Go East, Young Man (and Patty)

Here was the plan, Fly to Albany, get there before 7PM, have Dan’s Delivery pick us up and get us to the Cocca’s Motel on Wolf Road, sleep, wake up Tuesday and walk to Penske, rent the truck, pick up bags and drive to Carey Organ in Troy, load truck, drive with organ guy to Whitehall, unload truck, dismantle Casavant, lower from balcony, load truck, drive to Glenville and sleep. Then get home eventually, sight-see along the way.

That was the Plan. Here’s what actually happened…

Allen slept over at our house to drive us to the airport. We got up, got loaded, woke Al, and left about 4:50 AM, got to the airport about 5:35 and checked in, and sat at the gate. It was a very crowded connecting flight to Atlanta, then a small commuter Canadair to Albany. Well, we got off on time, got to Atlanta and rolled right to the gate. Usually there is a lot of taxiing around and waiting, but this went right there. So we ate at Popeye’s and I got Patty a Wendy’s Frosty before I went riding the tram for an hour. Our flight for Albany took off an hour late. So we get into Albany, and Dan’s is waiting for us. He loads us up and we got to Cocca’s Motel. I sign in,

NO CREDIT CARD. MISSING.

OK, so I’d already lost a couple of cards over the last few years, but this was rather more than an inconvenience. Last used it for the Frosty’s, so I call the company. Now that I have told them it is lost, I am liable for any loss from misuse. How will I rent the truck? Eventually we get a plan. 7-day hold on the card, get to Penske and call them again to take off the hold, rent the truck and then call again and re-place hold. It may just work. But we’ll still need $700 cash for the gas. Hmmmmm.

So just for fun, that night Patty and I decide to walk to Penske just to check out where it is, still daylight so we take off. That 0.6 miles turns out to be about 1.2 miles due to a Target between us. We get there and walk back another way, by a Staples. Better. The walk button is broken one direction, so we have to take our lives in our hands and RUN!

Once back we go walking into the adjacent Chinese and Thai restaurants, too expensive. We settle on the IHOP and get the senior dinners. I tell Patty: I don’t think of qualifying for the senior discount as a discouragement, I prefer to think of it as a VICTORY!!! The lady even let’s me substitute French toast for the choice of toast. Mmmmmm.

Long day, plan falling apart. Tomorrow may be better.