summer vacation part 1

I got to the airport by 5 am on Thursday, but the flight did not leave at 6 am as expected. A LOT of rain in Chicago delayed our flight from taking off from OKC so we sat there until 7:30 am....flying almost near Chicago later, we were told we couldn't land because of the back up, and because we might run out of fuel the plane would have to land in Peoria, Illinois...luckily in the nick of time we were given clearance to land in Chicago.However my flight to Grand Rapids had already left and there were only 2 other flights leaving that day and both were completely sold out. The entire airport was a mess with tons of people who had also missed flights and were all trying to fit in on others and continue traveling.... yuck.

I was given the choice of taking the next available flight to GR which left at 10 pm Friday night. OR fly to Detroit at 2:30, and then also try flying standy to GR at 1 pm. I decided to fly to Detroit if I couldn't make it on the GR flight at 1 pm.... Of course there were many other people hoping to get on the same flight and while waiting in line I made small talk with this hot young cowboy in sonme tight wranglers, western shirt is sleeves cut off and a big belt buckle that said "bodacious" on it. the other guy was dressed business casual, had nice broad shoulder, nice looking and what I thought an Australian accent(turned out he's from Coventry in the middle). We were all hoping for standby with many others, and after a LOT of waiting and wondering what I'd do if I missed the flight, I got in on a conversation with these guys saying they'd drive and I mentioned I'd definitely be interseted in coming along. ----Turns out the guy was a British Salesman from massachusetts who was going to rent a company rental car and did not mind us coming along, and the other guy was from Kansas City. The business guy had a sweet accent I couldn't get enough of the whoel trip. He drove and I sat in front, and the cowboy dude was in back. turns out he was a lot younger than we thought, he was almost 18 and going into his senior year of highschool. ( so much for any fantasies later involving hot tight jeaned cowboy getting a "ride" from 2 strangers in Chicago etc etc...) the kid did act mature for his age, he's well traveled having been to NYC and all over the country as a professional bull rider. Even hotter he plays football and wrestles at his highschool in California..dang, (and yes I looked back at him every now and then just to check the package in the wranglers, you know how wranglers are on guys...)These photos are from the highway in Chicago, maybe Justin will recognize something, and then the two guys from the road trip at the airport when we finally arrived at 9pm. The reason it took us so long is we stopped along the way to eat, and then took about an hour driving around GR trying to find the airport without a map just asking people alone the way. by the time we got to grand rapid we were cracking each other up and they were griping about my navigator abilities (we only had a map of chicago and then a highway map only around the lake), and overall we were all normal and had a hell of a time on the road trip. wasn't so bad after all really and sure beats having to find a way from detroit. I have the drver's business card if I'm ever in MA. and I ahve the bull riders name so I can look out for him next time I go to a PBR event here in OKC.