Day 1 - My Cross Country Adventure...

I got to the airport about 45 minutes before the 12:55PM departure for
Baltimore. I've been on the route many times and wasn't worried about
too many lines. Sure enough no wait at the Southwest ticket counter.
BUT my bag was 3.5lbs overweight. I was prepared for this. I pulled a
small empty bag out of the big bag and filled it with some books I'd
brought and I put on my fleece sweater. New weight? 47.5!!
50lbs was the limit.

There was a longer weight than usual at the security checkpoint but no
big deal. They did take an interest in the small bag I'd just pulled
out. They ran it through the x-ray machine twice and then took it over
to the "special test" area. Finally she resorted to pawing through it
and felt a great sense of accomplishment when she pulled out a small
tube of toothpaste I'd left there from my last trip...before the new
regulations.

She gave me several options one of which included going back to the
check in counter (and through security AGAIN). I liked option 3. Toss
it! Ironically, it appears I did not pack any toothpaste. Oh well. I'm
sure Baltimore has a spare tube somewhere.

Once through security I barely had time to hit the bathroom and then
walked right onto the plane! I had my "A" boarding pass so finding an
aisle seat was easy.

As I watched people file in I noticed a woman make a beeline for the
center seat in front of my row. Her 80+ year old husband looked a
little bewildered behind her because there was no seat for him next to
her. I said to him..."you wanna sit behind her and hit her on the
head?" He said "yes" He was very talkative which I enjoyed...it made
the flight go faster. He was a WWII veteran and had been in the Albany
area visiting a war buddy he'd been in contact with but not seen in
person in 60+ years. A retired school superintendent from New Mexico he
and his wife are frequent travelers.

The flight was only 65 minutes and a little bumpy toward the end but my
conversation with Mr. Caster took my mind off it. They named one of
their boys Landry...after former Dallas Cowboys coach, Tom
Landry...anybody know Landry Caster from Texas?

My luggage was quite wet coming off the carousel but not damaged
inside. This was my fourth trip to Baltimore BWI this year so I have
the routine down pretty well.

Got to the Alamo car rental counter without much problem. The two
agents were helping other people so had a 10 minute wait here. I'm here
for two days but because of timing was being charged for a THREE day
rental. It worked out to something like two days and two hours. I
mentioned this to the agent...and how it was the 4th or 5th time I'd
rented from Alamo this year. He let me know of the option of bringing
it back earlier...which I kinda figured out on my own...but then he
decided to enter it in the computer as if I was picking it up a couple
hours later.

Opening my mouth there saved me $57. Don't forget to try it yourself!

I'm staying at a Bed and Breakfast in the Fells Point area of
Baltimore. It's right on the water...directly across from where they
filmed the TV show Homicide, Life on the Street from 1992 to
1999...according to a sign on the building. I didn't think that show
was on that long. The place is very nice and I look forward to
breakfast this morning!

Not sure if I'll make an entry everyday but Thursday night I head to San
Jose, through Denver on Frontier Airlines. Frontier has TVs in all the
seats so I'm quite looking forward to that. I will have Seinfeld Season
3 with me in case nothing good is on!!

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Leo