That's it for This One...

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Trip Start Apr 18, 2009 Previous
Entry Trip End Apr 25, 2009

  Lutz, Florida, United States
Sunday, April 26, 2009

Getting between Seattle and Tampa generally involves a couple of steps - this time, we are flying to Chicago-Midway then on to Tampa after a transfer.
With extreme caution, we wrapped our eleven bottles of dessert wine and port in bubble wrap, newspaper, brown bottle bags and plastic bags. For extra protection, they also got wrapped in clothing and put in our two hardside suitcases (we bought these specifically for our seventeen flight trip last fall) and crossed our fingers for luck. We also packed up our cooler and used a spare duffel (brought along just for this purpose) to hold surplus dirty laundry. Since Southwest still allows two checked bags without fee, the only thing to worry about was overweight bags. This was a real concern since our large suitcase can easily go over fifty pounds because of its size. Our other one generally will not be too heavy unless filled with dense stuff (like wine bottles...).
We loaded up the rental, checked out and headed to the airport...we noted that the sky was clouding up, undoubtedly since we were leaving...
Getting to the airport, we heard the verdict - the bags weighed in at 44.0, 49.5, 17.5, and 28 pounds...whew!!
The flight to Chicago was completely full and we played Yahtzee most of the way. The landing was one of those three-point (left gear, right gear, all gears), one-hopper kind that make passengers smile nervously. There were some pretty heavy storms in the area and it was obvious the pilot was fighting some crosswind effects.
We grabbed a bite to eat then got in line for the Tampa leg...and waited...in a rarity, Southwest was late off the field (although it wasn't their issue, but the storms again) so we were about a half hour late in getting back to Tampa.
Although the "standard" world intruded almost instantly - voice mail from a certain family member upon touchdown - we remain very relaxed and energized to head back to work Monday.
Thanks to all for sharing our adventures this week and who knows what's next??

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