CHANGE IN PLANS

 My Grand Daughter, and my Grand Dog yesterday morning in front of the fire.

Yesterday was supposed to be a day of relaxing, and watching the Las Vegas NASCAR race on Mike & Amy's 70 inch big screen TV.  That is........until Marc checked the flights for today, the day we had planned on flying back to Arizona.  All of the flights were booked solid, so he started checking to see if there were any open seats on yesterdays flights.  He found a couple of flights from Charlotte, N.C. (about 170 miles from Augusta), to Phoenix, that were only a little over half full.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that the flights from Augusta to Charlotte were sold out.  Since we had plenty of time to get to Charlotte, we decided to rent a car, and take a short road trip.

 56 more miles to Charlotte, N.C.

When we got into the Charlotte airport, after dropping off the rental car, we discovered that we might possibly get on an earlier flight that also had a bunch of empty seats.  We just made it to the gate, getting on a U.S. Air flight that left a little before 6pm.  We chased the sun, touching down in Phoenix a little after 7pm.  There were still 3 more flights from Phoenix to Tucson,  but yep, they were either sold out, or close to being sold out.  We decided not to risk being bumped from all 3 flights, so we waited in line (last picture) for the rental car shuttle bus, and rented our 2nd car from Avis.  We stopped for a quick bite to eat in Casa Grande, IN N OUT of course, and we were back home around 11pm. about an hour quicker than we would have been, if we had made it onto that last flight from Phoenix to Tucson.

Even though the return leg of our quick trip was a bit hectic, it was all worth it.  Getting my two boys together, and seeing Mike & Amy's beautiful new home for the first time, as they say, was priceless! 

 

One last footnote - I've resisted the temptation to upgrade to a smart phone, but after this trip, I might be having second thoughts.  Marc's Iphone allowed him to quickly check the flights for available seats, and with his preferred status at Avis rent a car, he reserved a car in Phoenix while we walked through the airport.  When we got to the Avis desk, we avoided the long line, going directly down to the car.  On the way home, the Interstate 10 traffic alert signs started flashing "Highway closed at Warner Rd, use alternate route".  Just as we hit the stopped traffic, Marc used the GPS feature on his phone, and we exited the freeway, taking city streets around the huge traffic jam.  Yep, I might just have to enter the 21st century, and get rid of my dumb phone!