Oh Yes ... I Finally Arrived ...

Good morning ... literally! Well, kids, it's 1:50 a.m. Springfield time and I finally arrived at my hotel in Golden, Colorado. Oh, what an enormous pile of horse shit this trip has been so far. Let's review ...

My 1:15 flight out of Springfield was delayed until 5:30. My 4:40 flight out of Chicago O'Hare didn't actually leave until 6:40 ... not that it mattered because I still missed it. When I finally got off the plane, got my bearings and figured out I wasn't even in the same building as my connecting flight, I'll admit things started to get a little overwhelming.

I waited for a shuttle to take me Concourse C ... and was then chewed out by a United employee who insisted I could have made the connecting flight had I tried. I swear to all that is holy ... OJ Simpson in his pre-stabbing, airport sprinting days couldn't have made that flight. That's not an opinion ... it's just the sucksational truth.

In any case, I was put on standby for the 7:40 flight ... which was delayed until 8:40 ... which was then delayed until 9:15. Did I mention O'Hare doesn't have wi-fi? Technically I think it does ... but with 500 people on standby and 480 of those have laptops ... there was no connectivity.

When we finally got in the air, the flight was bumpy and turbulent. Bad enough that they had to call back the flight attendants ... but not until after she'd given me my 7-Up and glass of ice ... which proceeded to slosh into my lap. I rode the rest of the trip with sticky, cold jeans ... and walked into Denver looking like I'd peed my pants. Oddly enough, had there been any more turbulence, that would've been the case.

It sucks flying into any town at night but flying into Denver, I couldn't see anything. No mountains ... no scenery ... nothing. I'm sure there's something out there ... since I saw several busses listing "Pike's Peak" as their destination. But from the look of things, they may have just flown me back into O'Hare and dumped me in another Concourse. Trust me ... I'd never know the difference.

I rode to Golden in a commuter van with five other people who were just as exhausted as me. Again, I can't see anything since it's pitch black out there ... but those were some of the worst roads I've ever been on. If I weren't nauseous from being so tired, I'd be hurling anyway from motion sickness.

Unlike the Lost characters, I did arrive at my destination ... but unfortunately I share their hunger, exhaustion, and stinkiness. So, I'm calling it a day ... and what a day it was. More to share tomorrow ...

You're sick of hangin around and you'd like to travel;
Get tired of travelin' and you want to settle down.
I guess they can't revoke your soul for tryin,
Get out of the door and light out and look all around.

The Greatful Dead - Truckin'