On To Dallas

Dallas, Thanksgiving, 2024

Good morning, and it's 5:AM and our shuttle to the airport arrives in half an hour. We were both in bed by 9:00, and neither of us slept well. Just 'good enough'.

It's 7:30 in the evening and I am sitting in a Comfort Inn, just across the street from the Buffalo Airport. We can leave the car in the Comfort Inn parking lot — free for ten days, then ten dollars a day after that. I will try to get this published tomorrow early morning, since we will be up at 5:00, catch a shuttle to the airport at 5:30, and board our flight at 7:00, arriving in Dallas around 9:30.

It's ugly outside right now in Buffalo — a drizzle and gray skies. This morning was the same, and I never got in a paddle because of it. I did make it to breakfast at 8:00, which was a good way to start what turned out to be a taxing day. I was home around 9:15, and Evie was up enjoying her coffee, gearing up to finish packing. We relaxed and got ourselves ready, and by 10:00, we were hard at it. We were planning to take just one bag, so we really had to scrimp and save on what we brought. Later, when checking in, we found out we each had a free bag, so around 2:00, we repacked and spread everything into two bags. During the week, Evie had been getting packages from Amazon — usually something she might wear in Dallas. By Thursday, we had four packages to send back, so I drove to Lakewood, dropped them off at Michaels, and headed home.  For Claire, I received a pair of black flats that fit, are comfortable, and Cute.  BINGO1

By the time I returned, I was ready for lunch. I finished up the veggie soup and made a turkey sandwich, just like the day before. I tried to nap afterward since I'd had a bad night, but it was no use. I came back downstairs, checked in on our flight, downloaded the boarding passes to our phones, and made a paper copy just in case. We were packed and ready by 3:30 but hung around until 4:30, when we closed up the house and began our drive to Buffalo. Midway, we ran into an accident, traffic backed up, and we got off at Exit 58, drove eight miles on Route 20, and got back on. I'm not sure we saved any time, but at least we were moving.

We arrived at the Comfort Inn around 6:30, checked in, and were exhausted — not entirely sure why, but there it was. We were ready to hang out and watch some TV. Around 7:00, I drove over to McDonald's and picked up a couple of quarter-pounder meals. When I got back, a parking attendant directed me to the lot, I parked the Kia, and got a ride back to the Inn. I joined Evie, we enjoyed our food, flipped over to CNN, and hoped to stay awake until at least 9:00.

And that was our day.