(Just so you guys know, I’m not spell or grammar checking this thing. It’s too darned long!)
Thursday 7/2:
Calvin dropped me off at the airport on his way to work at around 7:20, in plenty of time for my 9:50 flight. Check-in and security were a breeze, so I found a place to settle myself and read one of my books (side note: I brought four, finished two, and started on a third during the flights there and back) while I waited to board. All isle and window seats were taken by the time my group was called, so I had to scrunch into a middle seat in front of the emergency exit isle (hint: seats don’t recline). A two or three year old girl was pretty much flipping out the entire flight, so THAT was fun. Still, I was adequately distracted with my reading during the three hour flight.
Once the plane landed I turned my phone on and called Heather. Heather’s friend (and now mine, too) Cindy, our compatriate for the weekend’s activities, answered and said they were stuck at a light near the airport, but were almost there. So I went down to the baggage claim area and waited… and waited… and waited for the sign to be updated with which carousel my bag would arrive on. It took them FOREVER (really, it was probably only about twenty minutes, but still…) but fortunately my suitcase was near the front of the unloaded bags, so I got it pretty quick once things started moving.
Out to the curb, another call to Heather, and presently I saw her truck coming up the lane. Airport driving is never great under any circumstances, but I have to say that folks picking up passengers at this particular time were especially retarded about it. Not Heather, of course. She stopped in front of me, hopped out to open the back, I tossed my bag in, we gave each other a quick hug (“EEEEE!”), then we both hopped in the truck and were on our way.
Snerkology 