Raging in Georgia, Part I

Nothing screams "Howdy, I'm from Hickville!" louder than walking into O'Hare and realizing that getting checked in by a human being has gone the way of the dinosaur. I managed to get my boarding pass and get rid of my luggage with plenty of time to spare- I thought- to sneak downstairs and have a smoke or two before going through security. Nothing makes you want a cigarette more than knowing you can't have one! That accomplished, I got in line at the checkpoint. It took close to an hour to clear it; I thought at 4:30 in the morning it couldn't possibly be bad, but I was wrong. At least my underwire didn't make the machine go crazy and single me out for special attention. Yep, that's happened before! I get to my gate just in time to grab a Starbucks and a book, and off we go.
Now, I've mentioned that I am deathly afraid of flying. Hate it! I no sooner got settled in my seat, before we even leave the gate, and I am sound asleep. Lights out, good night, that's all folks. I never woke up until we were on approach to Atlanta. I would fly more often if that happened too. Once we're off the plane, I see immediately past our gate is a SMOKING ROOM! Hallelujah! I darted in for a quick one, and there are a few soldiers from the 101st in there. Their lighters were confiscated at Customs, they'd been on a 17 hour flight from Kuwait and I think of all the welcome homes I've given in my life, passing out books of matches has got to be one of the oddest.
After talking to them for a few, I headed for baggage claim. At another gate entrance, a nice lady from the USO was handing out US flags to some kids coming in off another flight.("They want matches, honey, give them MATCHES!") I got my bag, met up with my daughter-in-law, and off we were to Columbus. First on the agenda? In the last eight years, I have never had a pair of tennis shoes that weren't from the PX. And I DO wait until I can get to one before buying new ones. So I get my new sneakers and we're off to have lunch with Young SGT. He works in MG Wojdakowski's office, and it's a very impressive place. One thing I noticed that was odd- the Marines all had the new digital uniforms, but the soldiers? Not so much. Some were still in BDU's, and no two had the same boots. Others were in DCU's, and still others in the new ACU's. No uniformity to the uniform, so to speak. My son said the MG wanted me to have his coin. That may even be true! So the next time I'm in a coin challenge, I'll be in good shape. After lunch, Diana and I did a little more shopping and headed home. I opted for a nap, and it must have been a dandy because Diana could hear me snoring.
We went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings and my son and I opted for a 50 wing basket, split between mango habenero and the next hottest sauce. There will, however, be no descriptions of the Dance of the Flaming Asshole in this post. Afterwards, we headed for the Benning Brew Pub. It wasn't too busy, I imagine everyone might have been holding off til the next night. We first tried a Steamboat Stout. Gag! That stuff was awful. Young SGT even gave the pitcher away to another table; at the end of the night, THEY returned it full to the bar. I tasted their Irish Red, blech, then their pilsner, blech, and we settled on a pitcher of Miller Lite and called it good.


I will say that everyone I talked to at the Pub was pretty friendly. Shame their beer was such a disappointment. Bad yeast, maybe.
Thus ended my first day in Georgia.