Final packing, early morning

Yesterday evening was spent mostly is getting all the final packing done for Victoria. Since she is still hurting in her lower back, she elected to take a third checked bag as opposed to taking a carry-on bag. It seemed prudent since it would allow her to avoid having to handle the carry-on bag on the two separate flights. Once to of the three large suitcases were packed, I double-checked the weight of each. One was 49.3 pounds. The other was only 48.75 pounds. We had to wait on the last bag until this morning since there was still one item to be added at the last minute; Nate’s sausage. That bag weighed 49.8 pounds when the final item was added. All just under the limit. Cori and the kids called a couple times to check in with Victoria. Savanna is especially fired up that her Tori is coming to see her. Both Victoria and Savanna will have to be more muted than normal at their meeting in Honduras. Victoria cannot pick her up and swing her about as she normally would. But Victoria can get on her knees for a full body hug. Hopefully, that will suffice.

Also, last night, Mama and I spent an hour in the shop getting things together for her to take to Kimberlyn’s later today. I cut some boards to be used on smaller crafts and I ripped some 2x4’s and 2x6’s laterally into thin strips to see if they could be used in that form. That gives Mama and Kim some strips of wood either four or six inches wide and only half and inch thick. I tried it just to see if there was a way to use some of the smaller pieces I have around the farm and shop that would normally be burned. The thin, wider pieces of wood are very expensive. A prohibitive cost to Mama and Kim. If this works for them, we can generate those cuts of wood for a fraction of the price in Lowe’s. Once we had all the craft pieces loaded in the car, we shut down for the night. Victoria and I set alarms for an early morning departure and everyone went to bed around 9 pm. We needed to leave the farm at 2:30 am.

I was up at 1:55 am. I dressed and knocked on Victoria’s door at 2:10. She sprang up – sort of – and went to get the frozen items to add to the final bag. We left the house at 2:35. DFW airport is a very easy airport to navigate in the busiest of times. It is a breeze at 3:30 in the morning. Which is good because I had to drive in the wrong direction in the garage to get to the parking spot I wanted. Since I needed to get Victoria through check-in, I parked at the terminal and we strolled inside. Of course, the check-in area was very busy, but we found an open kiosk and Victoria got started. She had only a couple minor glitches getting checked- in, getting her bags checked and getting everything routed to the counter for final check-in, final approved weighing of each bag and final verification of boarding passes. I left her at about 3:45 as she entered the security line.

The early flight is a bit of a pain, but it arrives in Houston well ahead of the connecting flight to Honduras. Since the DFW to Houston flight does not arrive at the same terminal as the connecting flight, you must make your way to the required terminal upon arrival. The Houston to Honduras flight is normally scheduled for a 9:30 departure. Victoria’s flight landed in Houston at 6:30, giving her plenty of time to make it to the departure gate. The 7:30 flight from DFW to Houston gets into Houston at about 8:45, often presenting a challenge to make the connection on time without really hustling. I was able to drop her off and get back home by about 4:45. Giving me an hour to sleep before going to work.

Even still, it will be a long day.