Road Food

After taking care of business getting the new Florida homestead underway it was time for me to hop on a plan and head for home. This of course sounds far more simple than it really is! Here's the story:
It was an early rise, about 5:30AM so I could get a shower and a couple of cups of coffee in before I hit the road. I said my goodbyes and thank yous to Mr. and Mrs. FC (awfully nice of them to get up that early on a Sunday to see me off!), and then toss my bags in the car and head for the airport.

Tampa is about 3-3.5hrs drive if you stay on hwy-19 all the way or about 2-2.5hrs if you hop on to the Sun Coast Parkway (approx. $5.00 in tolls). I opted for the parkway and set off with the top down. About 1/2 way there I see the clouds building and darkening, but I was almost there so I powered through and only got hit with a few sprinkles before I reached the airport rent-a-car return. At that point it starts lightening, thundering, and raining.

I make it through security and get to my gate only to find that the flight will be delayed because of the storm that has settled in, but it is supposed to move off in a few minutes. The storm does finally move out and we end up only being about 30min late for take off. (Don't worry I'll get to the food part of this post in a minute)

We actually made up time in the air and land in Chicago only about 5 minutes behind schedule, which didn't matter to me because I now had 3 hours to make my next flight. I have to add that I absolutely hate O'Hare airport because as usual I land at one end of the airport and my next flight is at the other end! On top of this the gate for the next flight will change at least 3 times before the departure time, so I never know where to actually settle in for the layover, other than in front of the departure listings monitor!

(OK here comes the part about the food!)

So while I'm passing the time I find a Goose Island Brewery kiosk and plop my butt down in a chair to sample a Honker's Ale, Mmm tasty! Feeling a bit hungry and realizing where I was I opted for a local Chicago delicacy: The famous Chicago Dog. This is a huge beef hot dog that is smothered in onions, relish, tomatoes, mustard, little hot peppers, and a dill pickle!

Check this thing out (pictured with a Honker's Ale and bag of salt & pepper kettle chips for a completely nutritious meal, and the good thing is that they have a loan officer available so you can take out a second mortgage to afford this scrumptious feast!

So finally the time comes to head for the gate (which of course had changed again to the other end of the concourse). The arriving flight has just cleared the aircraft and they announce that they will begin boarding the flight for Calgary, Canada!? Yes, that's right they have four different flights scheduled to leave this same gate within about 15 minutes of each other. Here comes the entertainment, after boarding the 1st class passengers they announce that there's been a mistake and the plane is actually the one heading to Cincinnati, Ohio. So they get all the passengers that had climbed aboard back off, get us on and we are on our way. About an hour later we land and I'm back home once again!

In about 2 weeks I'll have to repeat the trip to meet with the General Contractor and Excavator once again after having the under brush cleared from the interior of the property. I think I'll try to get a route that takes me somewhere (ANYWHERE), but through Chicago!