After the week we had enjoyed, endured, and survived, it was little wonder that we slept away the plane ride from Vegas to the DC-Dulles airport. Actually, it is our journey through the airports that really wore us down.
We landed in DC at 6am, it was still 4am in Vegas, so we immediately had jet-lag. We stumbled off the plane and to the restroom. Luckily (this may be one of the only bright spots in the whole day) they had a gallon-sized jug of mouthwash and single serving cups available. Otherwise, I would have been worse off than I was the rest of the day. We were lugging around a 20 pound carry-on bag, full of snacks, Cousin's magazines, and maybe her make-up. I have no idea what else was in that bag, but I know what should have been in there. We should have thought about how long we were going to be in and out of airports when we were packing out things. We left our toothbrushes, clean underwear, etc. in the checked luggage. So at 7am, we were having breakfast at the airport when we realized that we were going to have to spend the rest of the day in the same clothes and underwear that we had worn all day long (in 100 degree temps) in Vegas the day before. Yuck. Did I mention how tired we were?
The Dulles airport had no outdoor smoking facilities, which was just as well because as soon as we landed there the humidity about knocked us down. There was a "smoker's room" but it was as stinky and stuffy as you would imagine, so Cousin couldn't bear to stay in there with me. I went back and forth between the room and the chairs while we waited for our boarding time, which was close to three hours later from when we landed. Then we were on the next plane and on our way to Charlotte, North Carolina. We down-sized planes on this trip, in terms of both size and quality. But we were only in the air for a little over an hour, so it was no big deal. Cousin and I were sitting next to each other, but were separated by the aisle. The lady next to Cousin kept telling her how beautiful she was, how gorgeous her hair was, and how she should get into modeling. It made her day. I was so tired that I could barely stay awake, but as soon as I got comfortable enough to doze off, we were getting ready to land.
We landed in Charlotte, and were starving. We found a deli of sorts and had lunch. Yuck. Those were the nastiest sandwiches we had ever tried to eat. We finished as much of them as we could manage, but basically just swallowed the food in order to fill the empty hole in our stomachs. Gag. By this point, we were so delirious with fatigue that we lost track of time. We just sort of sat there. We did go to a shop in search of deodorant and a toothbrush, but neither one of us felt like spending $20 on those things, so we toughed it out. We did make the long walk to the other end of the airport to the sports bar so I could smoke. I can't imagine what we looked like, but there were actually a few men in there trying to check us out. It's comical now, but we both shot them birds with our eyes and they turned their attention back to ESPN. We walked ever so slowly and wearily back to our terminal and got ready to board our plane.
This time we were totally separated and the plane had been down-sized again. Cousin, who had not overcome her fear of flying during the first two flights, was freaking out a little more each time we boarded a new plane. She was sitting over the wing with some weird little guy, who I think was named Melvin or something like that. I was sitting in the second to last row by a very large woman - so large that she had to get a seat belt extender. While we were getting ready to take off, the lady next to me introduced herself; she and I and the two people behind us played the get-to-know-you game, and I told them about our trip. I quickly learned each of their stories, and we realized that we had not even taxied to the run-way yet. And we were hot. Cousin was occasionally shooting me "rescue me" looks from her seat. Melvin, a black man, kept asking her why there were no black people in her hometown. He wasn't accusing her of being a racist, he was just making general conversation, but she was way too tired to have such a conversation with a perfect stranger - a weirdo stranger at that. She did have the opportunity to share our story with him though.
After about 45 minutes of sitting in the hot plane, the captain told us that we were finally on our way, sorry for the inconvenience, we had experienced some technical problems, but all was well. We headed to the runway. Then we turned around and headed back to the terminal. The captain again: there was a malfunction with the defrosting system and apparently you can't fly through the air without a properly functioning defroster. Great. So we had to unload the plane and sit in the terminal for another 30 or so minutes. The pilot was just hanging with us, and his white shirt was stuck to him with sweat. By this point in time Cousin and I are freaking out - do we rent a car and drive four to six hours or wait this out? Do we even have the energy to drive that much longer? Probably not. So we waited it out. Then it was time to re-board - the same plane. While we were in line, we saw how technically efficient they were in repairing our plane. They had bags of ice, like the ones you buy at the gas station, laying on top of the wipers. Lovely. Add that to the list of things I wished I didn't know about. Back in our seats, and headed to the run-way, I looked at the guy in the seat behind me, who was a Baptist minister on his way to perform his friends' wedding, and said, "I sure hope you're about to join me in some serious prayer time here." He said, "Gotcha covered." So the four of us in the back of the plane prayed and prayed as we took off. Once we were in the air, I had finally had all I could take. I laid my head back, and I was out like a light. I remember the lady next to me waking me to see if I wanted a drink and nuts from the flight attendant (a very handsome man), and I said "no" and went right back to sleep, much to Cousin's dismay. Apparently, we flew through a storm and experienced some most awful turbulence. I have no recollection of this, as I slept all the way through it, but Cousin still likes to remind me how I slept right through the time she needed me most. I was only awake for about ten or fifteen minutes before we landed in Huntsville.
What a glorious moment. We were finally at home. Even though we didn't see any familiar faces and hadn't even made it inside the airport good, there was just something about knowing we were back home. We made it to the front of the airport. Mom, and Cousin's mom, husband, and kids were waiting on us. The kids had made "welcome home" and "we love you" signs. Had we not been so exhausted, we would have cried. Either way, we made quick time of getting out of the airport. Storms were brewing somewhere, so when we walked outside, it was cloudy, windy, and cool. Perfect. We said our good-byes and left. Mom drove me back to Athens to get my car. We had to pull over at a gas station because I got really sick, but then I was better and we got my car. I drove very slowly all the way back to Mom's house and wasted little time in getting into a hot shower and into some clean clothes. Mom made me chicken 'n dumplings for supper and I pigged out. I was so tired and exhausted, and my ankles were swollen about four times their regular size. But what I needed most was my own bed at my own house, and some Stacy-time, since I had not had that in a week. I made it home and to bed and that's the last thing I remember.
It was the most crazy-wonderful experience of my whole life (so far) and I wouldn't trade a second of it for anything in the world --- well almost...
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