Tag: Charlotte Douglas

Maryland 2025 Trip Report (Day 0)

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This trip did not start well. While packing yesterday, I couldn’t find my neck pillow. Fortunately, today’s flight is a short one, so I’m hoping my neck will be OK. On the drive to the airport, I had a collision. Specifically, the sideview mirror on the passenger side collided with a road construction sign that was sticking out from the curb. Lucky for me that my mirrors can be folded inward. I was afraid the mirror was damaged, but I stopped to check it out, I found it had just been partly folded inward. It was fine once I manhandled it back into place.

After two more near-collisions, I got to the Charlotte airport, where I chose to make use of the wheelchair service. My pusher got me to the TSA checkpoint and helped me unload all the stuff that needed to go through the X-ray machines. He then waited in the recombobulation area while I went into a private screening room for the full pat-down. Now that I have the pat-down down pat, it didn’t take long until I was back in the wheelchair. The pusher didn’t start pushing right away, so I figured he was just giving me more time to recombobulate. So, I got my belt, shoes, phone, etc. all in place and fastened. Again, though, no response from the pusher.

After waiting a moment longer, I formally announced that I was ready to head to the gate. The pusher asked whether I was certain; I confirmed, and off we went to the gate. Gate A24. Those of you who are frequent flyers based in Charlotte know what this means. Y’see, gate 24 is part of a recently completed extension of an existing concourse. This new area is a LONG walk from the terminal.

As I was de-wheelchairing, I went to grab my carry-on bag from the rack at the back of the wheelchair. It wasn’t there. A brief conversation with the pusher man revealed that one pair of TSA employees had been inspecting my carry-on while another pair was inspecting me in the privacy of the screening room. Apparently, the bag inspectors had not finished by the time I was ready to go.

Despite my morning mirror mishap, I still had plenty of time left before my flight. Wheelchair man undertook the long walk back to the TSA checkpoint, leaving the wheelchair with me as collateral. The TSA folks let him take the bag and haul it all the way out to gate A24 and a waiting Cedric. And so, I recognize that I have another…

PD Travel Tip:

Always keep track of your own bag(s). Specifically, don’t trust airport or TSA employees to track your bags for you, even if you are required to leave a bag in their custody.

I boarded the plane normally and, despite not having a neck pillow, I also slept normally.

After picking up my rental car, I made the 2.5-hour drive to Cumberland, Maryland. I found a Mexican restaurant there called El Rio Grande. This turns out to be a small chain, that has no relation to the small chain of restaurants in Colorado that use the same name. Unlike the Colorado chain, the one here in Maryland does not put insane amounts of alcohol in their margaritas. But they make up for it by serving HUGE margaritas. I could only drink about half of one. Oh, yeah. Food was excellent, too.

Tomorrow’s destination: A scenic train ride.

Nevada 2024 Trip Report (Day 1)

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Today was a long day. First, I couldn’t sleep last night; this appears to be happening every time I travel now. At a little after 5:00 AM, I left home and headed to the Charlotte airport. Here, I found the line just to drop off a checked bag for an American Airlines flight was nearly as long as the TSA line. And both were HUGE! It was cold this morning in Charlotte, and there are some cold days in the forecast for this trip, so I was wearing my winter coat. In this mass of humanity. By the time I had to take off my coat at the security checkpoint, I almost couldn’t get the thing off, as I had been sweating so much that the inside of the coat sleeves were soaked to the point of sticking to my arms! Ultimately, I was reminded yet again that I need to get TSA Pre-Check.

Then there was The Flight. I was flying to Las Vegas, Nevada, but had a stop in Los Angeles, California. From Charlotte to L.A. is a 5.5-hour flight, and for a flight that long, I did NOT want to be stuck in “Basic Economy” (read “no leg- or even foot-room”). So, I threw down an extra ninety bucks for an exit row seat. I also took a dose of Lorazepam, hoping this would keep any anxiety at bay AND cause me to sleep through the flight. I did sleep off and on, and the leg room was marvelous!

It took a LONG walk to switch planes in L.A. I have to say, there are large portions of LAX that look more like a high school basement than a major city’s international airport. But never mind that. I made it to the second flight, and on into Las Vegas with no trouble. Since my flight was an early one and I was flying west across three time zones, it wasn’t much past lunch time when I got my rental car. So, I headed to Naked City Pizza, which was recommended on the “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” web site, which specifically endorsed (among other things) the “Steak and Cheese Fries”. So that’s what I ordered. I was a little disappointed. They were good, but not the taste explosion I was hoping I would get.

After lunch, it was still a little too early to check into my hotel room at The Strat (formerly The Stratosphere). So, I hit up the “Pinball Hall of Fame” (PHOF). Please note that this place is not so much a “Hall of Fame” as it is a HUGE arcade with an amazing selection of pinball machines of all ages. There are a fair number of arcade video games as well, and a couple other coin-operated machines of yesteryear. For my purposes, I’ll divide the pinball machines into three categories, like so:

  1. Old (anything built before 1980). PHOF has an AMAZING selection of Old pinball machines, many of which you can still play. Many others cannot be played at any given time, which is understandable, since it must be hard to find parts for them.
  2. Middle-Aged (built between 1980 and 2000). All my favorites fall into this category. I was a little upset at the condition of most of these machines. Yes, it’s gotta be increasingly difficult to find parts for them, but I’ve seen machines in dive bars that are better maintained than many of these are at PHOF. Some of them weren’t even leveled – they wobbled back and forth as if one leg were shorter than the others.
  3. New (built in the 21st century). PHOF had a surprisingly large variety of New machines, and all the ones I tried were in great working order!

Much to my dismay, my arms started cramping after a couple of hours here, so I checked into the hotel and just rested until bed time. I am hoping to go back to PHOF before I leave Las Vegas. If I do, I’ll try to get some pics while I’m there.

Stay tuned, this is planned to be a long and varied trip, so there’s MUCH more to come!