Being a Nervous Nellie, I didn't sleep much the night before the flight. Sure that I was forgetting stuff, I stayed up too late. Worried that my three alarm clocks and the possible wake-up call from my friend Marti Hoffacker (if she happened to be up at 2AM) would all fail and we would miss the flight, I didn't sleep. As life would have it, the first alarm clock woke me up. I turned off the rest and jumped in the shower. Marti called when I got out of the shower.
Emilie Smoke, my college roommate and oldest friend, drove up on Friday from her home in Norfolk, Virginia. I let Emilie sleep until 3. During the hour between my getting up and Emilie's, I dressed, ate a little breakfast, and walked the dogs, Silas and Merry Weather.
I wanted to leave between 4:00 and 4:15 am to make our 7:15 U S Airways flight out of BWI. Always the worrier, I had visions of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge drawbridge being up, a multiple car pile-up, my car breaking down on the Beltway, or no parking at the airport. We did leave at 4:10 am. We had no delays or problems on the way to the airport. I dropped Emilie and the suitcases at the U S Airways gate while Merry Weather and I went to park the car. I figured that MW would have a fit without me if I had left her with Emilie.
My fourth fear almost came to pass when two of the parking lots were closed. We were rerouted to others which I didn't know existed. MW and I parked in the first space we saw. Getting out of the car and spotting the oncoming airport shuttle, we ran to the shuttle stop, dog carrier in hand. We got on the shuttle and I attempted to stuff MW into her dog carrier. MW seemed to sprout arms and legs while I was stuffing, the bus driver refused to move, and the other passengers were screaming at the driver. Finally, she was in and off we went.
At the airport we searched for Emilie who had stayed where she was originally, but had been subsequently surrounded by hundreds of other travelers. Once we found her, we got our suitcases and went to the end of a long line of people checking into U S Airways flights.
The line went quickly, though we must have been in it for at least 30 minutes. We made it to the departure gate while they were beginning to load the plane. We got on, found our seats, and waited for about 1/2 hour while the other passengers who had been behind us in the line boarded. I overheard someone saying that June 30th had been the busiest day ever at BWI; I couldn't imagine it any busiest than it was then.
The flight to Pittsburgh was uneventful and we landed only a few minutes later than planned. As usual, our connecting flight to Kansas City, MO, departed out of the gate farthest from the one we landed at. The flight was delayed, so we were able to get on it. From the time we had left home, we had been on the run. The flight to Kansas City was uneventful and marred only by a screaming baby. MW slept all the way.
Kansas City is a small airport, very different and less crowded than BWI. We got our car from Enterprise. The car was quite a bit smaller than I had thought I had ordered. I asked for a larger car, but they didn't have one on the lot. After a quick lunch at Subway, we headed to Independence, MO, our first volksmarch.
Independence, Missouri, is the hometown of President Harry Truman and the walk goes by many Truman sites. In addition, it is the world headquarters of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am not sure of their relationship to the Mormom Church. I had first done this volksmarch in May 1992 and I don't think the route has changed. This is not a negative comment, because the trail was a very good one. The trail goes through the old town, down residential streets, around the Mormon temple
We spent the night at the Platte City, MO Best Western. We stayed here on our return also. For this time, we discovered a small CBD (central business district) and a grocery store where I could get Gatorade. On our return trip we discovered the rest of the city. Though our room was spacious, it was in need of a vacuuming. But we were too tired to care and cooked pizza in the inroom microwave for dinner.