Friday the 13th

OK--I called it yesterday, didn't I? I got up at 3:30AM so that I could be at the airport at the prescribed 2 hours before departure. This is me in the long-term parking area at 4:15AM. Don't I look happy?


This is what I found when I got into the terminal, 2 hours before departure:


Literally, not another person in the entire building! The ticket counter opens, I get checked in, I have a few minutes to kill, so I get online quick to check the United Airlines site. Flight to Denver delayed due to weather. To make and extremely long story short--I got switched to Delta, thanks to a couple of very nice ticket agents, and will never fly United again, thanks to a 54 minute phone call with a man with a heavy Indian/Pakistani accent who ultimately told me there was nothing he could do for me. Probably 45 minutes of that were spent on hold....

Once I got in the air, things seemed to be pretty good. No turbulence, no hijackers, no problems. Meeting me in Dallas at the airport was Stealth!

I checked in to the hotel, Stealth, her neighbor and I ran off to drink a couple of beers, came back to get ready, and met up with TaraTaintonand her partner.


Before heading up to Shumpy's for the first night of activities, we were stuck at the hotel, WAITING FOR THE TORNADO SIRENS TO END and avoid the SOFTBALL-SIZED HAIL! We ended up about two hours late, and were the last of the guests to arrive. Shumpy had the BBQ set up in his garage, and BTExpress and Lori and all the others had already started without us.




There was plenty of food and people, but you'll get more pics of that later on. These are just the preliminaries! I must make note of the plates/napkins that No One In Particular brought to the party. They brought a tear to my eye.


So day 1 ended. Day 2 has been spent recuperating (home after 4AM--I went 24+ hours without sleep!). Stealth is hosting tonight, and we have more of these to look forward to---



BTW--it's 48 degrees here right now. It's 70 back in Helena...