Saturday

Saturday morning was cold, but the wind and snow had stopped. I went and got my hair cut at my barber's at 9:30 AM. I doubled the amount I usually give her and told her Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I went back home for a bit and then headed out for massage appointment at 10:30. Margaret (my massage therapist) and another therapist were sitting and chatting at the front desk when I came in Margaret asked how I felt after the first massage. I told her not as bad as she made it sound. She said, "Good!" I said, "Oh, I thought you just didn't do a very good job!" They both just looked at me for a moment, but when I started to laugh, they did too.

Then she paid me back... [Note to self: NEVER tease a massage therapist about not doing a good job!]

I felt like somebody had beat me up with a 2x4 afterwards. I went home and took a shower, then finished packing. I left the house at 1:00 PM for the airport. I had a 5:09 PM flight out of Detroit for Columbia (via Charlotte) to spend Christmas with Jake and Carla. I figured with all the holiday travelers, I better get there early to find a place to park, check in, go through security, etc.

So, I got a ticket and pulled into the Blue Lot long term parking. I have had bad experiences in the past finding a place to park, so I was a little concerned. But, I found one, so I pulled in, got out my suitcase and started the long walk to the elevators.

Much to my surprise, when I got to the elevators, I found three handicap spots open. Now, I don't mind the walk, but I have apparently taken a spot "anybody" could use and ignored the ones only handicapped people can use. I tried to just forget about that, but then I figured that was wrong, So, I walked all the way back, loaded my suitcase back in the car, pulled out and parked in the handicap spot.

Now, I did the "print your own boarding pass" thingie, so I asked somebody how I would get my suitcase tagged. He said I had to get in line... the very line to get your boarding passes! So, all I did was save the airline the cost of printing my boarding passes! Live and learn...

When I put my (admittedly) overloaded suitcase up, she said it was five pounds overweight and I would have to pay an additional $95.00! I said, "Wait a minute! If I brought two suitcases, I would have had to pay $35.00 for the second one. What's wrong with this picture?" She said, "Isn't there anything you could take out and put in your carry-on? My "carry-on" was my library bag with my book and two bags of Better Made potato chips - a treat for Carla as you can't get them down south. I said, "No, I'll just pay the damn money!" She said, "Don't you have something heavy like books in there?" I said, "Wait a minute, I have two cookbooks (Carla's present) but they can't weigh that much." She said, "Just try, sir." So, I took them out, and they weighed 5.5 pounds! Problem solved, except I was worried they would crush the chips during the rest of my journey.

I knew I would have to wait for some time, so I deliberately didn't eat lunch. I figured I would just eat at the nearest restaurant by my gate. That turned out to be a Ruby Tuesday. After some deliberation, I ordered the crab cake sandwich and fries. Big mistake! Eating a crab cake with a fork is messy enough, but picking it up on a bun and taking a bite immediately showers you with crab cake bits!

I tried to eat it as daintily as possible and cleaned up the considerable mess with my napkin, hoping nobody had been watching me.

They changed gates on me twice, but finally I boarded. My seat companion was a very friendly Asian high school senior. We chatted for a while while waiting to take off on where she was planning to go to college (she'd been accepted at two) and so on. Finally we were airborne and I went to reading a book. Then for some reason, they turned off the cabin lights (and kept them off for most of the flight). She tried to turn her light on for me, but it wouldn't work. I held the book up close to my face and soldiered on. Then she got out her lighted Kindle and started reading too. I said to her, "Now you're just showing off!" and she laughed.

I had twenty minutes to deplane and get to my next gate. I used most of it up, even with hurrying. Charlotte is not as big as, say, Detroit Metro, but its still pretty big.

At the gate, I sat across a young lady dressed in Air Force fatigues. I asked her if she was going to Fort Jackson for training, and she said, no, she lived in the area and was going home on leave for Christmas. I told her I assumed that because I knew other branches of the services also trained at Fort Jackson. She agreed and said she herself was training at the Naval base in Pensacola, Florida. I asked her in what and she said she was training to be a jet engine mechanic.

When it was time to board, we walked out on the tarmac and climbed up into a small prop plane (not the first time for me on the flight between Charlotte and Columbia). We had to wait for three wheelchair passengers to board and she remarked that she'd been working on the flight line and never seen a prop plane before. I told her just to wait until they fired that sucker up.

The short trip to Columbia went without a hitch (or any turning off of the interior lights). My seat partner was one of the wheel chair folks. When we landed, she started to get up and I told her to wait, that they would come get her when the wheelchairs came. As I was walking out, another wheelchair person was struggling to stand and I told him to sit back down, they would be coming for him. He said, "Are you sure?" I said, "Trust me,  I've been there." Sure enough, when I deplaned, the wheel chairs were just arriving.

I stopped in the restroom and then headed out. Just then the Airman I'd talked to early came out of the woman's restroom. She agreed the prop planes were completely different from what she was used to. As we walked, she said goodbye and said, "I've go to see my family NOW!" She went running down the hall to some folks waiting for her and they had a group hug.

Just behind them, I saw Jake and Carla, and Carla ran up to me and hugged me, too. Jake had to wait for his hug because of the airman's family.

We retrieved my bag and went out to the car. I told them of my adventures to date as we drove home.

Since it was almost 8:00 PM, they asked if I had eaten. I said yes, about 2:00 PM but I was hungry if they wanted to stop somewhere. So, we went to a new fast food place that had just opened up called Smashburger. The name come from the cooking process, as they grab a handful of ground meat, throw it on a flatop and smash it down with a brick (or something). They flip it once and then put the brick back on. This gives it a nice char.

Unfortunately, I decided to get the Smashburger with chili on top (as did Jake). This made for yet another messy eating experience although it tasted fantastic and the pretzel bun was excellent. And, regrettably, I didn't notice there were two options for the fries - regular (which Jake and I ordered) and "Smash-fries" which Carla did order. They had rosemary and garlic on them and, as soon as I tasted one of hers, I wish I had ordered them.

We got back to the house and talked for a while. But, I was tired and after setting up my suitcase items, I went to bed. I read a little, but it had been a long day and I finally gave up and went to sleep.