The Final Four Chronicles: Day 5 - The Departure

 

Not gonna lie.  This trip has been exhausting.  Not going to be much for the Departure, or at least not as much as in past chronicles.  But, we owe it to our readership, and to ourselves, to at least publish something.  So, here we go.

4:29 (C.D.T.) - OMG ITS EARLY:  Kev-O leaves for his flight to Chicago.  Yes, its an early flight, but it is for work, so it was either that or miss the Championship game.  Good choice Kev-O.

Also very early:  It may be early, but at least Kev-O got to have breakfast together with Tubby Smith at a burrito spot in the airport! 

06:00 - Kev-O wheels up for Chicago.

06:45 - Sinickal is up.

07:00 - Tony awakens and sees the door to Kev-O rooms closed.  Immediately panics.

07:00:30 - Phew.  Kev-O is gone.

07:30 - Pepster arises.

0730 - Sinickal is cleaning out the refrigerator. Late night drunken shopping at the Circle K and food deliveries from Taco Cabana may not have been our best idea. The inventory remaining in fridge includes six egg and bean burritos, a sausage egg and cheese biscuit, several candy bars, and a lot of Miller Lite and Bud Light. It's like we are reliving our late 20's here. 

07:30 - 08:30 - Prepare AirBnB for exit, and watch Bill Simmons' podcast. This house was interesting in that the washer and dryer were outside in the carport area. The instructions for exiting the house included stripping the beds and putting all dirty laundry on top of the washer. Outside. 

08:46 - Say goodbye to our lovely old home on Calhoun Street.

09:00 - At the Newstand for breakfast and coffee.  Breakfast sandwich here costs $17, but was we are on the way to drop Pepster at the San Antonio airport, we are kind of stuck.

09:06 - Sandwich arrives and it is HUGE!  Understand the $17 now.  Bacon, egg and pimento cheese sauce.  It is delicious!

09:50 - Drop Pepster off at airport.

11:15 - While on the plane for his 10:58 flight, the captain of Pepster's flight makes an announcement that the flight will be delayed an hour - until 12:15, since there is a ground stop at Fort Lauderdale international due to weather.  Apparently Miami airport is affected too.

11:18 - Some already served older men just start chanting, "It's Great.  To Be.  A Flo-ri-da Gator!"  Nonstop.  Well, they had their fun.

11:33 - Kev-O notes that his total sleep for the night/day was 5 hours, including the 45-minute nap he had in the cab from the airport.

12:16 - Pilot on Pepster's flight now announces that there is an additional thirty-minute delay, but that we will take off at 17:45.  As everyone does the calculations, Pepster has to reassure those around him that 17:45 announcement was Greenwich Mean Time, which would still be in thirty minutes.  (HE HOPES - GULP?!).

12:28 - Tony drops Sinickal off at airport in Austin

12:45 - Pepster is wheels up to FLL.

12:46 - Sinickal has finally gotten through TSA. Ignores the CLEAR line which has several hundred people in it. TSA Pre isn't a better option, so Sinickal ends up in the priority boarding line at regular TSA. Only a couple of people in the line, but now shoes come off and laptops come out. So common. 

12:58 - After a short wait and a waiver for being at the airport too early, Sinickal sits at the bar in the Delta Sky Club. Orders a bourbon and soda and says to the bartender "don't lose track of that bottle. I will be here a long time!"

16:34 - Pepster wheels down in FLL.  Airport is a shitshow thanks to the ground stop.  We literally stop on the runway for 20 minutes until the tower can tell the pilot where to hide the plane - since no gates are available.

16:51 - Sinickal is wheels up to DTW

17:23 - Pepster is finally at the gate.

17:45 - Sinickal is at the Detroit Sky Club, which closes in 15 minutes. Is able to grab a drink and get a bite to eat. While eating, the staff keeps coming by and placing more food on my table saying that it is going to be thrown out so take all you can. Club is wild at closing.

18:50 - Sinickal is wheels up to DCA

18:26 - Pepster finally retrieves luggage.  That ground stop almost ruined this airport.

19:31 - Pepster arrives at home.

20:10 - Kev-O checks in from Chicago. His sales meeting attended the Cubs baseball game this evening. Kev-O didn't have warm enough clothes for the game and arranged with Sinickal to buy back a Cubs jacket that he purchased for the game. Unfortunately, the "Cubs gear lost to a Brooks Brothers sale in Chicago O-Hare Airport." 

21:15 - Sinickal arrives at home. 

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Kev-O gets rebooked on flight number 2 out of Chicago Midway, and the tequila bar forgot to keep their queso warm.  This reminds Kev-O of some things we forgot to mention on Finals night, namely that Ted Cruz was in attendance.  Since Texas teams always lose whenever Ted Cruz attends, Kev-O had originally dubbed him the Cancun Cooler.  After today's episode, Kev-O revises that to the Cancun Queso Cooler.

Friday, April 11, 2025

At some time, Tony will get to fly back home to New York, after spending the rest of this week in meetings in Austin, Texas.