My recent trip home from Texas was….how shall we say ….interesting.  You never know what you are going to encounter when you travel these days and this trip was the perfect example of how the unexpected is just that. Unexpected.  But it makes great content for a blog post so feel free to pour yourself a glass of iced tea (maybe even sweet tea to salute Texas) and settle in for a spell while I weave my yarn.

The day started out early with Chris dropping me off at the Dallas Fort Worth airport.  I have never flown from there so it was a new experience but no big deal.  I checked in at the Delta counter and for some reason the reservation came up for Brandon Clay.  Now I may not know much but I do know that I am not Brandon Clay.  Somewhere my information got intermingled with his and even though I had my confirmation and my own ticket the agent kept pulling up this other guy’s info.  A phone call, a consult with another agent and finally I was ready to go. Oh and I almost forgot—the lady in line next to me was having a major hissy fit because she got lost, arrived late and was in the wrong line and missed her flight. As a result she was going to have to pay some money to get it changed and she was out. of. control.  To the point the agent was ready to call security…..sigh.

I had gotten there plenty early and was at the gate ready to pre board at 9:30 am.  At 9:45 they announced that our flight was now delayed until 4:30.  Well…that was not going to work for me since I had a connecting flight that was at 12 in Minneapolis.  So….a call to the Delta line and I got rebooked going through Detroit instead with a later flight but hey—-at least I would get in the same day.  So a day spent in airports meant I got to read a lot of books!

I got bumped up to first class on my flight to Detroit which is usually a great thing.  More room, unlimited drinks, meals sometimes, snacks, special attention–the whole deal. This was one flight I kind of wish I would have not gotten the first class bump.

Enter Steve.  My seat mate.  A likable young man probably around my older son’s age or a bit older.  We chatted briefly when he sat down and I found out he travels to stores to check the “born on” dates to make sure that stores are staying compliant with keeping their stock fresh and current.  And then he started drinking.  During our fairly short flight of less than 2 hours he had 4 different mixed drinks.  Sigh.

He kept talking to me, leaning over and punching my arm and telling me interesting (to him) tidbits.  I was a captive audience.  Unfortunately.  At one point he had his iPad out and was watching Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary.  Appropriate?  I think so.  Then he started dancing in his seat and talking to the movie .  It was hard to concentrate on my book.  After about the 2nd drink he asked me what I was reading.   I was actually reading an ARC copy of a book by my friend and blogger, T.B. Markinson.  So I told him that. Then he asked me what it was about.  If you have read any of my reviews of her books you might know that the genre that she writes is lesbian romance.  She is a REALLY great writer and even though that is not a genre that I normally would seek out, the books are so much more than that  to me that  the genre is secondary to what the story is.  So I told him it was a lesbian romance because—well—it was.  He immediately fist bumped me and high fived me.  The rest of the trip he kept saying “You’re awesome!”  and “You’re amazing!”.   I am not sure why but he seemed to think that reading lesbian romance was amazing.  I think he must have fist bumped me about 20 times. Seriously.  How was I ever going to finish the book?

I am not sure what airline policies are or should be on serving alcohol but quite honestly I think he should not have been served as many. Plus I am fairly sure he had already started before he boarded.  (I did find this on the Federal Aviation Regulations)  He was a friendly drunk and not mean so at least we had that but it was uncomfortable.  He was uncoordinated when he got up to use the restroom and I ended up helping him hold his drinks because he was dropping things all over including his iPad.  Finally he passed out with about 30 minutes left to go in the flight. The flight attendant did bring him water because I told her I thought he needed to drink some so I think she realized that perhaps he had had a bit much.
We had to wake him up before we landed and I helped him get his tray table back in and his stuff together.  I kept checking to make sure he was okay and he told me he was but the “mom” in me wondered.  When we parted ways he fist bumped me again and told me I was awesome.  Okay.

I hotfooted it through the airport to get away from him and stopped to get something to eat and unwind a bit.  Whew.  A few hours later I went to the gate where I would catch the final flight to Des Moines.   A young woman sat down next to me and talked to me a bit.  She seemed a bit ….off…but I couldn’t really say what the deal was.  Pretty soon she gets up from her seat and proceeds to gallop —yes—-gallop all over the waiting area.  Of course people started looking at her but it did not deter her.  It was like she had extra energy to expend and had to use it all up.  She did this for about 15 minutes until we boarded. She was traveling alone.   I imagine she had some type of disorder but I have to admit that I am very glad I did not have her as a seat mate although she must have done okay on the flight because we had no delays or issues.  When I deplaned she galloped past me to baggage claim.

I made it home by 11:30 pm that night so for a day that started at 6 am I was ready to hit the hay. It was interesting, don’t you think?

Oh and by the way—if the lightbulbs left at security at the Detroit airport are yours go pick them up. They announced it but you must not have heard it.

This might have been Steve’s theme song–what do you think?  Gotta love country songs.   🙂  Getting in the Texas frame of mind.