carried on.  It was around this time that I realized JJ had no pants.  They are either in the Las Vegas airport parking garage or the Chili's parking lot.  We definitely looked like we were from Arkansas as JJ fashioned himself with shirt and diaper attire.  I never thought about packing an extra outfit for him.  Anyway, I felt like the second flight would be much better.  JJ had had some milk and seemed more rested.  Our 2:10 flight took off at 3:00.  Nice to have that extra 40 minutes to occupy a one-year old.  It was actually a good flight until just over half way through.  JJ's morning poop came through with flying colors.  It was of guacamole-type consistency and poop smells bad but really even worse SMEARED ALL OVER MY PANTS!!!  I thought, "Jump into my nightmare, the water is warm."  All other passengers were oblivious to my struggle.  We had an empty seat to our left and the guy in the window seat was sleeping.  I had to think fast because poop was spreading to his hands and feet and my arms and really starting to smell.  I was in the front row, glad to be close to the bathroom.  I hustled there and got his diaper changed and cleaned him as best I could.  I was now poopier than he.  I stuck my head out and asked the flight attendant for some assistance.  She took JJ in a blanket and sat in my seat and gave me some ginger ale.  I pored it on my leg and started wiping.  I was working fast and to my delight it came out pretty good.  I got back to my seat and took JJ and worked him over with some more wipes.  My pants dried in about 10 minutes and I felt like I had survived.  I looked around and the passengers did not miss a beat.  All the better I suppose but I really wanted a medal for what I had just gone through.  JJ never fussed this trip and we landed and found Aunt Freda.  I felt so much relief to have some support.  It had been a long day.  We spent the night in Portland and headed to Etna the next day.  It was about a 6 hour drive.  Portland was so beautiful of what I saw.  It was like a city plopped down in the middle of a rain forest - so lush and green.  That rainfall pays off in the spring I suppose.  We've had one full day in Etna.  It has been relaxing and JJ and I have now recovered from our travels.  We will enjoy our time here until we go back to Portland Thursday.  We are driving to Medford, OR and then flying to Portland since the drive was so long.  It will be much quicker that way.  I have already begun to plan my attack for those travels!