Transcript | Annotation | Source: 89-4286-C-1(39-43)(PDF) | January 1978 Index
I got more sleep than I thought I had, as I was not awakened by the serving of breakfast. It was about 5.00 Eastern time when we landed at John F. Kennedy Airport.
We took the airport bus to the Pan Am Terminal. The temperature remained about 24º all day, it was slippery underfoot and a light snow was falling.
At the Pan Am Terminal we put our luggage in one place. We found we would have to pay $1.25 to check one suitcase with corresponding rates for other items and decided not to check anything. At least one person stayed with the luggage.
Only a snack bar was open for breakfast. The charges were excessive and the food unappetizing. I had Sanka, ham and cheese on English muffin, which cost about $2.50.
The others spent some time sleeping. Harold had a book. He was going to study tax law, but I don’t think he made much progress. I read the newspapers I had brought along. Tried to make some notes for my journal but couldn’t concentrate. Later in the day I started to read Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain by Sheila Ostrander & Lynn Schroeder, I had been reading this several years ago on a Temple trip to Chicago but I lost it at a meeting and had not had a copy since, until I found one at the Temple recently.
Mid-morning I walked over to the other terminals. It was cold and slippery and the paths for foot traffic were inadequate. My purpose was to see whether other terminals had better facilities for eating. I found they were all much alike, except that Eastern had an obviously expensive restaurant, which was not open, however, the airport was almost deserted and most planes did not take off until afternoon. I had a brief conversation with a couple from Indiana who were going to Morocco for a vacation.
I had two cups of Sanka during the day and lunch of roast chicken and garden beans with a glass of tea. We had been given $10 for food and I had about a dollar left.
We had moved our luggage twice, first, to be in a better lounge and second, to be nearer to our gate. Roosevelt Turner and the two Simon girls did not carry their share. The girls sulked all day and late in the afternoon Jewel expressed her opinion to them about their uncooperativeness.
Harold was worried about the amount of luggage we had as Barb and Marcia had brought numerous items. On the second plane we were limited to one piece. An hour before flight time he checked with the airline officials. They took the extra pieces in the luggage compartment but made an additional charge. Harold and Jewel were busy on the arrangements until almost the last minute and I was afraid they weren’t going to be able to board.
The second flight left at 3.00. The plane was crowded; we had to queue up to take off and were at least a half hour late.
My seating companion was a businessman going to Trinidad. I replied to his questions about my destination by saying I was going to Guyana on a teaching mission for my church, Peoples Temple, Disciples of Christ. He did not seem to recognize the name but admired my occupation as a teacher. He said he was a member of the Church of Scientology and described its actions and personnel. He said the events featured in the newspapers about conflict between the government intelligence agencies and his organization were caused by the attempt of the FBI, CIA and Interpol to discover derogatory information and then to cover up their own drug traffic. Scientology is suing the FBI for a large sum of money.
I had the beef stroganoff on my dinner.
I read The Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtin Curtain. I could not get to sleep when I tried.
My seating companion left the plane at Trinidad about 8.00 o’clock
We landed at Georgetown about midnight. Our group went through the formalities with no difficulties. But clearing our large number of footlockers was time consuming. I found that one for Norman Ijames had been checked on my ticket, and I did not have the key. Two others contained small tools and fixtures and office supplies.
Several people from our Georgetown installation met us. Two vans were loaded with our effects by a friendly airport crew and we were transported to the Temple house in Georgetown. It was over an hour’s ride.
A staff of twenty or so are based in Georgetown. Among them are the Carter young people, Tim, Terry, and Mike; Helen Swinney who does the cooking; Pauline Simon; Sharon Amos, who is coordination; Richard Janaro; Shanda Oliver (formerly James).
We had mattresses on the floor. I could not get to sleep for along time. Camille would not settle down at first and Marcia was reluctant to discipline her. I finally shouted at her and she went to sleep. Then mosquitoes buzzed around and dogs barked.