Logbook: Wasilla to Nuiqsut, entry 4: soaked in sweat I barely make it into the plane
Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at 9:53AM 
Knowing the weather would likely be cool in Nuiqsut, almost certainly even fairly cold at some point, I had put on a fairly substantial jacket and was pretty hot by the time I got to security, sweating even. I showed my ID, Then headed to the conveyor belt, pulled up a couple of trays, put my laptop in one and started putting other things in the other when I heard a TSA man shout my name. "Bill Hess!" Oh boy! What had I done? "Right here," I said as I lifted my hand. "You forgot your your drivers license!" He handed it to me. After a fair amount of bumbling, I finally had all my camera gear, iPhone, keys, coins, and other stuff in the trays. i took my shoes off and removed my belt. My pants became so loose they wanted to fall off, so I gripped them at the top. Then I stepped into the rotating scanner, and the TSA man there told me to raise my hands above my head! Thankfully, he also made me spread my legs apart, which made It a little harder for my pants to slip off. Finally, I was through security. It was still a long way to go to the gate and I rushed as fast I could, growing hotter and sweatier with each step. Finally my gate came into sight, but I could see no one there. Then I spotted the boarding pass lady, sitting down in such a way that she could hardly be seen behind her little counter. Carrying not only my computer, a camera around my shoulder, but my camera backpack in my hands, I walked through the long empty tunnel into the plane and down the aisle toward my seat, 27A. Before I could reach it, I was jerked to a stop by my camera bag. One strap had slipped around the armrest to an aisle seat and had got stuck. I apologized to the rugged looking oil worker sitting in that seat, removed the strap, then headed to my seat. I put my camera bag in the overhead bin, removed my jacket and went to put it up there too, but it had a draw string that hooked around the arm rest below and got stuck. It took a good full minute to extract it. Then I rolled up my jacket, put it in the overhead bin and took my seat. I was hot and sweaty, but I was on the plane.
Reader Comments (1)
Sounds like typical boarding adventures. Glad you made it. Where is entry 3, though?