The Cove Chronicles - Day 1: The Forty Hour Day Part 2

The thing that tripped me out with my ticket for the Southwest flight from LAX to Boise was that it said "Open Seating".

"Open Seating"? This is new.

It's like first come, first served...the first in line gets the best seats. Not a bad idea, really.

Another thing that kind of tripped me out about Southwest is that each flight consisted of several stops between the original departure point and the final destination. Much like a Greyhound bus, only it flies and you don't have to sit next to the bathroom door that won't close and emits a smell combining Lysol and sewage.

I ended up sitting in the back of the plane next to a motivational speaker (I think). Interesting fella. Flies all the time. Laid things out for me as far as how the whole Southwest seating deal works. You get on, you find a seat. You sit there for the duration of the flight. When you land, those people getting off at that stop get off the plane. Those continuing on remain in their seats to get counted. Once counted, you can change seats before the new group of passengers gets on. Cool! Again, this was all new to me, so I was intrigued by the whole process.

So we took off from LA to Salt Lake City. Speaker Dude (who happened to be a Yankee fan but was kind enough to not hassle me about my Red Sox cap) got off there to catch a connecting flight. I got counted, and then I moved up to the front of the plane. It made it really easy to get out of there when we landed in Boise.

By the time I arrived in Boise, I had been awake for about...oh, I don't know, twenty-four hours or so. I had a major case of "ugh" going on. My family busted up laughing when they met me at the airport, because I made one of my classic "ugh" faces. Apparently, my sister had bet Mom and Dad that it wouldn't take me more than five minutes before I was making "ugh" faces.

It sure was good to see them, though. Even though my brain was this side of oatmeal.

We loaded up my stuff into the car and went over to my sister's house.

Have I ever mentioned how much my parents rock? Well, my parents ROCK. They had signed me up for a full body massage with a friend of my sister's. WOW, that was a good massage. I was out cold in two minutes flat.

The lady that was doing my massage is really cool. She's a psychic, and apparently she dragged some spirits out of my body that have been with me for a long time. As in a few lifetimes long. Hey, when you've had some of the experiences I've had, nothing along the spiritual side of things will surprise you. But whether you believe the spiritual stuff or no, it was a damn good massage. I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to face the world.

After a much-deserved and much-needed shower, that is.

Then it was off to Epi's Basque Restaurant, a restaurant in Meridian, ID, that specializes in, you guessed it, Basque cuisine. My brother-in-law, Mark, works there, and Dad LOVES the food there. He loves the free bread even more. When we were working out the schedule for me coming back, he asked, "You want to go to Epi's for dinner, right?"

Talk about leading the witness.

Of course, I love the food at Epi's too, but it was obvious that Dad needed a little extra excuse to get over there.

Well, I aim to please.

Andrea's mother-in-law joined us for dinner, which was exceptionally good because Mark was the cook that evening. Good eats, a good beer or two, good conversation, and then back to Andrea's place, and good night.

Forty hours, people. Flying across the International Date Line is fun and stuff, sure, but it will mess you up.

We'll have to see if that massage helped me fight off the jet lag or not. Heh.