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.