Date: 2008-07-24
To: Dade City, Florida (aka HOME)
Miles today: 0.0

The bus ride to Logan was memorable from two standpoints: 1) it was pretty first class and 2) the enroute movie was "The Bucket List". The movie had some great messages, especially re-enforcing what I had just learned from the trail and what is really important in life. Arriving Logan all went well until they informed us the flight would be two hours late due to severe weather along the east coast. The connecting flight from Charlotte to Tampa was in jeopardy, but what choce did I have? BTW, there was some thought that all flights in/out of Charlotte would be delayed by the same weather system. Amazing how easy it is to believe what you hope for. We landed 20 minutes after the last flight to Tampa for the night left. Since most connections were not made by other flights, the local hotels were already filled by the time I arrived. Oh well, these things happen. My choices go outside or find a place to pass the night on the non-secure side of the airport. I subsequently found out the airport closes at 12:30 AM and re-opens at 4:30 AM. After trying to sleep on the carpet behind a kiosk in an out of the way place, I finally got up at 4:30 when people started arriving for early morning flights. I had been confirmed on a 1 PM flight to Tampa, a pretty long wait! I decided to check standby status for an earlier flight, but was informed "there's not much if any chance", but if I ran down the concourse 100 yards there was a flight leaving ASAP for Orlando. I could rent a car and drive to Tampa where I could pick up my pack and head home. Seemed like a reasonable option, that would save about 4 or 5 hours. Only problem, how would I get rid of the rental car and then get home. Seemed like a chance worth taking. After getting on the plane, I made a quick call to my Avis friends, only to discover there were no rental cars available in Orlando. Too late, the airplane door was closed and "all electronic devices were in the off position". Based on the life lessons I had learned on the trail, this was not going to be a big deal, since I would just ask for God's help, and let him work things out. I went to sleep for a few minutes. Landing Orlando, I went to the Avis line where I waited 30 to 45 minutes, all the time reading a sign that stated: "No cars available w/o prior reservation". I was tempted to get out of line, but decided maybe I'll get lucky (with God's help). In the mean time called some good friends, the Wagners, who don't live far from the airport. They offered to come get me, to save me from spending the day at the airport, give me a place to sleep that night, and then help me get home the next day. More trail magic! I stepped up to the Avis counter, told the nice lady, I had a sad tale. She said; "OK, I'm listening". After politely listening she looked at me and said, "I'll get you a car and you can get home today". Within 10 mintues, I was on the road headed to the Tampa airport. While riding along on I4, I recalled one of my neighborhood friends, Tony, worked close to a rental car drop off point near USF. I could call his home, get his work number, and ride home with him after work if he would drive a ferw miles to pick me up. Seemed like a plan, at least a chance at a solution. I called his home, his wife, Judy answered and said she would pass the mnessage along, but them more trail magic. She stated she would just come and get me, as Tony would probably be working late and she was sure I really didn't want to sit around the rental car location for 6 or 7 hours. At this point, seemed the hand of God was in this; why argue? I accepted her offer with great graditude. Arriving the Tampa Airport, the pack was there as it had just arrived on the flight where standing by wasn't a real option. Dropped off the car near USF, Judy picked me up, and within 45 minutes I was at home in the kitchen wondering how all this had transpired in such a short period of time, and with so many folks helping me. This adventure ends, but what I have seen and learned will last me the rest of my life. If you ever want to know what it was like out there, ask me, but be prepared to spend some time. The bottom line; life is short, we are all God's people, don't sweat the small stuff (BTW, it's all small stuff), we need each other, most things most of us think about in the end are trivial, keep having fun, and give some trail magic to others whenever you can no matter if you are on the trail or not.