Waiting to Board

We left Middleton at 12:45 and arrived at our offsite parking location at a few minutes before 2:00. We chose this option as it saves us about 25% of O'Hare's rates. Better to spend the money at our destination.

Although our shuttle to the airport was scheduled at 3:00, we were offered a ride as soon as we checked in and were given a little rectangle of orange paper to place on the dashboard. Otherwise, we would have had to entertain ourselves in a nondescript motel lobby for 50 minutes. (For me, it would have been iPad to the rescue, unless the rest of the family was up for Big 2's, a card game Andy taught us five or six Christmases ago.

Once we reached terminal 5, for international flights, our driver said, "Delta is in terminal 2."

A momentary, uncomfortable silence settled over us.

JoAnna fished the printed itinerary out of her purse and, indeed, our flight left from terminal 5, gate M7.

"I'll run inside real quick to double check," I offered.

The list of departures on a bank of monitors told me, "You're in the right place, guy."

Flash forward to the boarding announcement. Time to conclude this chapter.