Tuesday dawned very early for Mistress and I. After the nerve-wracking events of the night before, we had gotten very little sleep. Still we were both wide awake and ready to head out for Austin. We had two planes to catch and no doubt a lot of acreage to walk in the process, but the first challenge was getting from the house to the train station about a mile away. They don't allow overnight parking there, and R doesn't drive. That meant walking with a lot of luggage. Somewhere in the mists of time, some genius added wheels to suitcases and now that seems to be the standard. I am grateful for that.
November is typically cold in New England, and although it was a little nippy out, it wasn't uncomfortable. It was dark, of course, being only about five in the morning. The first train for Logan airport left the station in Malden at 5:15 a.m. and we intended to be on it. Life can throw miracles at you just as easily as it can obstructions, and I had to recognize such an event when I made it through the turnstiles at the train station without anything catastrophic happening. After all, I hadn't had any coffee yet and the walls were looking a little shaky to me at just that moment. But the card swiped through the little slot and I passed through that revolving mechanism that I so often see as a castration machine. I have never been able to just run at those things for fear of what would result if it didn't move properly.
But move it did, and we soon took up seats on the train. It seemed forever before the doors closed and we pulled out of the station, but finally, we were officially launched. We arrived at Logan not long after and proceeded to check in.
I've said it before and I'll repeat it here. Ponies and their trainers do not travel light. Beyond clothing and toiletries (all properly stashed in their little bottles and plastic bags - oh how I hate those rules), there are grooming supplies, reins, extra bits, signs for the stalls, double-ended snap hooks and, yes, the twitch. None of that stuff would make it in if we tried to carry it on, so it all had to go into the checked bags. There was a time not long ago when that wouldn't have been a problem, but these days, airlines are charging nothing short of your eternal soul if you want to check a second bag or if the bag you have is over the weight limit. In this case, nothing could weigh more than 50 pounds.
Mistress is a very fashionable dresser at events, and she was carrying all of that extra pony stuff in her suitcase, so she ended up going over the limit by 10 pounds. We didn't know how much my case weighed, but when we were told she would have to pay an extra $80 for that ten pounds, I began to sweat. I mean, ouch! But as it turned out, my case was well under the limit. By that time, Mistress' suitcase was long gone, so there was nothing we could do about it other than make a mental note to change things around for the trip back. Not that we were scheduled to travel on the same flights or anything, but it would all end up in the same place.
Once inside the secure zone, we had a chance to grab some coffee and a bite to eat. This is where I always fail to learn life's lessons. If you're traveling through airports and are anything like me at all, you keep telling yourself that you can get something to eat once you are through security. No matter how many times you do this, you never seem to recall just how horrid an airport food court can be. Somehow, your inner optimist - the one you keep saying you are going to strangle one day - tells you over and over that this airport can't possibly be as bad as the last one you were in. Every time you listen to that guy. And every time, you come the raw prawn.
Mistress needs to eat before she can put coffee into her stomach. I can put most anything into mine without trouble. So we sat across from the Dunkin Donuts eating out breakfast. I don't remember what she got, but I clearly remember eating my crunchy egg sandwich on a croissant. Someone should tell these people that croissant are not supposed to be crunchy. And yes, they should be flaky, but not in such a manner that the flakes end up all over you.
Ohh well, that was breakfast in Boston. I'll spare you the gory details of lunch in Atlanta. We tried. Really we did. But airport food is...well, I'm surprised Rod Serling never made a Twighligh Zone episode about it.
Wow. I'm glad I didn't think of that during the trip. The last episode of Twilight Zone that I saw was the one starring William Shatner as the airplane passenger who kept seeing a gorilla on the wing.
In fact, both flights were uneventful. We found out seats (Mistress got the window) and settled in on both flights. They were tastefully boring and I spent most of my time either reading the in-flight magazine, staring out the window - as is my wont on plane flights - or eating the pony treats that airline feed passengers these days. Remember when you used to get an actual meal if your flight went over a standard mealtime? Those days passed a long time ago and I can't help wondering what a five hour flight across the country would be like today. In any case, I should remind myself that if airport food is nasty, the food they cooked on the flight itself was equally bad. So I guess I didn't miss anything.
We landed in Austin pretty much on time. Stormy would not come in until the next day, so Mistress and I gathered up our luggage and went outside to await our ride. We were to be picked up by Miss Indigo, but there was a small confusion on our arrival time. Miss Indigo arrived ahead of schedule and when we weren't there, went out to do some errands. A call from Mistress on her cell phone, and Indigo headed back to the airport. Shortly thereafter, we were in the car and headed out to the suburbs.
I'm a homebody. I don't have to go very far away before I start missing my cat and feeling somewhat out of place. That is particularly true when I visit places far away from home. My parents moved eight states away a few years ago, and when I visit them I step into a completely different climate and culture. I can never seem to get used to the sight of palm trees, and although I do like warmer temperatures they are weird in November.
Texas was something else entirely. I always knew it was big, but I had no idea. They were just coming out of a long drought at the time, and although things were reported to be on the rebound, the landscape was pretty brown and featureless. The highway went on for mile after mile without a lot to look at. I found out later on that the state has a small number of high population centers like Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth and a whole lot of empty space between them. Texans think nothing of traveling five hours to attend a meeting or other function and then traveling five hours to get home. It's just the way it is in such a large state. Not a good place for someone with ADD.
Still, Miss Indigo has a talent for conversation that kept the atmosphere in the car fun and entertaining. Before long, we arrived at her utterly spotless home. She apologized for the mess. To this day, I'm still trying to figure out what she was talking about. Mistress and I found our rooms and put our luggage away for the day. We would spend the night here and then go to the CTK Ranch the next day.
I no sooner got my suitcase stowed when I began to realize how tired I was. Mistress and Miss Indigo were planning to do some shopping before Mistress fell on her nose for a while, so it seemed like a good time for this pony to hit the hay. I was out like a light in no time and slept for quite a while. At one point, I remember feeling someone putting a blanket over my feet. Somehow, it ended up covering my whole body before I woke up.
Later that evening, Miss Indigo took Mistress and I out for dinner at a local Tex-Mex restaurant. I guess there's something about Texas in that they take their Tex-Mex very seriously. This place was fantastic and unlike any I had ever been to before. We were well-stuffed by the time the meal was finished and still had plenty of food to take home with us.
A stop at the local video rental store, and we headed home again. We picked up two DVDs to watch that evening; Disney's Enchanted and Hellboy II.
That about caught both ends of the spectrum. We watched both movies, had a bit of nosh and then headed to bed.
I don't remember what hour we awoke the next morning, but we showered, had breakfast and hung out for a while. Soon we would head over to join up with some friends, pick Stormy up at the airport and then get some lunch before heading out to the Ranch.
Lots of restaurants refer to the food they serve as Texas barbecue, but I'm here to tell you that it isn't Texas barbecue unless you are in Texas. I have had barbecue plenty of times in my life and this tasted very similar. The differences were the side dishes and the atmosphere. Again, it's a different culture altogether and taken in context, it was a real treat that I hope to relish again some day. This place was a favorite of our hosts and was well chosen.
Once sated, we split up into two vehicles and headed over to the CTK Ranch. We took the scenic route through Austin proper and took the time to get a gook look at the nation's largest capital dome. Everything is bigger in Texas.
Once out of the city, we were on our way to CTK and a weekend of fun, competition and new friendships. More on that in the next installment.
I promise I won't make you wait as long for that as you did for this.
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