Sunday

I woke up for good just before noon. My flight was at 6pm and I didn't want to sleep the entire day away, then not be able to sleep that night.

We got up, chatted, she showed me some stuff around her apartment then we left to get some food. We found a really good Japanese place not far from her house. Did a little bit of browsing at a Borders then went home. It was after 4.

Jason was home when we got there. He had been in Charlotte and decided that is was unsafe for him to drive home in his Chevy Blazer, through the same storm we drove through in a Miata. When we walked in the door he started complaining about the 2 hour drive home with their dog. (Apparently the dog has really bad breath. I have yet to meet a dog that doesn't.) He clearly wanted sympathy. He wasn't getting any. Neither Terra or I could muster anything that even resembled sympathy. He tried to tell us that we were exaggerating. He had driven that far before and it wasn't that bad. I let him know that I had driven 24 hours straight, and this WAS that bad. He made comments towards that he had driven 24 hours straight as well, so I changed the subject.

Previously, the worst road trip I had ever been, which really wasn't that bad, was when I helped a friend move from Santa Monica, CA to Boston, MA. I joined her when she came through SLC, with her 2 cats. I learned somewhere in the middle of WY that I was allergic to cats. We couldn't find a hotel anywhere in Nebraska, so we drove 23 hours and 45 minutes straight to Chicago. We spent 24 hours in Chicago, recouperating, then drove another 15 hours straight to Boston, which seemed like a breeze after 24 hours. I got 2 speeding tickets on that trip. One in WY and one in CT. 8.5 hours from Richmond to Knoxville in a Miata was WORSE, hands down.

We made it to the airport in time, only to find out my flight was delayed. After a series of questions, I decided that I would probably make my connection, but that I would have to run. It was a 56 minute flight, and I had about an hour layover. When it finally landed I had 30 minutes until my flight left, 20 until they closed the door and wouldn't let me on. I was in the middle of the plane at gate E19. My flight to Phoenix was going out of B3. Pull up a map of the Charlotte airport, it is a LONG way. As soon as I was out of the jetway I started running. I ran all the way out of the E concourse. I walked as fast as I could the rest of the way, not really knowing what time it was, but knowing that I didn't have to run. All I could think was that no matter what pain I was in, it would be worth it to make the flight, and I would have 5 hours to recover, on the plane. Otherwise I was in Charlotte for the night and I would have to take a half day off of work the next day.

I made it. I spent the entire flight coughing up phlem, but I made it.

Total time spent in a car: 8 hours 30 minutes
Total time spent in an airplane: 12 hours 11 minutes

Total time spent in a car or plane: 20 hours 46 minutes
Total time away from Phoenix: 47 hours 49 minuts

The lady who drove the shuttle that took me from my car to the airport made me promise to tell Terra "I hope you know how lucky you are to have a friend like me" when I told her where I was going and what I was doing. I laughed it off and told her I would. I did, and Terra said she was well aware. SHE DAMN WELL BETTER BE!

I make fun. This trip was worse than I thought it would be, but I would do it again in a second, it just would have been better had her husband not owned a MIATA!