Day 4

I don't intend for this to become an every-other-day type of thing, but it sure seems to be starting that way. On day 3 I woke up in Fargo, did my last paperwork thing with the Band, renewed my divers license and drove to Dad's. I stopped by the Barnes County School to give Navin a man-hug, but he was touring a corn maze with his kids, and getting paid for it. Ah, the life of a teacher. Last night I briefed Dad on some of the things he may find in the mailbox and finally packed my Army clothes. The airline only allows three bags weighing no more than 50 pounds apiece. When I checked in I claimed them as 49-3/4 pounds each. Yeah, right. To get them closed, Dad and I used ratchet straps and pipe clamps to get the tops close enough to fasten. The final bag ended up being wired shut. I warned the TSA folks about it and told them that if they open any of them for inspection they're on their own to get them shut again.
It's been an extremely hectic couple of weeks, but now that I've checked my baggage and have my boarding pass, I've got nothing to do but wait. Dad got me to the airport 2-1/2 hours early, so I guess I'm already in training for the Army version of hurry-up-and-wait. Training when you don't even expect it. The last couple of days, being on the road, Devils Lake to Grand Forks to Fargo to Goodrich and finally to Bismarck have been the perfect early fall days. I couldn't have picked a better time to leave North Dakota. The weather has been almost completely cloudless with just enough wind to help keep the flies from becoming too much of a nuisance. The leaves are turning from green to yellow and orange but have yet to all fall off of the trees. I'll leave here with the memories of the 'perfect North Dakota day'. Clean, clear, calm, and best of all, no NDSU banners or signs. It's still not real, but something tells me that'll change in a few hours.