Arizona, Day 6

Well, let's keep the last day brief. I had come back from the gym and getting a little bit more of a lift in. 

I had started packing up my new suitcase, not too worried, our nonstop flight back to Raleigh wasn't leaving until 4:30 PM. So at this point, it was maybe 10 in the morning. Mom was still laying in bed checking her phone with the morning news on the TV in the background.

All of a sudden, a word came from my mother's mouth as loud as I can ever remember hearing it in my four decades of life.

And that word was "FUCK!"

I knew exactly what it had to be in reference to. The flight had gotten all screwed up. Just the night before, there were about 20 or 22 seats available and all of a sudden, the flight was booked even. I didn't even know if I should take a shower. I figured we had to get right to the Phoenix airport. But the more we looked, the more we realized it wasn't worth it. The connections through Chicago, Charlotte, and Dallas were not worth trying. So we decided to just go for the non stop. If that didn't work, then we would probably have to wait until 11 pm to fly to Charlotte and then fly to Raleigh in the morning. If that was the case, I wasn't getting to work until early afternoon at best.

Since we had time for lunch, we found a restaurant called Perfect Pear Bistro, which had never even come up in my initial research. It was a nice cafe, with a bit of a southwestern flair. But I got a great combination of the Pasta Atraciamana and Spicy Cobb salad. The pasta dish was rigatoni, bacon, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and creamy spicy red sauce topped with parmesan cheese & basil. Great flavors, a touch of heat with the sweetness of the veggies. The fresh basil contrasted the smoky salty bacon really well too. Great dish. And the salad had MORE crispy bacon, roasted butternut squash, black beans, red onions, avocado, egg, pepper jack cheese, cilantro & sunflower seeds with spicy chipotle ranch and I also got some lime vinaigrette dressing on the side. Plus for more protein, I added chopped chicken breast. Awesome! Plus a quality Arnold Palmer and I had no complaints.

We got to the airport about 1:30, probably 90 minutes earlier than we needed to. There were only 4 standby passengers and we were number 2 and 3. Of course, #4 was the first to get their seat, so that immediately had me nervous. I mean why the hell do we have a numbered list if we don't follow the stupid numbers? Anyway, we did get our seats, about 15 minutes before boarding. Mom had row 9 and I had row 26, which is the last row of the plane, right next to the restroom. 

Now I was actually considering drinking alcohol on the plane, which I rarely do in coach, since it costs money. But I do like to have it on an evening flight, so I did ask for red wine. A few minutes before the flight attendants reached my row, one of them, who barely spoke English, came up to me. She asked if I would switch seats with a guy in Row 4, which was the first row of coach. Apparently, he wanted to sit near the restroom. 

So now I'm thinking to myself, I can make this work. I managed to get a half bottle of Merlot and I had no trouble drinking that down. I mean I don't love the bulkhead row of coach, but if sitting there means free wine, I'm in!