Travel Is Enlightening (But Not Always Light)

Ellis County Courthouse
Waxahachie, TXBack home now from a recent visit to Texas. The destination was nothing new. But traveling is always instructive if you pay attention. Some things I learned during my latest sojourn:
General travel stuffThe flight you are early for always leaves late.The chances of your flight leaving on time (or even early! yes, it does happen! which is how I ended up spending the night at a Holiday Inn on Delta's dime recently) is directly proportional to how late you are running. Very late = very likely.Getting stranded overnight is fairly painless if the hotel is free and you haven't checked your bag.Checking a bag at the gate is the greatest idea since pop-top beer cans, especially if you don't have to worry about making connections.The people whose airport jobs entail a lot of sitting on stools seem to be the ones most eager to take their breaks.Taking off is fun every time.Airplane wheels thumping back into the undercarriage is scary every time.Handbags are useless for travel unless they can be carried over a shoulder.If your travels take you through the Atlanta airport, wear comfortable shoes.If you have less than a one hour layover through ATL, you will not make your connection.Always let the ladies in heels go ahead of you on the airport escalators, bless their hearts.Stepping onto a Down escalator with a heavy carry-on in one hand and a purse in the other, while wearing bifocals, is the closest I'll ever get to competing on American Ninja Warrior.Having a family of readers who love to pass their books along is great, but makes for a heavy carry-on. Ebooks, people!If I'm going to continue carrying this many real books in my carry-on, I need to get in better shape or get a carry-on size bag with wheels.If you don't think losing 5 pounds will make much difference, try getting from ATL terminal T to D with a 20 lb. carry-on. Now I know why the pioneers dumped their heavy stuff all up and down the Oregon Trail.What is with the creepy billboards at ATL? One was a slightly menacing message from a cyber security outfit. Another advertised software to 'influence' customer decisions. Big Brother, anyone?
Texas Stuff Every time I go to Texas, I discover a new favorite beer.Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much Tex Mex.Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and cream gravy.Dallas has been overrun with donut shops. Add them to the list of taco stands, nail salons, and Walgreen's/CVS - there's one on every corner.There is a heavy price to be paid for eating one's way through Texas (see what I did there?). The only thing that saved me this time: I don't like donuts.Random StuffYou get very little writing done until you put your cell phone away. Sadly, ditto for books.Spanx are always a good idea. Always pack the Spanx just in case.Dreds are the hair version of Hoarders.Possums are way cuter as babies.If NSA is creeping all of us online, how about hacking into Ancestry.com and 23andme family tree DNA data? Possibly solve some cold cases in the process, amirite?When making your own window screens, aluminum window screen is to be avoided at all costs. Go with the fabric screen instead. 2 hours per screen vs 20 minutes. Hey - I said it was random!
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