Day 1: Thursday, part A

I had never ridden in a cab before. Never, not once, not ever. But that is one more item off of my To Do Before I Die list. I took a cab ride to the airport. I suppose I could have found someone to take me, but my sisters were still home for Christmas break as were the few other people I’ve become friends with here in Fargo. So I took a cab. I’m not sure why I was expecting it to be like the movies, but I was. When the cab pulled up I was dismayed that it wasn’t yellow with black checkers; it was gray. Now I know that there are cabs that aren’t checkered, but I assumed that yellow was pretty standard. The next thing I was surprised at was the fact that the cab was a Lincoln and had leather seats. Now, I’ve never seen a cab in a movie with leather seats. I shouldn’t complain about my sweet ride being WAY sweeter than movie cabs, but it was disappointing in its own way. I wanted the real deal.

The cab driver was different then movie cab drivers. He kept telling me stories. I was under the impression that cab drivers were either unable to speak fluid English or were sullen and rather preoccupied with their own businesses.* He was neither. I learned his brother bought a brand new truck last year that he can’t afford to drive because of the rising gas prices, but refuses to trade it in for a more fuel efficient vehicle. Apparently he “needs” the truck for some reason. And this same brother lost a dirt bike because he was cruising on a frozen lake that wasn’t as frozen as everyone thought it was. He then proceeded to buy TWO new dirt bikes. No-wonder this brother couldn’t afford gas. I enjoyed the conversation, but the whole ride was different than I imagined it would be. Anyway, back to the story.

I had a couple drinks at the airport in Fargo (Hector International) after I checked my bags. I love Hector. It’s so small and friendly. There are only 4 gates, and the longest I’ve ever had to wait in the security line was 10 minutes. The best part of the whole airport is right beside the baggage claim and rental car booths. Everyone walks by this area on their way in and out of the airport. This open space is rented out for advertising and every time I’m in Hector the theme has changed. Once it was air -conditions. Once it was paintings by local artists. Once it was garden tools. Once it was a boat. This time, however, was the best. It was a collection of garden tractors. Imagine someone from New York getting off their plane to be greeted by their hillbilly relatives from the boondocks right by a display of mini tractors. For some reason I found the idea very amusing. Maybe it was the couple of drinks I had…

The plane ride was uneventful. I though you might like this picture of what ND landscape looks like in the late summer from an airplane. Beautiful, is it not? (Imagine the same picture except anyplace there's color imagine white snow and that's what it looks like in the winter. Except for the trees. They were gray).

And then I arrived in Chicago….