I was heading to Sky Harbor International Airport to pick up my neighbor Thursday November 8. My route took me down Litchfield Road, where I eventually would turn to head to Loop 101 and the road to Sky Harbor. It was a bit after 1pm (MST) and I kept wondering why there were so many police cars along Litchfield-had there been an accident? Has something happened at Luke Air Force Base-only about seven miles ahead of me-that has caused the police to be out with their lights revolving and their official presence very noticeable? Then, that moment of realization hit me! I had been told about the run by my niece when I was visiting her in Plantation, Florida just a couple of weeks ago. She is a flight attendent with American-heading into her 7th year, and she was awed by the flag run. And, when I returned to Surprise, where I live, I saw a short article about the flag going by Luke. And, totally by coincidence, I was driving by the caravan-tooting, giving thumbs up, cheering, then tearing up when the realization of the purpose of the run was brought to mind again.

After picking up my neighbor at Sky Harbor ( she had an arrival time of 1:20 pm), I mentioned seeing the procession less than a mile from our houses. She said, "Let's go find them!" We have done ventures like this before-trying to find Demi Moore's house in Hailey, Idaho, (only 90 some miles out of our way), heading to Mt.St.Helens (200 miles out of our way), checking out Lake Tahoe (150 miles as a side trip) so, the possibility of finding the runners and the flag was undaunting.

We calculated that to go to LA from where I first saw the flag the caravan would have to go Route 60 and if it were traveling about a mile per 15 minutes, we could find it near a particular pottery shop we know of along that road. Lo and behold, we did!!! And we went further and found the next place a mile or so down the road where a new group of runners would take the flag and continue.

During that time, we talked with others, learned a bit about some of the new runners, and bought tee shirts. I happened to have had 3 cases of soda in my car from my grocery shopping trip a couple of days ago, and was so happy to give them to the caravan! I was overwhelmed to be in the presence of dedication, hard work, patriotism, caring, sweat, tears, accomplishment and love. The crew members of those four planes were the first victims of the attack. The flag run is a wonderful testimony to them. The two airlines are UNITED as AMERICANs should be.

Ms. Angela Sergio, Surprise, Arizona

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