"This Rhyme is My Recital..."

or, What a Day...
(to be con't...)
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UPdate:
ORANGE BLOSSOM TRAIL, FLA --
Like the title says,
it's been quite a day.

Heading to the airport this morning,
on Highway 8 to pick up Mal in New Richmond, I passed several dead deer. Gun season opener is Saturday, and sadly, some have already died by car while moving, instead of the more immediate death.

I hope I never get over the amazed feeling when you leave one habitat, and then, 18 hours later-- find yourself in another.

We broke the clouds, on my connecting trip form Milwaukee to Orlando, and the noise in the plane, from the children mostly, enriched my soul. "Ohhh wahhhhh..."*

Since Mal decided late to join me on this trip -- Miami bookfest starts Saturday (me, not him), for the general public mostly (I heard: former Pres. Bush was there earlier in the week)... -- let me jump in here, I think Mal just decided to come when I told him I had the rent-a-car, and hotel, partially booked, plus when no snow was being predicted for gun season opener =-- he booked late, but luck of the the Viking, paid slightly more for the mid-afternoon non-stop, but with the passenger / airport surcharges it balanced out pricewise; he left one hour after me and got into Orlando 1/2 hour before, and greeted me at my gate.

We got the rent-a-car fast, not having paid extra to wait for any checked luggage (fingers crossed w/packing light...), and found ourselves -- finally -- at the Miller Ale House, that I erroneously thought was all the way off airport property at International Drive, but seem to actually be Orange Blossom, sitting outside enjoying a brew and the game...

*added* where every now and then, a car speeds by at 80+, like they've never seen, nor collided with, a deer in rut crossing the road... "Checks" can be good, trust me.*

It was a great game.

Sat outside, and the waitress asked if we'd brought the cold snap with us...
Different World in places like Orlando, compared to Rice Lake, better right now -- from the basic kicks of the self-directed, Pandora-driven of the next-table-over...

A Different World, but a welcoming one all the same...

Let's see where this can go.



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*More than made up for the cries of the infant, his ears adjusting to the cabin pressure, behind me, on the landing.

I felt noxious myself. Do they turn off the oxygen circulating on the full plane at some point or what? Or perhaps I wore too many layers?...

Better now,
on the ground.


ADDED:
I forget to add --
my experience with TSA out of Minneapolis was fine.
Sat with Mal -- who had that later flight -- at the initial check in, before heading up to security and boarding about 1/2 hour shy... It was the old, metal-only (?) machine, so no need to choose opt-out options, or whether it'd be safer patted down in public, or private. (Public, duh.)

Looks like I'm taking Megan McArdle's seat...
Trouble with boycott travel, is there are so many others -- in a free market -- who will step up to take your place, if you "punish" a business via non-support. When gas prices shot up years back, it relieved plenty of weekend road congestion -- particularly those big SUV's and oversized pickups artificially dominating highway travel -- that encouraged plenty of others of us to travel the friendly roads ... more.

I'm not so keen on getting securely and severely searched, and I'm still waiting for the "long-form" journalism piece some editor assigns, telling us about the alleged lobbyist connections to getting these new machines installed... but, if it makes more others take to the roads and trains (high speed anyone?), others of us adjust, and calculate our choices there too.

Surcharge on checked bags? On my planes, particularly the less than 1 hr. Minneapolis to Milwaukee, it looked like people "opted out" by buying those big suitcases w/wheels, and everybody trying to jam those into the overheads. (Another reason to choose windows, instead of aisles, or to board at the very end: Who wants a 50-pound bag falling on their head when the boarders are trying to get them up?)

Or, like me, you could just pack minimally. Travel writers say you always bring more than you wear, or use, anyway...

Point is,
one person's refuse is another's treasure. If enough business and rec. travellers like McArdle are so turned off that they opt out of air travel all together, I think it will take quite a while for the numbers to register: there's simply too many others willing to move about the country, especially if the rates are adjusted to move the seats.

The Free Market will compensate, offering up choices the people seek. It's why -- sans mandate -- health care products were finally adjusting to market need: low-cost clinics for the basics (office visit, basic prescription that you need an office visit to get, immunity shots and boosters, etc.) No insurance needed: but a preferred product at decent prices and marketplace convenience (ie/ no medical office waiting room needed.)

"Dear John" letters to the airlines, on behalf of another player TSA's actions, feel satisfactory -- I get that -- and making customer preferences known can only benefit businesses that listens, but I wouldn't count on "John" pining too long after lost customers, if there is a whole 'nother market segment able to step up and replace the lost green that, in the end, is what matters.

Because you personally? It's not like the airlines were that into you, and your modesty concerns, at all.