Sarasota, Florida June 12; 2012

Every time I take a new trip I try to view the travel as an integral part of the experience; maybe even a harbinger of things to come. I haven't been on a flight "for fun" in a while, often in the throes of managing equipment for a medical trip or doing head counts with some group.

So off I go. Dog at daycare - check. Cat at parents' house - check. Water off - check.

My routing today took me out of Humboldt in the evening, which was nice. I had all day to organize, fret, pack, and procrastinate. Arcata Airport is a cute place to start from, with its own unique version of TSA. Got there in plenty of time to get scanned, scrutinized, eyeballed, and queried to be sure I am not planning something newsworthy. I did manage to get in trouble though...

After I put my bags on the xray ramp and nearly disrobed to get through the metal detector, I grabbed a squirt of hand gel, trying to avoid the usual travel bugs I manage to pick up. "Oh, you don't want to do that."

The tall bald man behind the maching was scolding me. "Why not?" I couldn't imagine what I might have done to offend anyone.

"Well, if we pulled you aside and did a search of your hands and clothing, you would turn up positive." He was very stern and foreboding.

"Why?" I was scrolling through all my years of chemistry and couldn't make a connection.

"That stuff has glycerine in it, and you wouldn't want to turn up positive."

Hmmm. I think he was thinking of nitroglycerine. Somehow I didn't get the connection, like telling me a sandwich would give me a yeast infection. The other man behind the counter rolled his eyes and shrugged. "I never heard that neither." I don't know if he was supporting me or mocking his colleague.

Is this true? For all the people who are gellin' these days, there must be a lot of false positives out there...

Off to Sacramento. Nice route to take, avoiding San Francisco. The weather is better and more predictable, it is a small airport, and I could walk over to my next airline without having to go out and through security again. Free Internet, plenty of food choices, and comfortable waiting chairs. Will be my preferred mode of exit for any future flight connections.

My next flight boarded a bit late; around 10:30pm. Flight was FULL, so Delta was offering to check any carry-ons to save space on board. My back muscles have been complaining the last week, so it sounded good to me and I checked my little bag all the way. Just my back pack with toothbruch, mints, book, and computer.

We left on time, but it WAS packed. And not just with people; the configuration of seats was so packed that my knees were pretty close to the one in front of me. There were several classes boarded before my cattle section - 1st Class Premiere, Business,Economy Plus, and then Economy. I swear they keep coming up with new sections and making the "back of the bus" as miserable as they can so everyone will try to upgrade. Soon they will add Economy Minus, Standing Room, and Sardine. I hear some airlines are now charging extra to sit together; maybe they will charge extra to evacuate if there is an accident. Meals are gone, and with it went Service With A Smile, Customer Is Always Right, and Don't Throw the Crackers.

There seemed to be a lot of turbulence passing over the midwest, but maybe they are used to that because the seat belt sign never came on. Maybe it was just big chuck holes. Enough to make it impossible to sleep, but not enough to be fun.