Saturday, September 18, 2021 – Travel Day Back to Indianapolis

Hi Sweetie,
What a terrible night! I don’t know if it was because the iced tea I drank with dinner was caffeinated or because I late later than usual, but I just couldn’t seem to get to sleep. I know I got some, but it was very intermittent, never for long, and never very deep. I ended up getting up an hour before my alarm was set to go off, just out of frustration. I left the packing until this morning, so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time. Took my shower and got everything packed up, took everything down to the truck by 6:30, grab a bagel for later, then headed out to the car rental dropoff. Things went so smoothly there I was at the airport by 7:15, though my plane wasn’t boarding until nearly 9:00. Everything went smoothly, flight left on time, and this time I was able to actually get a protein meal (meat on a croissant, some fruit, and something that tasted like rice pudding, but it looked more like couscous than rice). Satisfying, though, and that’s all that mattered. Arrived in Chicago almost on time. I was thinking, I’ve flown in or out of practically every major airport in the country, but have never been in Chicago O’Hare. Mostly because I’ve always intentionally avoided it because of unpredictable weather, but now that I’ve been here, I have a whole bunch more reasons. For starters, it’s HUGE! There’s no people movers between one wing to the American terminal and the next, so it was a VERY long walk from gate to gate, even though my departure date was at the beginning of a hall, which was a tiny reprieve. The gate had changed from the time I landed to the time I got to the L wing, but I managed to get there and get somewhat comfortable. Within 15 minutes, I got another text saying the flight was delayed by over 90 minutes. Not a cloud in the sky, so not weather related, turns out they had an absent pilot, and had to wait for them to fly in another one from Indianapolis to take over the flight! How nuts is that? They don’t have pilots in Chicago, really? Of course, with Chicago traffic, who knows, it might be faster that way anyway. So now my ride in Indy, which has already been changed from Joyce to Trish, is going to have to pick my up after 8:00 instead of the more convenient 6:50 as I had originally planned. Grrr! I’m too tired for this today! I can’t wait to get home, I need some sleep! So the plane finally landed after 8:10, I made to long walk to the baggage claim area. As soon as the belt started moving, I texted Trish that the bags were coming out and I’d only be a few minutes, because usually priority bags come out first. Of course, nothing has been usual about this flight, so even though one bag came out right away, the other one turned out to be almost the last bag to come out. Too exhausted for words! Finally loaded up in Trish’s truck, got back to the stables, and crashed in the trailer. Ate the bagel I took this morning from the hotel and went to bed. That’s it! I’m done today! Good night, darlin’! Love you!