ACFW: Day One

I didn’t get many pictures the first day, mainly because we were traveling/tired, but I did manage to snap a few of Mom and I on the planes.

Last year I had gotten two hours of sleep the morning before we left because I didn’t think printing would take as long as it did. This time we planned for problems and started about a week in advance with packing and printing. (I subscribe to the “rolling” school of thought for packing clothes.)

What a difference being prepared makes! I was rarely tired in class and adjusted to the time change quickly.

We left home just after six in the morning. Last year, Mom had a comatose body beside her as she drove into Portland. This year, I managed a coherent conversation. We parked in the Red Zone, section E4. I choose to remember this by saying, “We’re Red E4 a contract!” The shuttle appeared just as we wheeled our suitcase to the sidewalk.

The self-help kiosk at Delta baffled me momentarily because I thought we had e-tickets, but was supposed to hit the confirmation number button instead. Got that sorted out with the help of a friendly Delta employee, checked our free single suitcase each, and headed for security. Of course, it goes without saying that I had read the latest FAA/TSA guidelines and had removed my favorite snow globe–the one I take everywhere I go–from the suitcase. (Can you believe you can carry 4 inch scissor blades, but aren’t allowed a snow globe??)

Mom has a dream. A dream that many of us share. A dream that should be attainable in a great country like America. Her dream is to make it through security without having any glitch.

She made it, for the first time since September 11. I got pulled aside. The X-ray tech had examined my carry-on for a long time. “No,” I reassured the TSA worker when questioned, “I do not have anything that might hurt you if you open my luggage.”

She opened it and found the culprit.

Granola bars.

Yep, beware the fiber! Apparently they showed up on screen as dense tubes, possibly explosives. Blissfully, I was allowed to maintain custody of my Nature Valley box and go my merry way. Along the route we met up with Charlotte Kardokus, the former newsletter editor for OCW, and Kimberly Johnson, also an OCW friend.

Our flight took off at 9:45 AM and landed in Salt Lake City at 12:37 local time. We rushed through the airport, grabbed a bagel, and boarded the next flight. It left at 1:30 PM and we were in MN by 5. Took the free shuttle to the hotel after meeting two new writer friends at the stop. Also got to sit near Margie Lawson, the early-bird track teacher. (More about her later.)

Here’s the scary thing: I knew our new friends were writers by looking at them. Don’t know how I know, but I do. It’s my writey-sense. One of them was a brand new Thomas Nelson author named Beth Wiseman. Her debut book, Plain Perfect, released two weeks before the conference!

Our room, on the eighth floor, had terrific views! (See below) Here’s a question for you Posting with Purpose readers: do people on the “fourteenth” floor REALLY believe they aren’t on the thirteenth? Does it trick us all? Does the hotel build a 2-inch gap between the 12th and 14th floor as a token gesture?

I purchased a cute, pink Samsung digital camera the day before we left, so tried different settings to take the pictures.

You can see the TGIF’s parking lot and restaurant in the next picture. That’s where we enjoyed a fabulous meal. We also enjoyed giving the waiter a good-naturedly hard time. Then back to the room for a way-too-early-for-us-but-must-start-adjusting bedtime. My secret? Ear plugs. The white noise in my head lulls me right to sleep.