PLANES, WATER TAXIS, AND AUTOMOBILES

Last Friday we buttoned up our beloved FF III and took one last look over our shoulder at her as we boarded the water taxi to South Bimini to head to the airport.  Yes, a first.....we were leaving her behind in a foreign country and heading north :(  The water taxi ride was fairly uneventful.  We hopped in a land taxi that had a sign on the inside of the door that said "Door latch is broken. Can only open from outside."  But.....we had a sun roof!  Now mind you...it was indeed a sun roof but a PERMANENT one!   Thankfully it was a sunny day so we only had to imagine what passengers do on a rainy day :)  Now...I am not sure if there are any Bahamian Nascar drivers but I am pretty sure that our taxi driver was training to be one!  We both breathed a huge sigh of relief when the tiny airport finally came into view.  Not knowing the process at the Bimini International Airport (I/They use this term loosely!) we decided to arrive early.  Once we saw we were there in plenty of time we decided to seek out something to eat since we knew this day would be a long one.  Around the corner there was a picnic table of Bahamians enjoying lunch.  We asked if there was food for sale and the polite young lady took us inside of what appeared to be a storage room with a couple of crock pots hooked up.  She announced proudly that she could offer us "oxtails or lamb stew."  O.K.....not only no but H--L NO I thought!  We politely declined and moved on around the corner and found what appeared to be a regulation restaurant.  When we entered the place was empty but soon out shuffled a young American girl with dredlocks in her pajamas and socks.....no shoes.  I am not kidding.....she looked like she just got out of bed!!!!  We decided on one last order of cracked conch (yes, Larry, that is #10).  Actually it was DELISH!  After polishing off lunch we made our way back over to the United Airlines counter to check in.  They wrote our names on a list and told us their printer was broken down so they would not be able to print any boarding passes.....first sign the day was not going to go well.  :(  Let me just say....if you were a terrorist you could easily enter the country via Bimini.  We just walked through security (again I use this term loosely) and got on the plane.  We were twenty precious minutes late departing Bimini.  Once we landed in Fort Lauderdale we were herded like a bunch of cattle to check into U. S. Customs and Border Protection.  Before it was over, we were lectured by one of the agents about how "now this is a two-step process" and yada yada yada.  I held my tongue in an effort to avoid being strip searched :)  Knowing we were on a short fuse we both just smiled and nodded and soon we were on our way.  Well....once you clear Customs in the U.S.  they dump you out on the street and the whole process of checking in, going through security, etc. begins all over again!  We were nervously looking at our watches by now :(  Remember when I said the printer was broken down in Bimini?  We ran to the United ticket counter to get boarding passes for the next two flights.  Once we swiped our credit card to identify us we got a message that we were too close to departure to get boarding passes.  We were moved to the front of the line and now with boarding passes in hand ran to security.  We were now about ten minutes from departure.  There must have been 200 people in line for security.  In a panic we asked to be moved to the front.  Once they saw how close we were to departure they honored our request.  One problem.....CTM was pulled aside for something they saw when his bag went through the scanner.  Well....that something was a giant fish hook he was taking home to try to match up to take back!  This caused a little stir at the TSA but the agent must have been a fisherman because he told CTM to put it back in his bag and NOT take it out on the plane!  I honestly can't imagine hijacking a plane with a fish hook but obviously it was not something that was allowed in a carry on!  O.K....we knew we were close but we thought we could make it!  Once we arrived at the gate we watched the jet way being pulled from the door of the plane :(  This is where the scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles flashed in front of me....the gate agent began punching and punching and punching on that keyboard and looked up and announced to us she could get us to Springfield (where our car was) "sometime tomorrow!"   We finally settled on being rerouted to Memphis via Houston, Tx :(  Once we arrived in Memphis we procured a one-way car rental to Springfield.  Let me just say this about that......they are VERY proud of those one-way car rentals!  If it had not been 11:00 p.m. we could have gone out and bought a small car and had a very SUBSTANTIAL down payment!!!!  At least we were now only 4 1/2 hours from home :)  We headed north with the intentions of driving all of the way home but made it as far as Jonesboro and decided to grab a hotel for a few hours sleep.  By this time of the night we got the LAST "smoking room" in town!  As we were checking in the young fellow made us sign a form that said we would pay $250 if we smoked in a non-smoking room.  What the freak difference did that make???????  We were NOT in a non-smoking room!!!  He then went over the spiel about the 24/7 exercise facility.  O.K.....that is enough!  I am thinking, " LOOK AT ME!!!!!  DO I LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO CARES ABOUT THE EXERCISE FACILITY OR WOULD USE ONE IF I WERE STAYING HERE FOR 5 MONTHS LET ALONE 5 HOURS?????"   There was no reason to go into all of this with him as we were more interested in what floor our room was on so we could go to bed.  Five hours later we were on the last leg of our trip and would soon be home!  We arrived in Pontiac at about 9:00 a.m. just in time for the Blessing of the Fleet festivities.  That big hug from LB and peek at a sleeping FH and being licked all over by Ossie made the last 24 hours all worth while! 

Catch you on the flip flop.....

CJM