Travel seems to never be a smooth endeavor anymore. I was scheduled to leave for Nashville this past week, El Hubbo was headed for Borger, Tx, and the kids would be left to their own devices. Ok, not really. The kids would be packed off to their grandparents in Floydada. We'd arranged for Rocky to go to the kennel, Mab (the cat) and Soosie (the fish) really would be left to their own devices. See what I mean? This situation called for massive coordination similar to that of most
covert military operations.
The first sign that things were simply not going to go according to plan was Rocky. Having been kennel led the week before while we took a quick trip to Austin, he managed to get Kennel Cough. Despite having been vaccinated. Great. We could not now kennel him, do now what? El Hubbo begged his sister to come over and play nurse to Rocky. I wasn't sure that he was going to make that happen as my sister-in-law is not really much of an animal person, and is especially not fond of the overly hyper, overly friendly, overly jump-on-you-and-give-you-a-big-wet-dog-breath-slobber kiss animal that is our dear Rocky. But, she did agree to take care of one day's dog care (El Hubbo waited to tell her it was a suppository until after she agreed. It wasn't really, but I wish I could have seen her face when he told her that!)
Alrighty, one day down. My in-laws were scheduled to receive the kids Sunday afternoon. They were to bring them back to Lubbock Tuesday evening for their first t-ball game of the season. They planned to stay the night at our house before returning to Floydada with the kids the next day. El Hubbo sweet talked his dad (also not a dog person) into acting as doggy nurse for that round, and that would take care of Rocky until El Hubbo's return on Wednesday.
Good! So, we were back on track with a plan, despite the added complications.
Kids were successfully deposited in Floydada Sunday afternoon. Monday morning, El Hubbo wakes up at 5:15. I didn't have to get up until 5:45, but since he was noisy, I got up too. We had noticed the car was starting to give us signs of a resistance to starting, and we had diagnosed it as likely needing a new alternator. El Hubbo had even made arrangements to put in a new alternator while I was in Nashville. He started the car just to make sure it would start that morning and she fired right up. One hour later I get ready to leave and load up my bags. Put the key in the ignition. Instead of vroom, I get click, click, click. Won't start. It's 6:50 AM.
After calling El Hubbo (I firmly believe he should share in my misery, even when there is nothing he can do about it), and after throwing a really big screaming fit wherein I described in great detail my thoughts on the automotive industry, I dashed over to a neighbor's house to beg for assistance. Neighbor one did not answer the door. Neighbor two did not answer the door. Truly beginning to panic, I headed to neighbor three's house, all while trying to remember how to hot wire a car and figuring out which neighbor I would steal from first. Luckily, neighbor three had a houseguest that I had never seen before who spared me from a life of major crime. He pulled his car over and we managed to get mine started. WooHoo!
I had very limited time at this point, so I set a land speed record to the airport and was thankful no cops were out. I parked, grabbed my bags and started to run. Twenty yards later, I realized I might pass out from lack of breath and dropped it back to a fast walk.
I past security on my way to the check baggage line and saw they had the fly-by lane open. This would be very helpful as I was cutting it very close. I get into the deceptively short check baggage line. Wouldn't you know I would be stuck behind a family with a newborn without the proper documents that said newborn actually existed (despite the obvious very small human in mom's arms). Right behind them was a foreign gentleman who when asked if he wanted a boarding pass printed for him responded with "I do not know what that is". It crossed my mind that this could be a security concern, but I did not have time to dwell as I checked my bag and dashed off to the security line.
Remember how i said I had fly-by status for security? Well, that is truly a great thing when you are running late, and when it is actually open. Yep-it had been closed while I was checking my bag. I was now stuck in a very long security line filled with seniors who hadn't flown since 9-11 and the international gentleman who knew nothing about flying in the US as evidenced by not only his lack of knowledge regarding boarding passes, but also his lack of knowledge regarding security procedures!
I make it through (finally- I figured it would be my luck I would be pulled for a strip search at this point). I was somewhat relieved my flight had been delayed five minutes. A critical decision had to be made at this point-coffee or restroom? I decided initially on coffee, but saw the line at the Starbucks and switched course for the restroom. Relieved, I dashed by the airport vending stand, grabbed a pre-packaged muffin, threw money at the attendant and ran to my gate. I didn't even have to slow down as they started boarding just as I got there.
We got in the air fairly uneventfully, and the kindest, sweetest, most handsome steward handed me a cup of coffee. At that moment in time he was my favorite person in the whole wide world.
I got to fly to Austin, then to Houston, where my coffee purveyor left me. I must admit, my heart broke a little as by the time the flight from Austin to Houston happened, I had him trained on just how I like my coffee.
While on the ground in Houston, the plane got very hot. Extremely hot. So hot I must have passed out from heat exhaustion. When I came to, I was very thirsty, but drink orders had already been taken. And the new stewardess was not nearly as friendly as her predecessor. But, I would not be denied my "free" drink!
We get to Nashville, I get my bag and discover that somewhere between Lubbock and Nashville a piece of my suitcase had been knocked off. I'm not sure what you call it but makes the case slide better. The two protruding knobs where said slidy thing had been actually impede the slidability of the bag into the trunk.
I gat in my rental car, get out the GPS that I had grabbed out of my car at home and go to plug it in. And discovered I had the wrong charger. Following another brief screaming fit, I pull up Google maps on my cell phone and attempt to navigate unfamiliar interstates and highways with my red, green, and blue pins guiding me. I don't recommend this method to drivers. I get to the hotel at 2:00 and they inform the they don't have a room available for me to check in. I ask for directions to the nearest Walmart and went to buy myself a new GPS. (original one was actually El Hubbo's)
So, that was my travel day to Nashville. I guess I should just be grateful that I made it!
covert military operations.
The first sign that things were simply not going to go according to plan was Rocky. Having been kennel led the week before while we took a quick trip to Austin, he managed to get Kennel Cough. Despite having been vaccinated. Great. We could not now kennel him, do now what? El Hubbo begged his sister to come over and play nurse to Rocky. I wasn't sure that he was going to make that happen as my sister-in-law is not really much of an animal person, and is especially not fond of the overly hyper, overly friendly, overly jump-on-you-and-give-you-a-big-wet-dog-breath-slobber kiss animal that is our dear Rocky. But, she did agree to take care of one day's dog care (El Hubbo waited to tell her it was a suppository until after she agreed. It wasn't really, but I wish I could have seen her face when he told her that!)
Alrighty, one day down. My in-laws were scheduled to receive the kids Sunday afternoon. They were to bring them back to Lubbock Tuesday evening for their first t-ball game of the season. They planned to stay the night at our house before returning to Floydada with the kids the next day. El Hubbo sweet talked his dad (also not a dog person) into acting as doggy nurse for that round, and that would take care of Rocky until El Hubbo's return on Wednesday.
Good! So, we were back on track with a plan, despite the added complications.
Kids were successfully deposited in Floydada Sunday afternoon. Monday morning, El Hubbo wakes up at 5:15. I didn't have to get up until 5:45, but since he was noisy, I got up too. We had noticed the car was starting to give us signs of a resistance to starting, and we had diagnosed it as likely needing a new alternator. El Hubbo had even made arrangements to put in a new alternator while I was in Nashville. He started the car just to make sure it would start that morning and she fired right up. One hour later I get ready to leave and load up my bags. Put the key in the ignition. Instead of vroom, I get click, click, click. Won't start. It's 6:50 AM.
After calling El Hubbo (I firmly believe he should share in my misery, even when there is nothing he can do about it), and after throwing a really big screaming fit wherein I described in great detail my thoughts on the automotive industry, I dashed over to a neighbor's house to beg for assistance. Neighbor one did not answer the door. Neighbor two did not answer the door. Truly beginning to panic, I headed to neighbor three's house, all while trying to remember how to hot wire a car and figuring out which neighbor I would steal from first. Luckily, neighbor three had a houseguest that I had never seen before who spared me from a life of major crime. He pulled his car over and we managed to get mine started. WooHoo!
I had very limited time at this point, so I set a land speed record to the airport and was thankful no cops were out. I parked, grabbed my bags and started to run. Twenty yards later, I realized I might pass out from lack of breath and dropped it back to a fast walk.
I past security on my way to the check baggage line and saw they had the fly-by lane open. This would be very helpful as I was cutting it very close. I get into the deceptively short check baggage line. Wouldn't you know I would be stuck behind a family with a newborn without the proper documents that said newborn actually existed (despite the obvious very small human in mom's arms). Right behind them was a foreign gentleman who when asked if he wanted a boarding pass printed for him responded with "I do not know what that is". It crossed my mind that this could be a security concern, but I did not have time to dwell as I checked my bag and dashed off to the security line.
Remember how i said I had fly-by status for security? Well, that is truly a great thing when you are running late, and when it is actually open. Yep-it had been closed while I was checking my bag. I was now stuck in a very long security line filled with seniors who hadn't flown since 9-11 and the international gentleman who knew nothing about flying in the US as evidenced by not only his lack of knowledge regarding boarding passes, but also his lack of knowledge regarding security procedures!
I make it through (finally- I figured it would be my luck I would be pulled for a strip search at this point). I was somewhat relieved my flight had been delayed five minutes. A critical decision had to be made at this point-coffee or restroom? I decided initially on coffee, but saw the line at the Starbucks and switched course for the restroom. Relieved, I dashed by the airport vending stand, grabbed a pre-packaged muffin, threw money at the attendant and ran to my gate. I didn't even have to slow down as they started boarding just as I got there.
We got in the air fairly uneventfully, and the kindest, sweetest, most handsome steward handed me a cup of coffee. At that moment in time he was my favorite person in the whole wide world.
I got to fly to Austin, then to Houston, where my coffee purveyor left me. I must admit, my heart broke a little as by the time the flight from Austin to Houston happened, I had him trained on just how I like my coffee.
While on the ground in Houston, the plane got very hot. Extremely hot. So hot I must have passed out from heat exhaustion. When I came to, I was very thirsty, but drink orders had already been taken. And the new stewardess was not nearly as friendly as her predecessor. But, I would not be denied my "free" drink!
We get to Nashville, I get my bag and discover that somewhere between Lubbock and Nashville a piece of my suitcase had been knocked off. I'm not sure what you call it but makes the case slide better. The two protruding knobs where said slidy thing had been actually impede the slidability of the bag into the trunk.
I gat in my rental car, get out the GPS that I had grabbed out of my car at home and go to plug it in. And discovered I had the wrong charger. Following another brief screaming fit, I pull up Google maps on my cell phone and attempt to navigate unfamiliar interstates and highways with my red, green, and blue pins guiding me. I don't recommend this method to drivers. I get to the hotel at 2:00 and they inform the they don't have a room available for me to check in. I ask for directions to the nearest Walmart and went to buy myself a new GPS. (original one was actually El Hubbo's)
So, that was my travel day to Nashville. I guess I should just be grateful that I made it!
Glad you made it back! I really enjoy your posts.
ReplyDeleteFriend of Christy G
WOW. FoCG (Friend of CG). This gives me hope that I too, could aspire to have my own following. West Texas Mama Jr. -- oh snap, that kind of implies a child and I'm not a mama. How about -- West Texas Dog Mama ?!?! Surely sleeping with 300 pounds of dog qualifies me for that!! Well anyway, if I ever travel with you, I'll make you a deal. You can have my coffee, if I can have your vanilla diet dr. pepper (VDDP).
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