Missed flight, forgot stuff.

So the night before I was supposed to fly out, Bobbi had some unexpected work drama and before I knew it, it had gotten too late for me to go to bed.

See, I'd booked myself a 7:30AM flight from IND to ABQ via MSP. I like getting to the airport two hours before flight time to make doubly sure there are no TSA hiccups with the big case full of guns. There never are, but it's cheap insurance against the eventuality and I don't mind airports anyway. Once you're past the hassle of TSA, you're just hanging out in an overpriced mall.

So a 7:30 flight meant I wanted to get to the airport at five thirty, which meant leaving the house at 0500, which meant calling for an Uber at 0445 or so.

No problem, I'd just sit on the futon and read my newest P.J. O'Rourke book for a few hours and then summon my ride.

There was a front moving through. I could tell by the way my right knee and shin were twinging with pain. I rotated in my seat to elevate my legs, propping them atop my luggage stacked on the futon, and kinda laid back a little to continue...my...readi...zzzzz

The next thing I was aware of was Bobbi yelling "Tam! It's six o'clock!"

Holy crap.

I grabbed the small camera bag and slid it down over the extended handle of the big camera bag, tossed the assembly onto the porch, followed by the suitcase and gun case. While doing this, I summoned my Uber, which was fortunately only six minutes away. I grabbed the camera on the way out the door and slung it around my neck...no forgetting it this year!

The Uber driver got me to the airport in record time, and there was no line at the Delta counter, but it took a good ten minutes to shuffle through TSA, not helped by them wanting to run my bag through the scanner a second time.

I gathered up my stuff and bolted to the gate...just in time to see the jetway disconnect and the plane get pushed back.

That's the first flight I ever missed.

Fortunately, I had built in a 3-hour layover in MSP because I didn't want to arrive at ABQ too early, and so I was able to catch the next flight out and still not miss my connection. They gave me seat 29A in a full Airbus 319. Seat A! A window seat! A miracle!

Row 29 in a Delta Airbus 319 doesn't have windows, if you want to make note of that for your next seating selection chart.

Got to ABQ, checked the weather for Blogorado and...whoopsie. Looks cold on Saturday! I may have made it out of the house without forgetting any camera gear, laptop power supplies, or gaming mice, which are the usual things I forget, but I forgot my coat. In fact, I had not packed any jackets or sweaters of any kind.

On arriving at our final destination, however, we stopped at the local Tractor Supply analog for ammunition and other sundries, and I went to look for a jacket. They had a clearance rack of Carhartt coats and I found one I liked marked down to $50. Even better, the cashier scanned it and pronounced the actual price to be $40.

When I reported this to my fellow Blogoradans, they descended like locusts on the clearance rack until the place looked like a Carhartt convention and the clearance was truly cleared.

This is my first piece of Carhartt apparel, and I'm pretty impressed so far.
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