It's Different Here

By Chris

Clearly, I've grown bored in my commitment to always blog from the road. I'm sitting in the Charleston, WV airport now waiting on a plane. It's an interesting place to fly in and from. A runway on the top of a mountain looks really weird for a sea-level oriented guy like me. I've learned not to look. It's a pleasantly small airport too. Security dude was reading a newspaper waiting for someone to walk up. I was so taken aback I wasn't ready with my ID and boarding pass . . . usually I do that while waiting in a line. That was nice. Not so nice is the fact that there is no electronic display at the gate with the latest information coming up about your flight. We're 20 minutes from takeoff, the flight's not on the board and there's nobody from the airline at the gate??? The security guy assures me I'm at the right gate . . . as there are only two more flights leaving tonight and they are from here. He also says don't worry about the board because it's only right about "50 percent of the time." More funny stuff (and this is not a knock on West Virginians, because uhhh. ... silly people are everywhere.:

- Security guy tells lady behind me: "You can't bring no liquid substances through here." Lady says, "This ain't liquid it's soda."

- Sitting at the gate, a young man is out cold sleeping on the floor. Now he is snoring. And I mean loud snoring. Made me jump when he started. I know I snore, but not in public. Poor guy.

- Neat sign I saw: Coonhound Park

- Trusting rental car return: You just drive up, put it in any old spot and turn your key in, tell them the miles and assure them you put gas in it. They believe you and say thank you. Sweet.


UPDATE: It's takeoff time and still nobody from the airline in sight. Some people are using their phones to call the airline's toll free number. They are saying it's on time. This could be a long night.