Our Southwest flight was fairly uneventful. We found out our mystery stop was in Albuquerque. So for those planning their USBC Opens, that's home of the Championships in a couple of years. So we can choose a 14 hour drive or just less than a two hour flight. With a 17 and 7 year old then, I think Southwest might have repeat customers.
We arrived at 9:30 at MCO and the Rodriguez luggage was fine, but Michael's best friend packed two balls and shipped two (as many tournaments as we bowl, we shipped them ALL). Jeremy's two balls, in a box marked Florida or Bust! must have raised some suspicions, because it apparently got all kinds of extra security and missed our 12:40 flight to Florida. For those who are new to the travelling with balls thing: Bowling balls do not play nice with the x-ray machines. So for a very heavy box where the cover scans at one visibility, and the core appears differently, your box gets a very thorough TSA hand search. Fun stuff, folks. Our taxes at work, I guess. Suggestion to those reading: Mail your stuff!
The gentleman at Southwest's baggage claim couldn't have been nicer, but it still means that Jeremy will be bowling at Kegel with two balls we shipped there directly. We have until Monday to reunite Jeremy with his "busted" balls before the tournament.
As we walked outside the airport my son made his first Junior Gold reference. He took one deep breath into the beyond muggy air and said, "Ahhh, tastes like Junior Gold." Humidity is an issue when it comes to folks from SoCal where anything over about 20% is called monsoon in Los Angeles.
It's just about 6 am here, and I've had three hours sleep. That means the hotel bed is a little harder than I'd like, and hey, I'm excited. Mom biologically to one Junior Gold bowler, and Mom emotionally to nearly a dozen more. Let the Games begin!
Posted by Angel Zobel-Rodriguez at July 7, 2006 02:55 AM