Weekly Stats:
Tickets: 2
Miles: 2,726
Listening to: Shadow on the Trail – Zane Grey
Reading: The Life and Death of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs (and also Kilrone – Louis L’Amour)
Well, things went pretty well this time, right up to the time we were leaving for the airport. The flight that was due to leave SA at 5:30 was rescheduled to leave at 6:45. Guess what that did to my 45 minute layover in Charlotte? Yup. Nothing good.
American Airlines very kindly gave me a hotel room and a grand total of $12 for a meal and sent me on my way. Awesome! No airport floor for me tonight! So, I stroll through TSA to my gate, board the plane at 6:20 and land in Charlotte at 10:10. Turns out I would have had almost thirty minutes to make a five minute walk. Oh well.
So, after standing on the curb for an hour and a half in the company of two Army Reserve boys (who honestly made the whole thing worthwhile), we finally made it to the hotel by midnight. Thus it was that we got four hours of sleep in a cheap (free) hotel before going back to the airport by 5:00am. I’m not sure if that was actually an improvement over the floor.
But, once you get to the airport at 5:00 your troubles are over, right? Not so much. I arrived at the Evans airport at 8:25 and went to the baggage office to retrieve my suitcase. The office was empty. Twenty minutes later, it was still empty. Then an elderly gentleman in a security officer’s uniform appeared to inform me that American Airlines actually keeps their overnight baggage behind the ticket counter. Oh, ok. So, over to the ticket counter I went. And the ticket counter was empty too! Forty minutes later it was still empty! So, I went to the rental car counter. “Your car should be ready in an hour.” Oh boy. Back to the baggage counter where a TSA agent had knocked on the back door and interrupted the ticket lady’s quiet smoke and chat break.
So BACK to the rental counter I went and by this time there was a thirty minute long line at the counter, but through patient endurance I attained an audience with the lady at the desk. So, we walk through the paperwork, get the car picked out, discuss the return arrangements…and my California crew still had my rental out in San Francisco so Avis couldn’t give me a car in Evans that morning.
*Sigh*
I did finally get to work at 11:30am, and after work I did succeed in getting a rental from the airport, so it all worked out in the end.
Tuesday I enjoyed a long, quiet wander through South Carolina and arrived in Myrtle Beach around 5:00. Wednesday was another site survey and a long drive down Surfside Ave and dinner at the Gulfstream Cafe.
It doesn’t seem right to eat and sight-see without Big Kerry. 😦 How are you supposed to justify eating the entire roll of sourdough bread when it’s just you at the table???
And, fear not. I DID get to see the beach at Myrtle Beach. Astonishingly, it was hot and sandy, very much like every other beach I’ve ever been too.
I got home early Thursday afternoon and had just enough time to unpack my suitcase before packing up again to leave for Alabama. Dad and I will have just long enough to wave at each other tomorrow; he comes in in the morning and I ship out in the afternoon. Won’t the boys in Alabama be surprised to see “Kerry/i” come back so soon!
TheFieldTechLife 