For a guy that rarely leaves his shop,
it is never easy leaving home to travel across the
country. I have pulled out of my driveway many times, leaving the seclusion of the mountains, only to find out the seasons have changed since the last time I went for a drive.
The trip to Nashville to see Todd Johnson would require that I fly, which in itself is a nightmare for me. Not that I am afraid of flying.
It is more of a problem of being locked up with strangers for several hours on a plane.
Remember I don't get out much.
From the time you enter the terminal you are basically treated like cattle moving you through a maze of ropes that herd you to your own demise. The first thing they do is tell you your bags are a half pound too heavy and that you will have to remove the extra weight or pay an extra hundred dollars.
Don't forget that you are already paying for your luggage to be transported in the first place.
They strip you down like you are going to jail, and the odd thing is, that the people in front of you that have traveled in the last decade, have already removed three quarters of their clothing. This is an attempt to not upset the swat team that is searching them for nail files and other weapons of mass destruction.
And tell me why it is that they always strip search the little old lady, that just turned a hundred years old and is in a wheel chair, when the guy in front of her barely gets looked at and he is so
big he would not need a weapon to kill everyone on the plane.
Just an observation of stupidity in action.
Then as you load the plane they are handing out face mask,
because Swine Flu is coursing through every living soul on the plane, and there
is no way in hell you are going to get out of this one alive.
I hope you can understand why, I naturally feel uneasy about traveling in this manner.
For the sake of the people reading this, I won't get into the discussion about the
people you sit next to on the plane. I am sure they feel the same way about the recluse
pipe maker from Wyoming sitting next to them.
As I am moving through the lines, I just have to remember that I am going on this trip
to have fun and maybe get some pipes made while working in Todds shop.
I don't know why I feel the need to gripe about the on going violation of my person in the airports of our great country.
Too much Caffeine?
Or maybe, I am still going through a mid life crisis and am less tolerant of stupidity.
No matter the reason, my love of flying still did not keep me from going.
I was looking forward to working with another pipe maker and sharing as many ideas about
our craft as possible.
