Vacation in Florida, Day One

On Thursday morning Dick and I left home at 6:15.  That felt like a reasonable time for catching a 12:00 noon flight from Baltimore, wouldn't you think?  We were wrong.  This was taken somewhere around Harrisburg as it was just beginning to rain.

The further south we drove the more it was raining.  By the time we hit the beltway around Baltimore it was pouring.  The older I get, the worse I am as a passenger.  Poor Dick.  I was gasping every two minutes.  I was absolutely looking forward to getting on an airplane so I could relax.  But that was not about to happen any time soon,  Traffic was heavier than we had ever seen it on the beltway - absolutely bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go the entire time.  

As we sat and crawled along Dick said, "I'm going to have to pull over.  Our car is overheating." My heart sank as I looked at the temperature gauge and saw the needle right up in the red.  When we got a chance to pull over, Dick got out in the pouring rain, opened the hood, then asked me for my water bottle.  He poured that into the radiator, then went to the ditch that was running with rain water and filled my water bottle up again and poured that in.  When he got back into the car he admitted that when he had checked the oil and water levels before we left home, he had forgotten to put the radiator cap back on!   The cap was still under the hood!   While it was a relief to know that the problem was that simple, it did not relieve our immediate problem of getting to the airport on time.  Because the radiator was so overheated, it did not allow enough water to enter at one time, so we had to stop two more times to add water.  THANK GOD it was raining and there was water running in the ditches.  Otherwise, Dick may have poured his Mountain Dew into the radiator.  

The stress of the situation was just horrible.  We were literally praying out loud as we drove.  All I could think of was that we MUST NOT miss our flights!!  This stupid ticket saga had to end!!  It was a great relief to finally reach the long term parking lot and the shuttle.  Of course, even that seemed to just crawl along as I kept my eye on my watch.  We were glad to find out that the US Airways and United terminals were right next to each other, but I was dismayed to see that the check-in line at US Airways was LOOOONNNGGG!!  Dick waited nearby and we eventually went through security together.   Both our flights were leaving from D gates, so we hurried in that direction together and then kissed goodbye at the point where his gate was one direction and mine was in the other.  We kept in touch by texting as long as we could.  My flight was delayed by at least half an hour, so I was not going to be missing it.  Whew!!

From Baltimore, he flew to Chicago and I flew to Charlotte.  Again we kept in touch from those two locations as long as we could, and again my flight was very delayed.  They said that our aircraft to Tampa had to go to the hangar for repairs and they would be finding us another one,  As we collectively sighed, the older gentleman sitting beside me said, "Well, I'm glad we're NOT boarding that plane if it needed repairs."  That put things into proper perspective.  He ended up being a very enjoyable conversationalist, and it made the time pass more quickly as we waited.  

At last we boarded and were Tampa bound.  Initially I was to have gotten there an hour before Dick, but he got there just a bit before me.  When I got to baggage claim, he, Lisa, and Sophie were waiting for me.  AHHHHHH.  Relief, relief, relief!!!  

We were all hungry and stopped at BJ's at the Citrus Park mall for a very delicious dinner, then came to the house to watch some highlights from The Voice.  We all LOVE that show!  

George was not here that first night.  He was at the University of Florida in Gainsville to take an eight-hour test on Friday - the culmination of eighteen months of a Masters in Pharmacy program he has been taking.