Best Laid Plans

This was the first morning I've had to get up at 6 a.m. for awhile, and it wasn't as bad as I expected, although the mid-afternoon-slump is certainly kicking in. I think part of the ease of waking up was that I was in the middle of a really weird and not all that pleasant dream, so when my alarm went off, my brain was happy to get out of where it was. ;)

We ran into a bit of delay taking off today, needing to climb tall ladders and inspect doors and make sure we weren't going to hurt anyone or anything or damage a door worse than it was. But finally we were on our way to St. Louis, on a severe clear, nice and smooth morning.

Of the two guys I was flying today, I'd never met one of them before. As we got into the plane, I said "When we close the door and you get a whiff of strong chemical smell, that's my hair. I think it's only fair for you to take that without complaining after all the times I've dealt with the odor of poop in here." ;)

I was sitting in the FBO here, when a voice said "Laura??" It was a pilot who recognized me from an air show briefing at Indy a couple years ago. How wild is that? (I look quite lovely today, with that newly permed hair thing going on, but nothing I can do about it but try to stay downwind of the overhead fans and smile.) He introduced me to some companions, and said "Laura's a real Mustang pilot--not a wannabe like the rest of us." What?! No! Groan. Not bloody likely. Where did that come from? I said "No, I'm more a T-6 pilot." One gent said "What's that?" :) We talked for awhile-they were on their way on a trip too, and it was just kind of weird to run into someone like that at a random airport. Particularly when I wouldn't have known him from Adam, but he recognized me. I find myself at a disadvantage, here. ;)

Well, after spending the day at the St. Louis airport, I found myself getting a text that this was going to be an unexpected overnighter. Fortunately I have kept my "Go-to" tiny little bag packed ever since the Mississippi Debacle, so I had contact solution, a clean change of clothes, reading glasses, the whole ball of wax in the little bag in the plane, making it sort of a non-event, other than the students I had scheduled from 9 a.m. through to 6 p.m. tomorrow. Apparently there is a series of Cardinal games going on in St. Louis right now, and all the hotels were booked up. And then one opened up with a room from someone who didn't show up, which I snagged fast. I got a cab ride over to the hotel, and the credit card reader didn't work in the cab. We sat there for 15 minutes before it halfway got resolved, but hey, I wasn't in a hurry. I went down to the restaurant to have some dessert and drinks. Sometime around 10 p.m. a large group of folks came in who were in Party mode from some convention or other. Guys in suits, all the women in short evening gowns, all looking. The noise level went up past what Rainman Laura can handle, so after shopping at the Gift Shop and wandering around to the various stores in the hotel, I headed up to my room on the 13th floor, which they renamed as the 14th floor in hopes that people wouldn't notice that the elevator goes from 12 to 14. ;) You know, I need to stick a swim suit in my "go to bag", if I can cram in it the little area. The hot tub looked inviting, and was deserted. There's a nice way to relax at the end of a day.... :)