Day Twenty-Two – Homeward Bound

July 12, 2016 – Bumpy Road

Sure enough, we’re both up and moving at five and everything goes like clock work. The last things go in the suitcases, tea is drunk, last dishes are washed, dried and put away.  The place is shipshape.  Last night we swept all the floors and shook out the rugs and we think we’ve done all we can.

At seven we’re on the road and stop one last time at La Grange to drop off the trash and say our final good-byes to Sharon and Dana.

When we stop for gas I glance at my email (my phone is still the only one that works out here in God’s country) and see that at 7:20 Delta told us that our 12:36 flight is delayed.  We could have slept in;  but we’re on the road now, so we might as well keep going. Interesting side bar - a lady at the Irving Gas Station leaves her car running while she goes inside!  I guess things really are different in Maine!

It’s a pretty direct route from Princeton to Bangor and we deliver the rental car and enter the airport right on our original schedule.  We go to the ticket counter to drop off our luggage, hoping that we haven’t exceeded the fifty-pound limit.  We looked it up last night, and there’s a seventy-five dollar overage fee! I don’t know what Marilyn’s weighed;  but she passed!  Mine was only thirty-five pounds!  We get new boarding passes and the young trainee works mightily to find us a new flight from La Guardia to Tampa.

Bangor has only six gates, but they have a café that serves breakfast and a special room for Maine Troop Greeters!  So many of our military leave and arrive back in the USA through Bangor. 

After breakfast we decide to go through security and settle down at our gate.  They don’t really have the facilities for TSA pre-check; but at least we don’t have to take off our shoes or go through the x-ray thingie.  There are charging stations and since we’re going to be here a while we plug in and play computers.  There is a lady sitting next to us and she is listening to the comments we’re making as we edit our photos.  Finally she has to ask what game we’re playing!!  Comments like, “I just need one good head” really caught her attention!  She asks if Marilyn knows what she is saying! Out of context, when you don’t know we’ve got photos of beavers, it does sound pretty skeevy!

The new departure time keeps changing and the three of us all get different messages, via text or email or Delta app.  The Delta rep on site is an older gentleman with only six months before retirement.  He’s extremely entertaining!  After a couple of hours Delta provides five pizzas, a box of snacks, and sodas!

Finally our flight arrives.  It isn’t a long flight and we arrive in La Guardia with nearly three hours before our flight home.  We don’t even have to worry about finding our gate, since it is right next to the one through which we arrive.

There’s a lady sitting across from us with a take-out salad and Marilyn asks her where she got it.  We follow her directions to the huge salad bar and hot bar.  You fill your container, weigh it, label it, and go to the self-serve payment station. It’s so straight forward that I’m surprised when I have to help a guy figure out the scale machine!

We’ve carried all our luggage with us and trekking all the way back to the gate is a bit challenging;  but we make it.  I’m starving since I couldn’t eat the pizza and dive right into my salad.  Marilyn has hers, too, and finally it’s time to board.

We’re all set to go at our scheduled departure time of 7:20, even though we’re in the last row and there isn’t a window that we can see.  The bad news is that there are twenty-four planes ahead of us!  Finally, finally, we’re in the air!  A beverage and some peanuts and eventually we’re on the ground in Tampa. 

Of course we’re about the last ones off the plane.  Because of the new construction, there is a man directing us to the tram.  From there we go down to find that our

 luggage is already on the carousel.  We snag our bags and head outside.  Wrong.  Stu was waiting for us at the tram!  We must have walked right past him.  He had planned to help with our bags.  Instead we meet him outside the elevator in the parking garage and he loads us up.

We take Marilyn home first, and then I’m finally home.  Stu brings in my heaviest bag (yea, okay, so I’ve got a roll aboard, a back pack and a carry on!). Mostly, I think he wants to see the progress on the kitchen!  He checks out the new wiring and the new ductwork. All is going well!  It’s after midnight and I owe Stu dinner.  Maybe tomorrow night, since I don’t have a kitchen and will enjoy eating out!! What a trip!!

I've set up a kitchen on the hearth!  Thanks, Marilyn, for the idea, and Matt, for the high-powered extension cord!