On the Road Again

Yesterday was my day off, and today my walk will happen after work.  I’m feeling a little antsy, and am anxious to get back on the road.  So is Banks, since he was left out of my restaurant adventure a couple of nights ago. 

I'm not usually this lucky.  Just a couple of weeks ago, my brother, stationed at the Pentagon, had a week-long business trip to San Antonio and was able to spend part of the weekend here in Austin.  He had barely arrived when I was informed that I would be traveling to Virginia for my own business trip – and that my destination was nine miles from my brother’s home.  I’m leaving Monday the 23^rd, returning the next day. 

Let me tell you, for the first time, I’m kind of sweating the details of my walk.  My plane leaves at 8:00 am.  I’ve always breezily disregarded the admonitions to arrive at the airport an hour and a half or two hours early, but that caught up with me on my Puerto Rico trip in December.  I will never forget the rising panic I felt, shuffling through the miles-long security checkpoint, realizing that my son and I were not going to make the plane.  We didn’t.  Which means we missed both connecting flights, and spent the night in the freezing cold Tampa airport, with its bright lights and deafening Christmas Muzak. We’re still not over it. 

So if I get to the airport at 6:30, and it takes me roughly 15 minutes to get there, that means I have to finish my 1.5 hour walk by 5:30 in order to shower and be out the door at 6:15 – which means that I have to start it at 4:00.  Can I do that???  Actually, I’m feeling a little thrill as I type this.  It’s bringing back the family vacations of my childhood, when we would get up at 3:00 am, load up the car and drive off into the darkness to get a four-hour jump on the traffic.  It felt surreal and magical, and stopping at a Howard Johnson’s for breakfast a few hours later made it even more special.

For this “middle of the night” trek, Banks and I will definitely stay on the well-lit Congress Avenue streets.  Sometimes it pays to have a fierce-looking dog with a heart of gold.