Tuesday Morning, Going Up

 

by Pa Rock

Flying Fool

Daybreak found me at my son's house in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City where I spent an anxious night dreading my first airport experience in nearly two years.  I am not a fan of airports, or of flying, and the TSA people in Kansas City seem to be some of the nit-pickiest in the nation.  But I shall persist, or resist, or whatever it takes to prevail through the airport gauntlet and make it onto the plane.

I am at the airport now, in fact, and have successfully make my way to the gate.  Th gauntlet wasn't too God-awful this morning, but it is still not a traveler-friendly process.  I resent having to take my shoes off, and took my own sweet time in removing them and putting them back on.  Also, taking my belt off is a risky procedure - but rules are rules, especially at Kansas City International.  Today they had one person working the gauntlet whose sole job was asking people to remove their watches so he could look at the backs of them.  Seriously.  

This morning I will be bouncing from Kansas City to Salt Like City to Spokane.  I will pick up a rental car in Spokane and drive an hour-and-a-half to the Sandpoint area in the Idaho panhandle where I will spend a day or so catching up with my favorite cousin, and then I will drive back to Spokane on Thursday for a bounce over to Portland, Oregon, from where I will visit my daughter and her family for a few days in Oregon's capital city, Salem.

Then home.

Kansas City is building a new airport.  The old one is too convenient, with travelers being able to get from their cars to the planes (or from the planes to their cars) with a minimum of difficulty.  Everything is close and handy.  The new airport will no doubt be one of those flight-oriented shopping centers - the new malls - where travelers will have to race at breakneck speed to change planes, or walk for a mile-and-a-half to reach the baggage claims and ground transportation -and have plenty of opportunity to shop along the way.

But the city and the airport authority did not clear their plans with me - they just did what they wanted to do without my sage advice.

Maybe I need a job.

I wonder if I have the right educational background and qualifications to check the backs of watches?