Details, Timing and Overactive Drugs

Over Easter weekend this year, Sheri and I went to visit some of her “old family friends”. We both had a great time. We didn’t even realize it was Easter weekend when we made the reservations. When doing so, I searched “nearby” airports, which for us includes Denver and Colorado Springs.

DIA is about a 45-minute drive. Colorado Springs is a bit over an hour away. We saved over $100 on each ticket by going to Colorado Springs. $220 for an extra 20 minutes of driving each way? I’m in!

What didn’t really dawn on me until the day before we left was how early a 6:20am flight is. While making the reservations, I saw the 6:20am flight time and figured, “Heck, I’m up before 6:00am pretty much every day. 6:20 will be no issue.” The stuff that I neglected to take into account at that moment were things like actually getting up, the typical morning routine, driving to the airport, parking, getting a shuttle to the terminal, and then dealing with checking in an everyone’s favorite government entity: the TSA.

So luxurious 6:20am actually turned into waking up at 2:50am and getting on the road a few minutes before 4:00am. I remember a time when that’s when I got home, not when I got going. But I digress.

It was early. Really too early.

I also made a big pharmaceutical mistake. I took my morning medicine and vitamins on a empty stomach before leaving the house. Of of my medications is a diuretic. It kicked in with a vengeance before we even left the house. I went at least 6 times. And there were no dribblers. They were all good, solid pees.

An hour drive didn’t help things any. I had to make three pit stops on the way to the airport. One was in the middle of nowhere on a desolate exit. The other was at a convenience store about 5 minutes from the Colorado Springs airport. I even had to make a “superflupurchase” of some almonds to pay for the bathroom use. The nice thing is that at 5:00am convenience store clerks are super friendly. At least this one was.

We got to the airport and parked the Flex. While unloading, worrying if a shuttle would show up, one did. Right to the back of our car! Nice. The driver was also friendly and helped us load our bags. As we were departing for the terminal, another traveler was pulling up and parking. The driver asked if it was OK to stop for them.

I hesitated for a split second and the shuttle driver said, “It’s OK to say no. There will be another shuttle right behind me.”

AWESOME!

We were running a few minutes later than I had planned, so I told that to the driver and he drove on. I know it’s not service for the other travelers who didn’t get picked up, but it was nice for us.

We got into the terminal in due course, bag checked (yes, only one!) and through security with only a minimum of fuss. We were finally on our fully-packed plane and ready to depart for Atlanta, where we’d catch another flight to Montgomery.

I was tired and a bit dehydrated from all that peeing, so I figured a bottle of water and a nap were in order. The water was easy. The nap not so much. I keep forgetting: I can’t sleep if someone else is driving.

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