Thursday, September 17, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, fell asleep pretty quickly, but woke up at 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I finally gave up and looked at my phone and read but never got back to sleep, finally getting up with the alarm at 5am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 3,624 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 11 minutes for a sleep score of 58.

I dragged the first heavy bag (remember, no elevator) down the steps and hoisted it into the trunk of our car. My back was starting to bother me a little so I took an Advil and it kicked in immediately. I put the remainder of the bags in the trunk.

We left the Airbnb on schedule at 5:30. The Google maps girl did us wrong and gave me a crazy route to the airport. For the last turn into the airport rental car return area I was in the right lane of 5 lanes and she told me to turn left. I continued down that road about 5 minutes until I could do a U-turn and head back north to Zemke Road. I returned the car without incident, we took the train to terminal 1, got our boarding passes, checked our bags (including the carry-on they suggested we check for free), went through TSA and stopped at Tortas Frontera near our gate – B14. We shared a taco with 2 cups of coffee and the tacos were difficult to eat and contained jalapenos they didn’t mention on the menu.

Jacob and Annie James

This is what my fingers look like when the cold weather hits:

I received a message from United our flight is delayed because of storms between Houston and Chicago. The original departure was scheduled for 10:40 and now it’s been changed to 12:52 and it also said we will only have 8 minutes to get to our new gate, C2, for flight UA1675 departing at 4:25. ☹ We may be staying overnight at a hotel in Houston. ☹

Our flight didn’t depart until 2pm and landed in Houston at 4:20 so by the time we taxied to our gate and exited the plane our connecting flight to Medellin had already left.

Houston, we have a problem; Sorry, I’ve been dying to say that.
They had a flight to Bogota but it was full. We quickly and easily reserved the same flight to Medellin for tomorrow. Teresa was starving so we stopped at Panda Express and shared orange chicken, black pepper angus, and fried rice for $15.27. Downstairs we waited at Claim Check #1 but didn’t see our bags on the side so we waited a while to see if they came down the conveyer belt.

I looked at the screen and it said:

Chicago – Arrived in Claims

Denver – Arriving in Claims

We waited at a desk for a while but no one showed up. I found a claims guy and asked him about where our bags from Chicago were. He pointed to the row of bags along the side we had already checked. I asked him what “Arriving in Claim” means and he said they are coming down the chute now. I questioned him about “arrived in claims”, being past tense doesn’t that mean they should already be here? He agreed and pointed to the row of bags again. I told him there not here so where else could they be? He pointed to a far away room in a corner. I went there and after a short wait in line was told that this room was only for local baggage. I asked where I would find “international baggage” and she pointed to a girl nearby. I asked her and learned our bags are kept in a secure area until our flight tomorrow when they will go on our plane.

We took their little train to the airport Marriott but were told they are full for tonight but the lady gave me a sheet with a list of over a dozen nearby hotels with their telephone numbers and addresses.

I called the Sheraton (3 miles away) and was told they have rooms available and they would send over a shuttle to pick us up. I asked ChatGPT how much the Sheraton would cost and was told in the neighborhood of $148 including taxes and fees for a sample September 25-26 stay.

I waited about 10 minutes before going outside where I found a small bus that took us 8 minutes away to the Sheraton. (Although later I found everything is branded as Marriott Bonvoy; bait & switch?) I checked us in and the lady quoted me $199 and asked me if I approved that. I told her I was expecting something closer to $150; I asked her if they don’t have a senior discount or one for gringos? She laughed, checked her computer and asked, “how about $169”? I told her that was much better and put it on my charge card.

I asked the guy at the desk if they had any emergency bathroom supplies and he gave me a comb, a deodorant, 2 toothbrushes and 2 tubes of Colgate toothpaste.

We went up to our room – at the end of a long hall naturally and got settled. Turns out I have my bathroom kit in my backpack so we/I had a brush, deodorant, and toothpaste.

I left at 7:15 and went down to the bar. They had 2 large screen TVs with some college game, one screen with what looked like a soap opera, and the Lions vs Bills game was on the main screen right in front of the bar where all the seats were taken.

I took a seat outside and checked my phone and saw the Bills were leading the Lions 14-7. A few minutes later I noticed they changed the TV nearest to me back to the game so I took a seat inside. I left at halftime and stopped at their gym where I did a few arm exercises with 5# and 10# dumbbells.

Back upstairs I read for a while until Teresa was ready to go to bed at 9:30.

Each of our double beds had a duvet and a comforter in addition to a sheet. Have I mentioned I don’t like duvets? Unless a room is extraordinarily cold, I sleep with a top sheet. A duvet forces you to sleep with 2 sheets and a blanket. Enough said.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY