Here a blip, there a blip, everywhere a blip, blip.....

At McCarran International Airport they have a few desert animal sculptures.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The day has finally arrived. I have been looking forward to this trip ever since Margo surprised me with in for Christmas. I was up at about 5:40 AM. We planned to be on our way to the airport at 6:15 AM. 35 minutes is enough time for me to get up and ready. Margo has the harder job of finishing the packing, so she was up before 5 AM.

On our trips we have fallen into certain routines and responsibilities.

Good snake. Good snake.

This trip differed in that Margo took care of most everything. It was my Christmas present, so I tried not to feel too guilty. We were about 5 minutes late leaving and then had to turn around to retrieve my camera. So we were about 15 minutes behind schedule. Unless security was a bear, this would not be a problem. My daughter Jessi, and her boyfriend, Pete, took us to the airport. Neither are morning people so this was quite the sacrifice. Jessi was still in her pajamas, with slippers, and she brought along her new puppy, Enzo.

The Las Vegas Strip from the airport. Construction never stops!

I had checked us in on line, so all we had to do was get a luggage tag. That went smoothly, and soon we were on are way to security. We had a blip here. Margo sailed right through. She was wearing enough jewelry to embarrass Sammy Davis Jr., but neither this time nor any time in the past has she set off the metal detector. I am usually afforded the same accord, but not today. BLEEEEEEEP! I patted my self down real quick, feeling I must have missed something. I had already taken off my belt, shoes, watch, and stuffed my wallet and inhaler into a shoe. I had even toss my half roll of Tums, even though I was pretty sure calcium was not supposed to register. But, either the zipper to my shorts or my artificial hip set it off. I had my hip replaced, at age 35, in 1998. It never sets off the airport’s security devices. Only the metal detector at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis flagged me before. The lady asks me "Doyouhaveanychangebeltcellphonekeyscoinsonyou? Huh? Translation please. I had barely shaken my head “No”, when she asked about medical implants. I was about to clue her in before she asked. But as we had arrived at this point together now, I said “Yes, I have an artificial hip” She brightly tells me “That qualifies as a medical implant. Step though here.” I was in a pretty good mood, and it was holding. I went through the manual screening process, which in this case meant I got to be a training dummy. They had someone brand new, and he was being shown the ropes by his training officer. So I sat, and stood, and arms out-palms up, and got patted down. First the wrong way and then the right way. My zipper and hip were setting off his hand held device, so I got more attention to my groin than I am accustomed to by a male without a medical degree. But, they soon agreed that I was no danger to anyone except my wife and let me get redressed.

I spared Margo the details, but she did point out all of jewelry and reaffirmed that she never sets off the detectors. Oh, well. At least we had time to get something to eat. We picked up something at a sandwich shop and headed over to our gate to sit down and eat. But, when we got there we immediately noticed that something was wrong. The gate should have hd our flight number and destination. Instead the plane next departing was heading east. Not a biggie. We just checked the Departure board and found the right gate. It was far enough away, where now we would be eating on the plane. At least that would shorten the flight a bit.

As we sat down, Margo cell phone rang. Almost never a good thing, on your first hours of vacation. It wasn’t. Jessi and Pete had stopped at a grocery store on the way home, and had just managed to lock the keys in the car. Jessi wanted to know where Margo’s spare set was. They were in her purse. Luckily, I leave my keys at home when I travel, because I don’t need them. Unfortunately they had about a mile to walk to get home. But, about twenty minutes or so later we heard that all had worked out, in pajamas and with the puppy. I really hoped this would be the last blip of the day.

It was. We boarded without incident and a bit less than two hours later we touched down at McCarran International Airport. We retrieved our sole piece of luggage, grabbed the shuttle to get our car, and were soon at the rental car lot. As it was only about 9:45 AM, and our room would likely not be ready until 3 PM, we decided that rather than deal with the Luxor early, we would deal with them later. Back home, a couple of Margo’s co-workers had told her about Laughlin and how much fun they had had. She wanted to drive down. I was less thrilled about spending 3 hours of our vacation driving, but why not. I had never been there either, so we headed south. Laughlin here we come.