Chasing the Sunset - Flying To San Jose

Today I flew from Orlando to San Jose through Atlanta. I parked my car at a place just down the street from OIA. The shuttle picked up another gentlemen after me who had a very nice car.   Not inordinately expensive but still quite nice. I have no idea what kind of car it was but I liked it’s style. As he scooted by on the shuttle I blurted out in my unabashed extrovert way, “groovy car.” He said, “Thanks, it’s the last one ever made, I flew to Minnesota to pick it up.”

I smiled and said, “wow” nodding my head. Something in me just didn’t quite believe the story. Plus my head was hurting and that makes me grumpy.

I had a headache yesterday that started going toward a migraine so I took some medicine last night and woke up feeling GREAT.   As time moved on, it started coming back as a low throb. Then it took forty five minutes to get through security and the headache became a dull roar. As we began the first leg to Atlanta, the flight was packed to the rafters with very upset convention goers. There was no pleasing many of them but they sure loved each other a lot. If a plane could run on schmooze and “wait on me now” entitlement our dependence on oil would greatly decrease to almost zero … immediately.

Did I mention I was a bit grumpy?

Then I found out that I was sitting in the middle seat. That is a nononononono no! My assistant is usually *perfect* about everything so I didn’t even check my seating arrangement. I never have to.  As I sent her an email firing her (just kidding … but I did pick on her), the headache became an ice pick in my temple. I started noticing every smell and sound. Everything got way too bright, my thoughts were scattered and chaotic, I was nauseous … oh no…this can’t be happening. I am going to be traveling for the next 8 hours. I cannot have a migraine.

I was so having a migraine.

I did think to bring some of my migraine medication with me but I was so far into the black spiral it took a while to wrestle my brain into submission. I was so busy jus trying to survive security I didn’t recognize that the migraine from yesterday hadn’t really gone away but the medicine from yesterday was fading away to nothing.

Flying to Atlanta is about an hour long and I honestly don’t remember the take-off. I wasn’t asleep, I just couldn’t grasp my surroundings and had my eyes squeezed shut. Once I felt the talons of the monster releasing my grey matter I realized every muscle in my body was tensed up and for some reason I had my trail mix, phone and bottle of sprite zero clutched against my chest like a life preserver. My seat mates must have thought I was afraid to fly. They didn’t bother me and even though I was in the middle seat they gave me plenty of room.

I really hope I didn’t whimper or cuss.

When I got off the plane the headache was between the icepick stage back down to the dull roar stage but I was starving (which is a good sign.)

So because I have been very good this week and because there wasn’t any other option I went to Chik-fil-A. By the time I got through eating that muy delicioso sandwich the headache was gone. Praise the Lord and pass the Maxalt! I got on the five hour flight to San Jose not only headache free … I felt really good. So good in fact that I was even joking with all the guys in the exit rows about how we should just stare down anyone who tries to sit in the middle seats. One man wondered what the button on the side of the armrest was for and I told him that it would eject him. If he was going to push it he better do it now and only fall a couple hundred feet instead of later and fall thirty something thousand feet. The stewardess loved that one. Our exit row actually allows the seats to recline. I had never seen that in an exit row before.

As for the guy I told would be ejected if he pressed the button, he laughed out loud. As well he should, that was funny stuff. It was the deadpan delivery that did it. He is a good natured good ‘ol boy (different from a mean ol’ redneck) from southern Georgia. He is great fun to spend five hours with… but dude has some BO that’d do a skunk proud.

::: whew, that’s a special kind of stink ::: I must not be grumpy anymore cause I am genuinely being nice and still engaged in conversation.

The flight is not full and all us big un’s got to spread out. I have been working on two different articles and about thirty emails. I am writing this post at 36,000 feet and we have about 90 minutes left in the flight

When we took off for San Jose, the screens showed our plane route and where the dividing line was for where the sunset was across the country. I watched the horizon line move from Nashville to Memphis. It was fun to imagine our little plane chasing the sunset but not ever quite catching up. Sunsets are spectacular to our limited view of them on the ground but they are unmatched when seen from the air. They are huge and spectacular. I am glad my migraine went away in time to see the sunset cross the horizon ahead of us.

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Tagged as: Atlanta, email, Flying, Fun, Funny, Life, Men, Migraine, Orlando, Plane, San Jose, Travel, Writing