I'm home!

More pictures and stories to come. Right now I'm exhausted. My day today went something like this:

I said a sad good-bye to people who mean the world to me. I wish I lived in Connecticut still. I might move back when my kids are big.

Then I drove to NYC to catch my flight. There was an overturned semi when I reached New York, and the highways in New York are NOT like the highways in Wisconsin. There is no "on ramp" after an exit. You are pretty much screwed once you leave the highway. I kept finding myself UNDER bridges I was supposed to be going over. I was (or maybe wasn't) surprised to find porta-pottys, graffitti and homeless people under said bridges. Good thing I'm street-smart and only contemplated asking them for directions while locking my doors.

I found my way on my own. (OK, I asked the toll-booth lady how to get to the airport after paying her FIVE BUCKS for the toll to drive over the WRONG BRIDGE.) I needed the one NEXT to the one I was on. They look the same. In fact, I crossed over THREE big bridges. One brought me to Long Island, one to New Jersey, and then I got on the right one. They all looked the same to me.

I got lost in the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and then Queens again before I found LaGuardia airport.

I returned my rental car and headed to the ticketing counter. I was informed my flight was overbooked due to American Airlines passengers being jilted from their flights, which were cancelled. I had to wait for the next flight. OK. This actually was a good thing considering I realized I still had the rental car's keys in my hand. Oops. I called from the little yellow "Hertz" phone on the wall, and had to walk outside to give them to the Hertz shuttle bus driver.

I got on the plane, and as I was boarding, I saw the very young looking pilot TEXTING on his cell phone in the cockpit. I don't know why this bothered me. I don't know; Big Jet Pilots shouldn't be texting just prior to takeoff. They should be looking smart doing Pilot-like things I think. I kicked myself for not picking the right bridge the first time and being able to take my original flight.

Turbulance jolted me from a light sleep; in fact it jolted me from my seat. I looked at the passenger beside me a few times for reassurance. He didn't seem scared, so I pretended not to be too.

I landed in Chicago, and somehow got lost leaving Midway Airport. I ended up on the Interstate that takes you RIGHT smack into Downtown Chicago. I'm NOT exagerating when I tell you I saw the Sears Tower either out my windshield, passenger window, or rear view mirror for THREE HOURS. THAT is how long it took me to get past downtown. It took me ALMOST 6 HOURS to drive from Chicago to Madison; normally about a 2 hour drive. My left leg ached from pushing in the clutch so much as I went from 0-20 mph over and over and over and over and over.

I'm home now. I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

I have an EMS refresher class ALL DAY tomorrow. And Sunday. Yay.

Nite.