Maybe I’ll drive or ride everywhere from now on...
I had a red carpet treatment welcoming back to flying after a long absence (many years) from flying in good 'ole USA courtesy of an airline beginning with a letter d and everyone's favorite Gov't group everyone loves, the TSA. Brand-new luggage that had been purchased not quite 8 days earlier (lacked about 7 hours from being a full 8 days. So, that makes the damage injuries to a newborn?)
Baggage had zipper destroyed and TSA approved lock broken. Stuff lost out of checked bag which primarily was Christmas gifts. Things fell out most likely...but one item was missing from the zipped up compartment side.
If that weren't bad enough, luggage repair people shipped it either to wrong address or wrong speed TWICE. Bag is still in transit on its way back to repair facility in Dallas area (Texas) before they correctly route it back home. Bags have literally, no exaggerating, travelled twice as far as I have this holiday. I wish I had signed them up for UPS's frequent flyer/traveler mileage program!
TSA took nearly every item out of my carry on and I enjoyed a full body scan and then full body pat-down before I left Tucson. So, I was denied the cavity search which would have made it the full TSA red carpet treatment welcoming me to flying in the post 9/11 & numerous terrorist attempts throughout the world since 9/11.
So, I will be traveling back East this year for several significant events. A wedding of my nephew's and my niece's graduation from Family Practice residency.
The holiday travel experience was so bad that I stated out loud while repacking my carry-on suitcase as quickly as I could, "I think I'll drive next time." That was before things really began to snowball.
A one-way trip
would be three days driving over 600 miles daily. Avoiding interstate highways looking ahead to the 3020 get together to Cherokee, NC from my place here in AZ adds another 300 miles to the distance (nearly 2200 miles as opposed to be from my place to Bristol TN/VA distance for calculation and to see what to expect for miles on a trip across the country. It will be a 12 hour car drive from my nephew's wedding location the north of Boston.So, Mooshie...I will tag along with you and others from this direction if I can swing it. Thinking of trailering the bike but won’t be if my back doesn’t get better than it has been. Riding the bike is far less painful than time in the car. In fact my back feels better when riding and it is therapeutic mentally, emotionally and physically... Now if I could get rid of all those drivers out to get me... and the rain which we need and get more of in winter and spring it would be perfect. But translate all those drivers to cars and OH MY! Traffic problems would be far different. Roads wouldn’t have the wear they do now either. If they were instantly new it would take a long time for them to wear out...the weather would do it long before a million motorcycles would.