The gods of travel, they are capricious

I’m headed home from Arkansas. The trip out there was a bit of an adventure: the LAX-DFW flight left 2.5 hours late due to weather at DFW (and we sat on the plane at the gate for about 2 of those hours), then the DFW-LIT flight was also delayed due to weather, and then the flight itself detoured to go around the storm. Instead of arriving at 8 p.m., I got in at 1:30 p.m., and then we had to get to Hot Springs Village in the thunderstorm. But the bottom line was, I made it!

Ken was in the middle of a 24-hour rally, so the next morning his dad and I went to the historic Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs to meet up with him. We (rally people) had a private room and indulged in the amazing Sunday buffet (caviar! Seafood Newburg! cheese plate! nomnomnom), and then we got to celebrate because Ken won! Yay! *\o/*

After that we headed up to Little Rock for his grandmother’s 95th birthday party. She was so delighted while I was there, and I spent most of the party at her side, helping her out (getting her punch, reading her cards to her and telling her about her presents as I opened them, etc.). She can barely see, and her hearing’s not great, but she’s sharp as a tack. Meanwhile, the blue dye in the cake frosting turned everyone’s tongues and lips bright blue.

Ken and I slept hard last night….

Today’s travel has thus far been smooth, thank the gods. We got to LIT comfortably early and Ken had an early lunch with me (I had lemon-and-herb grilled chicken with brie and caramelized onions on a ciabatta roll, nom!). I had just enough time in DFW to switch terminals, have a brisk walk to my new gate, and hit a bathroom before it was time to board.

Ken may be home this weekend, or he may head straight to Oregon to do some work. I have a bit of a busy work week because I have to catch up on some things, plus we’re off to Phoenix and Fresno the weekend after this one for Styx shows.

~ ~ ~

Made it home, safe and sound. The travel gods made up for Saturday by smiling upon me today. Traffic on the 405 backed up just at the point where I peeled off to the 10. As I hit Pacific Coast Highway, the radio played Styx. There was little traffic up the coast, the air was cool, the sun was bright, the ocean was dazzling.