After a great weekend of GQB, Valentines Day, packing and TXRD Derby, it was off to the airport at 5:50a this morning.  I hopped a ride with Jeff, who gave up his uninterrupted sleep on his day off to take me to the airport.

For the first time, my clothes at the airport presented a problem for me. Not for setting off the metal detector, but for being “too baggy”.  The agent wanted me to take my sweatshirt off, apparently to see my ripped abs (ha!) but I didn’t have anything on underneath it.  Instead, she offered to have me patted down – joy.  But the supervisor told her I was fine and sent me on my way.

After a quick stop for Round Rock Donuts, I made my way to the gate to find it practically empty – YES!  Getting all comfy and skimming my book, at a totally empty gate mind you, this old guy and his wife decide to sit right next to me.  Don’t mind the 5 other empty seats on this row… nah.  Sit right up on my lap please.

We board the plane, and I am row 31 of 32 – but it’s bulkhead so I sprawl all out in the space and take a 3 hour nap.

I’m sitting here in O’Hare with a 5.5 hour layover waiting for my plane to Brussels.  I arrive local time Tuesday morning at 7:30a.  Don’t you know I’ll be a happy camper!

I found the place I am staying at is about 45mins outside the city, so I have a little drive ahead of me when I land.  I’ll update when I get there – pending they have Internet!

Don’t forget – there is still plenty of time to support me in my Hill Country Ride for AIDS going on in April.  Check out the page at http://www.hillcountryride.org/goto/matheny for all the details.  We got our jerseys this past week and I am going bike shopping when I get back – watch for pics coming soon!

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