… and in just about a 24 hour time period…

I met up with Frank in ATL at about 7 pm last night. We changed out of our travelin’ clothes and went to the east side of ATL for some delish pizza (sausage + spinace + garlic + tomatoes) and some refreshing icecream.

We sat outside of a bar/restaurant called…. the Vickery, I think?? No bugs (how is that possible?) and delightful weather. Not too hot. Not too cold. Lovely.

Our dear friend Vimal joined us for a nice cold beer and some chatter about this and that. Which was mostly a deep discussion of the innerworkings of the pilot manual (“See now, if you do this check list before you taxi, you will ultimately FORGET to take off, which is a problem. We’ve written MANY emails to the Chief Pilot and he always responds with, ‘Good to know.’ It’s amazing how many flights are going from Atlanta to Orlando via the interstate highway…”) My contribution to the chatter? “So, uh, do you guys listen to ‘Highway to the Danger Zone’ when you take off? Does your captain ever call you Goose?”

We went back to the crash pad and watched “Chuck” – our new favorite show! Love it so much! The lovely folks at Crew Scheduling provided a truly wonderous wake up call at 10 a.m., letting Frank know that his amazing flying skillz were needed at 5pm. A full seven hours notice prior to a flight is always appreciated.

Frank is such a good pilot that they let him sit in the back with the passengers on his way up to Baltimore. So, he rode up to Baltimore and then will fly the plane back tomorrow morning. For kicks, they are sending him up to Flint, MI after that and then back down to Atlanta… and then he comes home!!! NO WAY!

Anyway, it was nice to have an uneventful trip back to MDW. I didn’t get on the 2:30 pm flight (way over-booked), but I got on the 4:45 pm flight AND was seated in business class. Hello, complimentary cookies/granola bars/beer & wine!