The plane was nearly empty; perhaps there were six or eight aboard besides the Baba party. Baba sat on the left side in the next to the last seat row. All the while the plane was taxiing, warming up, taking off, and airborne, Baba looked back and waved to the scores of lovers who had risen in the wee hours, to see him off.

During the 2½-hour flight from Wilmington to Washington I sat next to Baba. He asked me where we would stop next (New Bern, N. C.), what other stops we would make en route (Norfolk, Va.), when we would arrive in Washington (noon E.D.T.), how long it would be before our flight left for California, and where we would have lunch. No lunch was to be served on this flight or the California flight. Baba asked the stewardess whether she had any food aboard. Yes, she had a breakfast left. Baba had it set before him. He tasted of it, then set it before me and invited me to eat it as my lunch. Baba then asked the mandali whether they had anything along to eat. The only edible was a can of Spam. After consulting Dr. Donkin whether it would sit alright on his tummy, to my astonishment, Baba finished most of it!

Frequently during the flight Baba would ask me where we were. Finally I borrowed Donkin's map and pointed to where I estimated our position to be, comparing the arrangement of bays and inlets below to their equivalent on the map. After the pilot announced our flying time to Washington, I drew a line on the map and divided it into the number of minutes remaining. Sure enough, Baba wanted to know where we were by that map . . . all the way to Washington.

The pilot radioed ahead to make doubly sure there would be a wheelchair for Baba. An attendant wheeled Baba through a maze of freightways and elevators with the five of us tagging along. By the time we checked in and got to the plane it was only 15 minutes before boarding time. We were allowed to board immediately. The trip north from Wilmington on the little Convair had been quite rough. Now, aboard the big Superconstellation, the bumps in the air were much smoother. Although a full lunch was not served in the first class section, a reasonably adequate snack was provided. And Baba had served me a meal on the last flight. So lunch for the entire party worked out alright after all.

At Los Angeles, we had only 20 minutes scheduled for transferring to the Plane for San Francisco; it seemed inevitable that we would miss connections. However, for some reason TWA decided to hold the 6:50 plane for