Flight of the Snow Valkyrie

Flight of the Snow Valkyrie

I'd like to say that I awoke early this morning to clear skies and a dusting of snow. Unfortunately, I never awoke as I never slept and the skies were full of a great quantity of white precipitation with an even greater part on the ground. The trip to the airport was grueling and very hard on the nerves. The lesser roads were not ploughed at all while Highway 10 had only one lane ploughed in any given spot. To be truthful, both lanes had been ploughed at some point during the night but the snow was falling so fast that it was hard to tell anything had been done at all.

Thankfully, we made it to the airport intact and with plenty of time to spare. We went through the baggage check in and the carry-on check in without incident. I had removed all metal from my person other than the rivets in my jeans and the eyelets in my shoes and for the first time ever, I was able to walk through the scanner without it detecting an undue amount of metal. I still felt less than fully dressed without my Leatherman and other assorted pocket knives.

The trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul was uneventful. I was mildly concerned that the heavy snow would delay the flight, but with only a quick wash-down with de-icer, we were on our way. I slept through most of the trip. It wasn't until the plane was descending for landing that I awoke. I assume it must have been the pressure change.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul airport was pretty much the same since the last time I had been there some six or more years ago. In neither airport did I notice significant signs of heightened security. There were no military troops standing around with loaded assault weapons, no strip searches (that I saw), not even a close examination of my carry on luggage, though they did have me send the laptop through separately. *shrug* I guess that's okay. Hopefully we don't need it anymore.

The trip to Tampa was also uneventful. Again, I slept through most of it. I did awake briefly when the flight attendants were passing out pretzels and orange juice (their excuse for a meal) but went back to sleep when that was done. Again, the pressure change awakened me. I don?t know if it?s because the 757?s fly higher than the little commuter jets or for some other reason, but the discomfort in my ears was intense. Fortunately, several hours later, it has mostly passed.

Renting a car was a little more work than I anticipated. First, I had requested and confirmed a Mazda 6 from Hertz rental. They didn't have the Mazda here, but they did have a Chevy Malibu. The Malibu would probably have been an okay car, but the control for the side mirrors was broken so I got plunked into a Toyota Camry. I'm sure I have one without a lot of options, but let me tell you, this thing has all the power of a whipped squirrel and when I?m running at speed (65 ish mph), it sounds like it's being pushed to the limits. I guess I?m just used to having a vehicle that can roll past 85 in a pinch and still have plenty left. This one certainly doesn't.

The drive was pretty good; it was straightforward anyway. My friends are doing well and all seem pleased to see everyone else. I am unsure on anything else at this point and may or may not post further on this topic depending on what I discover.

We went to dinner tonight at Quaker Steak & Lube, a nice little restaurant dedicated to racing fans and spicy chicken wings. I had a sample (of 5 wings) of their Atomic Wings. They were pretty spicy but were so spicy that they didn't have a lot of taste. *shrug* Oh well, I received a bumper sticker for my troubles, anyway.

I think that's it for tonight. More later after some much needed sleep.