The Trip

            
             The night was December 6, 1994, it was cold, dark, and their wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The temperature was -4 degrees Celsius, and the winds were blowing at seven miles per hour. It was a night I will never forget.
             As I stood in the open doorway that night, with the reflection of the moonlight shining in my eyes and the wind blowing making me so cold that it caused me to shiver. Goosebumps ran down my spine. I slowly raised my shivering hands to shoulder level. I leaned slightly forward, placing my hands against the ice cold steel frame of the doorway. I felt breathless as the wind blew past my face, reminding me of when I was a little boy riding in my dad's fast moving car with my head outside the window. As I looked below at a distance of 1500 feet at the beauty of two cities, Columbus, Georgia, and Phoenix City, Alabama, I saw thousands of shining lights from above in my doorway. Some lights were blinking and some lights were not. Some lights were red, green and some were yellow too. They reminded me of decorated Christmas tree on Christmas morning. A river made its way around the cities, sparkling in the moonlight like a ribbon wrapped around a Christmas present. I was amazed at the beauty of the cities far below. I could see some of the features of buildings, houses, and cars, but no people from being so high up. .
             A small window did not limit my view, as it would be if I were on a commercial plane. It was not surprising that the citizens could not see the aircraft that I traveled in, because the outside, the fuselage and wings, were camouflaged with dark brown, forest green, and flat black paint. The interior of the passenger compartment had two aisles, about seventy-five feet long and thirty-five feet wide, with four rows of fifty metal removable seats. The ceiling of the aircraft had four lights with dark red covers that cast a reddish glow throughout the passenger compartment.