Day #1

Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Day #1

On December 28th we had 3.5 inches of sleet fall mixed with a bit of snow.  (I am calling it "a bit" because I have no idea what the actual accumulation is.) 

Bryan's car - during the sleeting and snowing - was outside and unbeknownst to us was getting iced-over.

Enter the day following said sleet and snow...  Bryan and I arose from our slumber and donned our gym clothes and headed to Anytime Fitness where we did 30 minutes of cardio and headed to Target for some traveling snacks for both of us.

Water and snack bars purchased and we were off my humble abode.

I managed to get my sweet Rosie stuck in the icy - snowish mix just outside my garage door.

Bryan went to his car to retrieve his snow shovel only to discover his trunk was frozen shut.  Several seconds later, he discovered all 4 doors were in the same state as his trunk - frozen.  Not even budging a smidge.

In the meantime, my neighbor got her Toyota stuck.  So while Bryan was trying to get in to his car and my car was stuck, I got out and pushed my neighbor to freedom.

Bryan pried and pried and got his passenger side door open.  He carefully placed the key in the ignition and started his car.  Somehow in the starting of his car, his gloved fingers must've bumped the lock button.

Note - it was approximately 10:00 a.m.

Flight is to leave O'Hare at 3 p.m.

I check Delta's website.  My flight is still on time.  I may not be but my flight is.

With much prayer and persistence, I got Rosie unstuck and put in to the garage.

I go and shower while Bryan continues praying and trying to get in to his car.

While I am getting ready, enter triumphant Bryan.  He had managed to scrape and pry and he finally got in to his trunk.  He crawled thru his car - which I forgot to mention had been running this whole time.  Thankfully gasoline is under $3 per gallon.  Bryan got his doors open and he did not need to contact the fine folks at AAA.

After dropping off my apartment key, getting Starbucks and hitting the bank...we managed to still leave town on time. 

While driving to O'Hare, we were blessed with a merge to a complete stop situation at which point I glanced at Bryan's clock and nearly had a stroke!  It was 1:55.  Did I mention Bryan lives in Michigan where it is the Eastern time zone?  Thankfully he caught my error and made some funny comment about his crazy sister.  Actually I think was more along the lines of, "In Michigan it is 1:55.  Sis, you are Central here?"

He dropped me off at O'Hare.  No pushing me out of the car which was nice.  :)

Security was a breeze. 

Stopping here to say - this Montana trip is the first time I realized that my fabulous pink suitcase is actually the standard carry-on size.  No more checked baggage fees for this girl!!!

Waltzed to my gate and discovered a Starbucks kiddy-corner.  Coffee in hand and the people-watching commenced.

My plane was late getting to O'Hare to take me to Minneapolis but other than that the flight to Minneapolis was completely uneventful.  Sat in a window seat which was a joke as there was no window. Never did I know Delta has FAUX window seats.  What's up with that?

When we touched down in Minneapolis, a very kind gentleman removed my carryon from the overhead compartment.

Upon de-boarding, I had to make mad dash from terminal something to terminal something else.  When I say a mad dash, I mean a walk-run while on that people-mover belt and no time (NO TIME!!!!!) for coffee.  Thankfully I had said snacks in my not checked luggage.

I arrived at the gate with a mere 7 minutes to spare.  The 7 minutes is a bit made up but I feel like they would've for sure started announcing, "Delta would like to page Angie Good to such-and-such gate."

Minneapolis to Helena - uneventful and fabulous.  I thought for sure I was going to sit next to a scruffy cowboy but he was 3 rows infront of me.  Instead my seatmate was paranoid of flying which she did not confess until we touched-down in Montana.

Mike and Dane picked me up and we headed to their beautiful house which is situated in the woods.  Surrounded by pine trees and not a neighbor in sight.

Amazing.

Went to sleep...