End of the 48, Day 8
Ed. note: This post was delayed due to human error. My bad.
(7/11) -- The final morning out west began with an early-morning (6am) discussion on why a trash bag wouldn't be the best choice for stashing dirty clothes on a cross-country return trip home. So instead, we trekked out to WalMart, where I promptly found a packaged pair of canvas bags in the Outdoors section. However, the check-out computer didn't accept the item being in stock (despite three other similar packages being visibly in stock), so the stock boy had to get the correct bar code for the cash register to scan -- from the back of the store.
Needless to say, this generated a delay in returning to the airport, compounded by the cross-town journey to the airport on the first day of lane/ramp closures on I-90. And we still had to top off and drop off the rental car. Fortunately, the USAirways ticket agent recognized our need for an expedited entry for our 8:30 take-off and called ahead to warn our gate.
The flights themselves were largely uninteresting; flights went as scheduled through Phoenix and Charlotte. The Charlotte-Charleston flight did provide a lovely lightning show off to the north and west of the plane, though we ourselves experienced no rough skies. (The pilot did warn those of us driving to the northwest from the airport to watch out for the rain.) And in one last gasp of vacation insanity, Chad forgot where we had parked in the parking garage and spent 10 minutes scouring the wrong floor for me and my car.
(7/11) -- The final morning out west began with an early-morning (6am) discussion on why a trash bag wouldn't be the best choice for stashing dirty clothes on a cross-country return trip home. So instead, we trekked out to WalMart, where I promptly found a packaged pair of canvas bags in the Outdoors section. However, the check-out computer didn't accept the item being in stock (despite three other similar packages being visibly in stock), so the stock boy had to get the correct bar code for the cash register to scan -- from the back of the store.
Needless to say, this generated a delay in returning to the airport, compounded by the cross-town journey to the airport on the first day of lane/ramp closures on I-90. And we still had to top off and drop off the rental car. Fortunately, the USAirways ticket agent recognized our need for an expedited entry for our 8:30 take-off and called ahead to warn our gate.
The flights themselves were largely uninteresting; flights went as scheduled through Phoenix and Charlotte. The Charlotte-Charleston flight did provide a lovely lightning show off to the north and west of the plane, though we ourselves experienced no rough skies. (The pilot did warn those of us driving to the northwest from the airport to watch out for the rain.) And in one last gasp of vacation insanity, Chad forgot where we had parked in the parking garage and spent 10 minutes scouring the wrong floor for me and my car.