flyin' back..

... to ATL on Thursday afternoon.  Took much longer than I had planned, but I got down, and out (of the terminal) and safely back home, in time to fall into bed, exhausted from travels. I decided it would not be judicious to set my watch for Central Standard Time adjustment when we crossed over, so left it on Eastern Daylight. Also left my appetite on Georgia time, to avoid confusing my taste buds.

When I woke up Thursday morning, on the edge of wakefulness, I began to ponder the day and realized I would be leaving St. Louis at 4 o'clock Eastern time (according to my un-adjusted watch), instead of the 3:00 that was the official departure time. Even so, I did not want to chance getting stuck in a long line going through the x-ray machines and being processed by TSA. We decided I should get there by 1:00 for a 3:00 flight. I am still surprised I got through the inspection process in record time, did not know I was 'pre-checked', or that the lines would be astoundingly short compared to tedious congestion of Atlanta. Plus I kept on my shoes, not required to separate out any belongings: computer, personal items, things they are so hard-nosed about in other airports.

But for some unknown reason the flight was about twenty minutes late boarding, meaning we did not get off the ground nearly as soon as anticipated. Even with the time-traveling of flying back into history by crossing into a different zone, the expected arrival time for landing at ATL was 5:30. There was serious weather occurring as we neared north Georgia, causing the flight to circle for about thirty minutes. I told a seat mate it reminded me of the time I was coming into Atlanta in bad weather many years ago, when we were forced to circle above a thunderstorm. We were up there for so long, the flight was diverted to Chattanooga to refuel. It was a safe landing, as the weather had probably blown out into the Atlantic Ocean by the time we got back to take our place in the landing pattern. I can still be thankful we did not run out of gas while at 20,000 feet.

My daughter, who was not charging me for long term parking while my car was at her house, met me. We had a bite to eat, and I got started home. The parking lot at the airport is a huge mess. I feel like I drove for miles up and down lanes, past concrete barriers, following orange directional arrows to get to the toll booth, insert my ticket and be on my way. Rained all the way down the interstate, but otherwise an uneventful return to fall into bed and sleep like a stone.