A better question is, why am I at the airport, and not at the hotel which our apologetic airline offered to put all connecting passengers up in tonight? (Well, last night, I guess.) Well, the way my travels panned out (short version: not good) when you count in delays and shuttles and security checks and all that, I would have only gotten about four hours of sleep at the hotel, and figured I’d do just as fine if not better at the airport. In hindsight, four hours of sleep sounds pretty good. Heck, an hour sounds heavenly. I’m not writing this to complain – I got all of my complaining out in Milwaukee where our flight was delayed four hours. I’m just writing because it’s now five in the morning, I’ve only managed to sleep in occasional bursts of 20 minutes (the amount of time between Homeland Security announcements)and I don’t know what else to do with my time. And dang, I think I left my Chex Mix on the plane!

“The Homeland Security Advisory Level is currently at Orange. Please be aware of the increased threat, and  report any suspicious behavior or unattended baggage to the nearest airport employee, law enforcement officer, or TSA representative.” Over and over and over again.

I’m starting to see passengers – or maybe airline employees – trickle back into the airport. I’ve teamed up with a couple women who are also en route to Portland and am breaking all the rules by watching their bags as they use the ladies room. I opened my carry-on to pull out a sweater to use as a pillow and blanket (it failed as both) and now there is no way I’m getting my carry-on to close again.

I see people drinking coffee and eating pastries, and one of my new traveling friends just gave me her airline voucher for food, so I’ma go get some breakfast! What an adventure, as Laurel would call it