San Fran - Part Uno

It was a great trip. But it was so fraught with weirdness, I can only give it to you in installments. The whole thing in entirety is almost overwhelming.

Friend, B, is headed to SFO (San Francisco for you non-travel industry types) for a conference. I get cheap airline standby benes, so the only logical thing is for me to go with and shack up. So, off we go, headed out on the 8am flight Saturday.

I'm supposed to be out of the house by 6am (gotta give a lot of lead time for the Atlanta airport). But - oopsie! - I wake up at 540-somethingam.

One very groggy Trix calls B - "I just woke up!"
B - "You can do it!!"
Trix - "HOW can I do it??"
B - "Start by hanging up and getting in the shower! If you don't make this flight, just take the next!"
Trix - "Right! Bye!"

Trix races to shower (which I always turn on prior to getting in), attempts to plant right foot in very clean very click shower, and WHAM! It is very blurry, but I distinctly remember my forehead making contact with the back of the tub. WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS!! I gather myself as much as dizzily possible, and scream to myself (literally....out loud): "JUST KEEP GOING!!" I cannot quite stand yet, so I wash and condition my hair sitting down. By the time I make it to soaping up, I can stand. Hop (carefully) out of shower...Yup....There's a little mark between my eyes...Not bad...Make up will take care of that. JUST KEEP GOING.

I somehow have the presence of mind to pack all the necessary cosmetic/housekeeping items. It is a humid day, so drying the curls is taking longer than usual. More yelling: "DRY - DAMN YOU!" But miraculously, I make it into the car by 610am.

Call B to tell her about my fall and we decide I do not need any freakin emergency room. And FLY to airport.

Make it to the gate....B takes a look and says: "It is a little swollen. But if I didn't know you, I wouldn't think a thing. Except maybe that you were a Mongoloid." (So PC of you, B.)

We later figure out the incident has resulted in one very bruised left calf, one very bruised right forearm, one nice knot between eyes, and two black eyes....That get blacker with each passing day. I tried to take pictures for you guys....But even the palest of skin doesn't show bruises well via digital camera. Plus - The one on my arm hasn't even really gotten to its full glory yet. It is still aging.

We board the plane in the middle of a thunderstorm and I snuggle down in my three empty seats for a nice nap. I'm so pooped I fall asleep prior to take off...which NEVER happens because I have a strange paranoia about that. Mid-nappypoo I am awakened by a huge BAZAAAAAAAAAAAAAP. People actually screamed and dove under seats. Me? I sat up and thought "Wow - My head hurts." Pilot comes on PA: "Yeah folks - That one musta been pretty close." We wait. Pilot comes back on PA: "Yeah folks - That was so close? It was our tail. Let's go to gate B329a (that is for effect to make it far away) and get our new plane." Uh yeeeeeeeeaaaah. Good idea!

Seems the folks in first (including the B in front my friend B) heard the inside skinny. They knew right away it hit our tail. And it made a large black streak from the tail to the Jetway. Yeah - Let's not so much use this plane.

It was about now that we both started thinking "Is this a sign? Do we just go home?"

But oh no......We must go on.

Which will bring further installments in the next few days.