Anatomy of a Bowl Trip – Day 3

Wednesday, January 2, 2008
It turns out that it is fortunate I slept fitfully because even though I was careful to set the alarm for 4:15 a.m. I forgot to make sure that the time on the clock was set appropriately. Therefore the clock thought that it was 4:15 p.m. and never rang. However, I had awakened a few minutes earlier because of a full bladder and was lying in bed waiting for the alarm. When it didn’t ring or buzz or anything else I discovered my error, got up and tried to wake the others. That was no easy task by any means. N was hungry when he woke up so I microwaved his sandwich from the night before, and he ate about three quarters of it while we dressed and prepared to meet the shuttle to the airport. The driver was a typical Super Shuttle driver, eschewing all speed limits and making heavy use of both the gas pedal and the brake. N whispered to me when we got to the airport that he was glad we didn’t die. While this may have been overblowing the situation somewhat, it wasn’t that far off the mark either.

We arrived at the airport much earlier than necessary (which I thought would happen when the shuttle scheduler insisted that we had to leave as early as we did for them to guarantee arriving at the airport in time for our flight). We checked in and went in search of breakfast. At the airport snack bar, I had a low fat yogurt and a cup of coffee. N had some Frosted Flakes and orange juice, and W had a plain bagel and a cup of coffee. We then proceeded through security and headed out to our gate. It was 6:34 a.m. according to the clock on the terminal wall, and our flight didn’t leave until 8:20 a.m. We waited, but not patiently. Eventually, N and I walked back to the overpriced airport newsstand and purchased the latest (and last) Harry Potter book. N insisted that he wanted to read it with me while we waited for the plane and while we were on the plane. Interestingly, by the end of our travels that day we were still on page 2. We returned to our gate and eventually we boarded for the first leg of our trip – Orange County to San Jose.

By 9:45 a.m. we were at the San Jose airport and had a four hour layover until our connection to Chicago O’Hare was scheduled to leave. Four long hours. Four very long, very boring hours in the airport in San Jose. At least we got a bit of a walk as our Orange County to San Jose leg was on American and the San Jose to Chicago O’Hare leg was on United. That meant having to change terminals, not a huge deal but frustrating to W who absolutely hates taking his shoes off for security, and you just don’t have any other choice. When we finally arrived at our gate, N and W went to a bagel place just a little way from our gate to get us some lunch. Mine consisted of an Everything Bagel with cream cheese and a peach Snapple. It was now about 10:30 a.m., still over three hours to flight time. We were all getting grumpy and short with one another. I was very much wishing they would both leave me alone. They very well may have felt the same about me. I tried reading, but N insisted that I not read the book without him and he didn’t want to read it at that time. W fell asleep while we sat at the gate. How he slept I’ll never know as Mrs. I-must-speak-loudly-into-my-cell-phone-to-be-heard was going on and on and on about family members’ health conditions and who said what to whom. N and I got up and went for a walk about an hour before flight time, found Starbuck’s and Burger King where N got a hot chocolate and chicken sandwich and I got a peppermint mocha and a BK veggie burger (God bless BK for having a vegetarian burger). We carried our grub back to the gate, sat down and started to eat. W woke up and was a little hurt we hadn’t offered to get him anything. I told him he was no more hurt than I was that he falls asleep at will leaving me to have to stay awake to tend to N. N ate about half his sandwich and saved the other half to eat on the plane. We finished our drinks and went to the restroom shortly before they started boarding the plane. Lucky us, we were in the very last row of the plane, back by the lavatories, with the seats that won’t recline because the wall is right behind you. There was less leg room in the United plane than there had been on either of our American flights. Also, it seemed to me the seats were not as wide as those on American. We squeezed the three of us into our row, buckled in and all three of us promptly fell asleep. W woke before either N or I did. I was vaguely aware of a flight attendant asking him if he would like something to drink and him saying he wanted a Sprite. I was also vaguely aware that the in-flight movie had started, but I hadn’t a clue what it was or why I should be interested in it. I continued to sleep. When I woke up the credits were rolling. N was still sleeping, but he woke up soon after I did. I think the nap did both of us some good. We spent the remainder of the flight watching two TV shows I had heard of but not watched before: Las Vegas and Monk. Las Vegas was not good, IMHO. Monk was really good, but our plane landed before it was over. Now I have to go find out which channel carries Monk so I can watch it occasionally, and hopefully see how the episode turns out that I was watching on the plane. N ate most of his chicken sandwich after he woke from his nap. After we landed we made our way back to our car after bundling up the best we could given how little cold weather gear we had taken. W and N toughed it out and walked out to the car with me even though I offered to get the car and bring it around to the building. We got in the car, and it started right up in spite of the cold weather (only eight degrees according to a thermometer on a sign we passed shortly after leaving the airport). N asked as we breezed down the interstate (looking as though it had never seen snow or ice) if we were going to stop for dinner. I said yes, we were, just as soon as we saw an exit that looked promising. By the time we saw such an exit N was fast asleep. Not having the heart to wake him we drove on into the night until we finally reached home that night, just before midnight. N went in and collapsed on the sofa in the family room, fully clothed. We left him there. I went and sat for a bit in the family room trying to wind down enough to go to bed. I spent a little time blogging, and by 1:00 a.m. was in bed sound asleep.