Day 10 – Heading Home

Everyone else was up by the time I woke up on Saturday. I grabbed a cup of coffee and then started a load of my dirty clothes.

Jake had been talking about his new way to make biscuits, so he started making them while I was in the shower. By the tie I was done and dressed, he had both the biscuits and some sausage gravy done!

Great, right? WRONG! That meant I didn’t get to see (and be able to copy) his new method, dammit!

But, I got to admit, they were even better than his usual great biscuits. The gravy had a lot of pepper in it (which I like) and all in all it was a perfect breakfast send-off.

I put the clean clothes in the suitcase and Jake carried it downstairs. I asked him if it felt like it weighed more than 50 pounds (that’s when you have to pay extra) and he said he didn’t know, but it was pretty heavy! I put my onion sausage in the little cooler and Jake put my suitcase in the trunk.

Back inside, we were all set to go when Jake asked where my car keys were. I remembered I hadn’t got them out of the suitcase (I throw them there when I’m traveling). So, he got the suitcase back out and I rooted around until I found them. Better here than in the airport parking structure.

We left for the airport just before noon. I didn’t want to leave, but realized if I stayed much longer they would start putting me to work.

We said our goodbyes on the sidewalk and I walked in.

The airport was not crowded so I got my ticket right away. The suitcase, BTW, weighed 47 pounds! Whew! The lady who checks your ticket against your driver license gave me an orange laminated card and told me it meant I didn’t have to take my shoes off (huh?) I breezed through the checkpoint with a minimal pat-down and took the short walk to my gate.

I was more than an hour and a half early and there weren’t many people yet. I read for a long while and then decided to get some lunch. I figured I wouldn’t be getting home until about 7:00 p.m. and had no dinner planned.

So, I went to a little café (one of two in the airport – it’s a little airport). They had a turkey club sandwich on special so I ordered it. I told them to skip the chips and give me some onion rings. When it came, they had it cut into quarters and I ate one before I remembered to take the picture, LOL!

The flight to Charlotte was full and the airplane was warm (again), but it was a short flight.

The Charlotte airport was as crowded as usual. I had one gate change during my wait and then we boarded. I had to laugh, the airplane was only about half full. I think I have remarked on this before, but apparently everyone wants to leave Detroit, but few people want to go back!

This time the plane (just as small as the one from Columbia to Charlotte) was delightfully cool. The flight was smooth and we got to DTW almost 30 minutes early.

Metro airport was almost empty! Apparently few people fly out at 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday. I went to fetch my suitcase and watched as most people on the flight got theirs and left. Everyone, that is, except for an Amish couple back from Haiti who got two out of three suitcase and a young girl who didn’t get hers and me!

We waited and waited, but no more suitcase came up. I finally asked an airport employee what we should do and he directed us to the US Airway’s lost luggage office. I let the young girl go first, while I chatted with the Amish. I told them how lucky I was that Jake had reminded me about my keys or I’d be walking home. I never even thought about my onion sausage thawing! I was bothered when I saw the girl filling out a form and then leave empty handed.

I gave the lady my baggage check and she searched her computer. She said it showed being bar-coded onto my flight. I told her it never came up. So, she called somebody to check. It took another 10 minutes or so, but it finally spit up from the bowels of the airport!

Relieved, I went and retrieved my truck. I drove out and paid to get it out of hock. Then I headed home.

I was about an hour late, with no dinner. So, I stopped at the little Chinese place next to CVS and got a quart of chicken fried rice.

When I pulled in, the house was still standing and no visible signs of the great flood. I went in and Caley greeted me (loudly). I petted her for a while and then gave her a snack. Then I unloaded the truck and took it all in the front door.

I got my accumulated mail (I had put it on hold and they delivered it all Friday), came in and reconnected the garage door opener. I pulled the truck in and buttoned everything up for the night.

It was getting dark, so I’ll have to wait for Sunday to check the shed. But, I don’t see any signs out the window that anything in the yard got flooded.

Only the top onion sausage had thawed, so I put that in the fridge. The rest went into the freezer.

I ate some of the fried rice while I watched the end of True Grit (the John Wayne one). I unpacked the suitcase and made a pile of the pants and shirts. I’ll run them through a rinse cycle on Sunday and dry them again to get the wrinkles out.

Sidebar: Caley still had plenty of food and water left, and the three kitty litter boxes were not that full. The difference between one versus two cats is amazing! And, best of all, there were no hairballs on the bed!!!

I was bushed, so I was asleep before 10:00 p.m.