the texas thang

this latest trip
started off with a first for me...
it was the first time
i have ever missed a flight
one of those mornings
where i set the alarm
but it didn't go off
because i set it for 5:40pm
instead of a.m.
and the taxi i had arranged to come pick me up
forgot.
and so that backup didn't work either
thank god for mum
who was wondering why i hadn't said good bye
before i left on my trip
and then realized
that i was still sleeping
and came to wake me
i must say
i felt like a little kid again
standing at the bottom of the stairs
saying, "mom!!! what should i do?!?!"
the plane was leaving at 8am
and here i was at 7am
still at home
she called a friend of hers
who was up and free
(thank you robert!!!)
and came to pick me up
in his spiffy red matrix
he even did
one of those cool moves
as he pulled up
and spun the car 180 degrees in front of the house
so that we were pointing in the right direction
my suitcase was on the sidewalk already
and i sprinted to the car
tossed everything in the trunk
and off we went
despite the morning rush hour traffic
which is nasty around the university area where i live
and even worse when it's cold and snowy out
(-27C)
he arrived at about 7:34am by his clock
which was 5 minutes fast
at 7:47am real time (7:52am robert time)
i was out of the car
and running to the northwest counters
which were completely abandoned
i found a nwa lady in the office
and at 7:51am
i was saw the preboarding announcements
and still missed my flight
because u.s. customs closed 30 minutes before my flight departure
as did the counter
luckily,
the gods were kind
and the lady (val was her name)
booked me on the next flight
without charging me for missing my flight
so i got to hang around till my 2pm flight
and didn't get into dallas until about 10pm or so
i realize sometimes
it's the little thangs that make everything "ok"
the kindness of the nwa lady
the 2 flight attendants who were with me from
edmonton to minnesota and then on to dallas
(and they gave me tons of pretzels and drinks!)
the bus guy who saw me standing there alone at DFW
stopped
and gave me a ride to the rental car shuttle drop off
(he insisted)
which i don't think i would have found easily
and there was no one there to ask at that time of night
(it's a freaking HUGE airport here!!!)
he actually caught up to the shuttle bus
and dropped me off in front of it's next stop
cool...
and even tho
i wasn't able to use my rental upgrade coupon
(all cars were sold out till thursday... it was tuesday nite)
i finally got to drive a nissan altima
and i can see why my lil bro likes them so much
they sure have decent accel
and handle nicely even for a base model
so
here i am now
after a days work
and a decent tex mex meal
and tomorrow i'm off to longview
i've had a couple chances
to hear the ol' southern drawl
which i love so much
but i've not been listening to any country music just yet
because all the stations seem to be playing
top 40s
or christmas music

anyways
i'm enjoying the weather here
mid 60s during the day
tho it drops to the high 30s at night
i did bring a toque
so i'm set
sure beats edmonton weather
*grin*
looking forward to driving around texas a bit
and maybe seeing an armadillo or two
tho i hope it's not because i get lost in the country side
like the last time i was here
...mind you,
seeing lil armadillos run free and wild
was worth getting lost for
:)