Still in IAH, had an hour conversation with a customer service lady, and another few minutes on the phone with another one. Final result: admission that I’m going to be late because Continental representatives made some very strange decisions, not because of weather. Yes, I’m going to be 2.5 hours late, but also, my next trip will be $100 cheaper. It’s not a full voucher, but it helps.

Also found out my luggage will probably not arrive today :(  The sucky things about that are not really the delay in luggage. They are (1) the line-waiting and delay and hassle of the claim process in the airport, and (2) the 6 hours of hanging around your house when the delivery folks call and say, “We have your luggage. We’ll be there sometime between 10 a.m. and 4 pm.”

Most important message: I’m not blown up, and I will see Alex tonight. Both of these things are Very Good.

The plane for our flight to Houston… is still in Houston. And is “not leaving anytime soon.” OK, so we’re about 2 hours behind schedule, now. It might still be possible to absorb this into the other layovers (e.g., Cleveland), but it’s best not to count on such things.

Here I is in the Mcallen International Airport (anything 3 miles from the Mexican border is international). I’m at gate 2 (there are now about 6 gates in all. In the whole airport). My friends Craig & Melinda (and their very cool daughter) drove me down here and accepted all the half-used bottles of condiments and probably-not-rotten vegetables from my fridge. I paid $25 extra for a second checked bag (Daddy, is it true that you used to be able to check two bags with no extra charge? And they would feed you on the plane?)

Oh. A lady just walked by me with a cat carrier, but I think it contained parakeets. Interesting.

Anyway, the ticket agent uttered the dreaded word “weather.” I may miss my connection in Houston, Cleveland, or both. She said she’d try to pre-book me on alternate flights out of Cleveland, just in case.

This might be a long day. Or, I might arrive exactly when I was supposed to. I’m hoping for option B, of course.

a) this is a real sign just south of where I live. Is it not glorious?

b) in a few hours I go to see Alex. I get to stay there (probably) for the whole summer (at least most of it, even in the worst case assessment). This is a very good thing. I am even tentatively confident that I may have gotten nearly everything done to make this trip feasible. Yay. (?). And I am going to see my wif. Yay!!! (!).