Obligatory airport entry

How did any of us ever live without wireless internet access... ?

Well, the vacation is off to a great start. Six-and-a-half hours in the car (seven-and-a-half if my mother's reading this) from Iowa City to Ann Arbor, a quick dinner at Big Boy (thanks, Mom and Dad) and now I'm hanging out in the C concourse of Detroit Metro Airport, which has the unsettling feel of a cattle farm. If you're not familiar with this concourse, the passengers are essentially gathered in a room - really, a box - and left to wait until we're told our flight is ready to board. There aren't any grain troughs to feed from, however. I suppose that's just as well, since my tummy's full of soup-and-salad-bar goodies.

The highlight of the day? I came reallyclose to getting pulled over for speeding. In fact, I'm not sure how I didn't get nailed. I was going 80 mph on I-94 near Battle Creek, changed CDs, and when I looked up, I whizzed by a state trooper on my left. I think I saw him just in time to touch the brake and slow down. But I switched to the right-hand lane and cruised at 70 for a while. Then I noticed the trooper in my rear-view mirror.

He wasn't directly behind me, but he seemed to be tagging along with me and the SUV that was behind me the whole time. (The SUV had also switched lanes and slowed down.) I'm not sure what the state trooper was waiting or looking for; the three of us cruised along for a few miles. There was plenty of room for him to get behind me, but he never did, so I was beginning to feel safe. At that point, the trooper switched behind the SUV and turned on his flashers. Gotcha.

Better him than me, though I honestly have no idea why I wasn't the one pulled over. Maybe the SUV was actually going faster. Or maybe the state trooper was waiting to see who'd drive slower while he was cruising alongside us. Anyway, dodging a $100+ ticket is a fine way to begin a vacation. And considering my heart rate was accelerated the whole time, I'm also counting this as a good cardiovascular workout.

No news on my flight being overbooked. My fingers are crossed.