As I begin this post I’m in a shuttle bus on my way to the airport. It’s quiet, partly because it is 6:30 in the morning. It’s also quiet because they showed up maskless and I had one on when they arrived and I was asked if I prefer everyone mask up. I said “Well yeah because of what’s going on with the surge. Mandates are coming again Monday anyway.”. I’ll just leave it at that.

I am headed the airport to fly to Missouri to help Meghan out while she goes out to work on a forest fire. Certainly not excited about flying right now. I am really not looking forward to the weather either. I’m also not looking forward to going to a ‘rona hotspot but I’m heading back into lockdown mode myself and avoiding people anyway.

I’m going to pick up my dog and bring him home after nearly six months of him being gone. It’s gonna be so weird to have him back but I’m excited at the same time. I am sure he will be so excited to see me and get home too.

I’m also picking up my new (to me) vehicle and driving it back so I am going to get my road trip on after all! No idea which direction I’ll be driving back yet. I’ll know when I leave!

I’m glad I saw the problem with my Avalanche before I pulled the trailer halfway across the country. I’ll be getting it ready to sell when I get back. I think the issue is not as bad as I thought originally. I think it is just the rubber boot on the axle and not the joint itself. It should not be too expensive to fix it.

At the airport it is pretty busy. Way too busy, but at least everyone is masked up even though half don’t have their mask on correctly. Gotta cover the nose people; it’s not a jockstrap for your chin. I forgot my hand sanitizer but they had overpriced sanitizer wipes so I had to buy a pack. It’s easier than the liquid too.

Like everyone else, though, I am flying too so I am no different. We all have our different reasons and justifications for flying. I really cannot wait to get this over-with. I have to go to DFW then on a puddle jumper to MO.

I have snacks but breakfast was very early and now I am used to eating meals and not snacks and garbage foods. Traveling like this makes it difficult to do the diet but I will stick with it as much as I can. It’s a very long travel day, though, so I’ll be having to find something to eat at DFW. The turkey wrap on the plane menu was 24g of fat! I just cannot do that.

I wear stretchy cargo pants when I travel. And no, they are not like leggings so don’t get too excited dreaming of that mental image. They look like regular pants and are comfy and practical for travel. I will definitely not wear shorts on a plane; done it before and froze my ass off, plus my bare legs are not going on those seats.

Cargo pants give me places to put things without having to dig into my backpack suitcase (I will not check bags when I fly). Sanitizing supplies, masks, gloves…all in one pocket. Phone and cables, chargers, AirPods in the other side. They may not be for everyone but I am making it easier on myself.

I always consolidate everything down into my backpack before going through security – phone, wallet…everything, Before I board the plane I organize and pack stuff into my pockets that I need on the plane so I have most everything I need. I want to minimize disrupting the boarding process. The sooner we load the sooner we can get off the ground on time or maybe even leave earlier.

On the plane it is kind of a strange vibe. It is quiet and everyone is mostly staying to themselves. Most certainly I am not the only one on this flight that ate an edible or two this morning before boarding. Wake & bake!!!

I got a pair of AirPods Pro and holy cow…the noise canceling is even better than my Bose headphones which had this weird whine during the noise canceling. I heard no plane noise and they sound fantastic. I see what all the talk is about. Very impressive. They are much easier to carry too so I cannot wait to take them to Europe.

Speaking of whine I got a glass of the red stuff. It came in a can and I asked the flight attendant “What, no wine in a box?”. Nothing tastes good out of a can, especially booze, and this was certainly no exception. It had paint thinner notes with more than a hint of aluminum. I had one and it was enough. I’m doing good anyhoo with the edibles kicked in.

The first leg of the journey has been very calm; a smooth flight and no one acting like an asshole (so maybe THEY ate some edibles too!). I was actually worried about people being ducks but maybe they are getting the message they have to abide…just like The Dude. There’s no food unless you pre-order it beforehand so check on that before you fly anywhere.

I decided I had to eat something and was open to options knowing what was available at the airport would not be remotely healthy. I was going to go to Panda Express to eat what they try to pass off as Chinese food but on the way I saw Smashburger. I never had one but wanted to try it out so I did that instead. I don’t know if it was because it was in an airport but I found it very underwhelming and not worthy of the hype.

The final leg of the journey was okay. A little more lively crowd but still no assholes. The short flight was on American Airlines. I liked the first leg on Alaska much better.

I was glad to be on the ground and maskless and even more glad to see everyone. Wearing a mask all day has not been horrible, and medical people do it every day. I think I just might be able to do this going to Europe with no problem if it opens up consistently. By the time I got to where I was going it was 16 hours in a mask. I could do a non-stop to Amsterdam no problem I believe.

I’ll post again soon!