Welcome back to winter! The one jarring thing about going to any tropical place in the dead of winter is the return home. You sit in a flying metal tube for some amount of hours, and when you exit it’s a drastically different atmosphere than the one you experienced when you entered that tube. I got home at around 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning and had nothing more than a windbreaker for warmth. Seeing my breath on the jet bridge was my welcome back to Minnesota.

To tie up a few loose ends from the trip, there’s this. My laptop did manage to heal itself. It’s back to 100% and I still don’t know what happened, why it happened, or how it fixed itself. I’m just happy I didn’t have to drive straight to the Apple store to buy a new one, and I’m even happier to be writing this blog installment on a real keyboard. Feels like I’m writing at 330 mph.

Secondly, it probably shouldn’t surprise me that Maxie ended up being very much a love bug before I left. On Sunday morning, my last day there (of course) I woke up early and he was sleeping on the chair next to the bed, where he slept the entire time I was at the condo. I said, “C’mon over here Maxie” and he just got up and jumped in bed with me. Like it was nothin’. He then proceeded to stand on my chest and rub his nose and face all over my head. When I got up, he followed me and was never more than a step away. When I sat on the sofa with my cup of coffee, he was all over me. I’m not sure what flipped that switch, but it was almost kind of sad because I had to leave the condo in just mere hours. He tried laying on top of my suitcase to keep me from going, but I didn’t have any choice.

As for Biscuit, I’d categorize our relationship as eventually developing into a sort of uneasy detente. He never came over for attention or rubs on his head, but he also stopped hiding or running away, so we found a way to coexist. And, if I caught him early in the morning I could give him some rubs and he liked that. Not in the afternoon, for crying out loud, just pre-dawn when was very sleepy.

I had to drive to the airport around 2:00 on Sunday afternoon, and it was sad to say goodbye to both guys. They’re sweet cats and no trouble whatsoever. When I got to the airport, in Mary and Lonnie’s Honda Fit, I had to find a parking spot that would be easy to describe to Mary, who was returning on Monday. So, rather than park as close as possible to the little Lihue terminal, I picked a spot I could easily direct her to via text. It was “Exit baggage claim B, cross the street, walk three aisles into the lot, turn right, and it’s near the end of that row.” And, I had to hide the keys and leave the car unlocked. There was no way to lock the doors with the keys in it. So, and feel free to use this trick, I devised the best possible hiding place for the keys, right in plain sight.

I went to McDonald’s before the airport and got a breakfast sandwich and an iced tea. After drinking the tea, I emptied and cleaned the paper cup. After  I got to the airport, I put the keys in the cup, put the lid back on and the straw back in the lid, and put it in the cup holder on the center console. No one would ever think to look in there. Also, to be fair, no one on Kauai would likely be even thinking of looking in every car in the airport parking lot to see which ones were unlocked. This is an island where driving is a contest to see who can be the most courteous. When traffic is backed up, and you want to merge, the first car will let you in. And then you do the same for the next car. You do a LOT of waving on Kauai roads. Wave to let a guy in, or to let a car turn left in front of you, and then a wave to indicate “Thank you!” or “You’re welcome!”

It doesn’t take long to get into that habit, and it doesn’t take long to realize how much it makes the traffic bearable. And even though we’re known for “Minnesota Nice” here, when I got home I had to remember, “These folks probably aren’t going to come to a complete stop just to wave me into their lane.”

There was something a little odd about my ticket and boarding pass, which I kind of dismissed when it was time to check in. When I logged in at Delta’s site the little box that shows your next upcoming trip showed MSP-PHX, which is the flight I’ll be on tomorrow to get to Phoenix. That was odd, and a little worrisome. I had to do a bit of a work-around to even get checked in, by logging out and coming back to the site without logging back in. The whole thing was kind of eating at me, though.

At Lihue, I had to check in and check my bag at the Hawaiian Airlines desk, because I was flying one of their planes to Honolulu. It all went fine, and she even printed two new boarding passes for me. It was a little dreary and misty on Kauai when we took off but the pilot immediately informed us that the flight attendants would not be able to distribute the little sealed cups of water or  juice, like they normally do, because there was a major storm over Oahu and the short flight from Kauai would be very bumpy. It wasn’t that bad, but I do love that Hawaiian juice…

I had a two-hour layover after we got to HNL, and my flight was listed as on-time, but the rain really did seem sort of appropriate for my departure. I remember thinking “I feel bad for anyone who had big tourist plans for today” while watching the ground crew guys walking around getting soaked.

After some snacks and a glass of wine in the Sky Club, it was time to board the big 767 and head home. We left right on time, just after 6:00 p.m.

This was the same return flight we were on when we there for Christmas, and I remembered the challenge of getting any sleep. This time, after nearly two weeks on the island I was totally on Hawaiian time, and with the flight departing at 6:00 I knew it would be at least three or four hours before I’d even be thinking of sleep. So, I ate my dinner (a fine tenderloin steak), watched a movie (“Battle of the Sexes” which I really liked), and then put my seat into the full “lay flat” mode. By then, it was probably around 10:00 Hawaii time, which would be 2:00 in the morning Minnesota time. Amazingly, I actually dozed off and slept for about two hours. I surprised even myself by doing that.

Around 4:00 in the morning Minnesota time, the crew gently brought the cabin lights up a little and came around to see who wanted breakfast. To someone on Hawaii time, that’s having breakfast at midnight, but it’s part of the process you have to go through. At 5:30 we touched down and once again I was kind of stunned to see how busy MSP was at that hour. By 6:20 I was home. Barb and the boyz got up to welcome me home, and after moving my bag into the bedroom I said, “I think I’ll just lay down for a bit.” I woke up at 11:00.

I also woke up to a major “wintry mix” storm that was not fun. It started as freezing rain, then turned to snow, then turned back to ice, and then to snow again, before putting the “icing” on the layer cake with more freezing rain. It was about an inch and a half of layers. I know, because I had to get out there after it was over to scrape it off the driveway. It wasn’t deep enough to trigger our HOA-contracted snow removal. I’d gone from the warmth of Kauai to scraping snow and ice in less than 24 hours, with a bit of sleep thrown in on the plane and in my own bed. “Welcome home!” said reality to the weary traveler.

That night, I stayed up as late as I could and went to bed around 11:00. I woke up at 11:00 in the morning and Barbara said I never moved. I was in the same position all night. I believe that, because it was the deepest sleep I’ve experienced in a very long time. I’m a light sleeper, if not a bit of an insomniac, so that night was a real treat for me. And Buster and Boofus finally relented and cuddled up. They could only stay mad at me for so long.

I did manage to shake the cobwebs out of my head that afternoon, and put my pre-race press release together, ahead of this weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix. I wasn’t sure what the theme was going to be when I set up the template and began to write, but it came to me in a flash. It would be a nostalgic nod to Phoenix, and what a huge role it played for Del, me, and many others in terms of our careers. CSK was based in Phoenix, and each year the Phoenix race would be the biggest of all possible hullaballoos for us, with appearances, TV interviews, and other promotions. Lots of early mornings and late nights, and twice we capped off all of that with a win on Sunday.

After talking to Del about it, I wrote it in mere minutes and within another hour it popped up on a number of websites, including this one:

https://motorracingpress.com/?p=36983

Happy to say it got a very nice reaction from a lot of people.

My flight leaves tomorrow at 9:20 a.m. and should land in Phoenix around 11:45. The first qualifying session is at 1:30 with Pro Stock leading it off, followed by Funny Car. I should make it with a little time to spare, but if there are any delays at all I might be cutting it close. Fingers and toes crossed.

As fun as it was to get back into PR mode with Pomona, doing it remote from Kauai, I’m really looking forward to getting to the track and jumping into it with Del and the team. Hey, I had to get to Macy’s yesterday just to buy some new “track clothes” for this year! I was down to my last pair of black slacks left over from 2015. A PR guy needs to look the part.

And, remember the bit up at the top of this blog about my Delta return itinerary not showing up on the site when I went to check in? Well, on Tuesday I checked my Sky Miles account to see if the Honolulu – MSP segment was showing up in terms of miles earned, and it was still blank. On Wednesday, I looked again and it was still blank, but I noticed a little “small print” that said “Reason Code – F” and when I clicked on the “F” a pop-up box showed me this: “Miles already posted to partner airline.” What?

I had flown Hawaiian from LIH to HNL, but my entire ticket was purchased from Delta. And that’s a LOT of valuable medallion miles I was missing. I also noticed some more small print under the airport codes for the route, which in this case was HNL – MSP. It was for the date the miles were posted. All my other segments showed a February date about 24 hours after the individual flights. Under HNL – MSP it read “Date Posted: December 30, 2017” For the second time, I thought “What?” I didn’t even purchase the ticket until mid-January.

I called the Platinum line and the woman who took my call was great. She listened as I carefully explained things, and said, “I’ll need to get one of our support guys involved, but I understand what you’re saying and I think we can fix this. Hold tight for a minute or two.” After listening to some lousy canned music for a while she came back on the line and said, “OK, we can fix this. It may take between 24 and 48 hours, but we’re on it and it will get fixed. Sorry for the confusion.”

And now it’s all fixed. Plus, they credited me for the miles I flew on Hawaiian to get to Honolulu. That was one very confusing ordeal, but it was handled as well as possible. Still wonder what that December 30, 2017 posting date was all about. I figure it might have something to do with the fact I flew the exact same flight home from Kauai in late December, but who knows… Goblins in the system, I’d guess.

That’s about it for today. I’ll get packed tonight and will head to the airport around 7:15 in the a.m. to give myself plenty of time. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be smelling the nitro, surrounded by longtime friends and colleagues. Can’t wait!

See you next week, and always remember: If you just read this and liked it, please “Like” it by clicking on the button at the top.

Bob Wilber, at your service and back in the saddle.