Trip Part II

So to pick up where I left off......I call my mom to tell her about the delay for the first flight two flights. She calls a good friend who used to work for an airline out of SF, they got me hooked up with another flight arriving in SF a little later than I was supposed, well a lot later. The only thing I needed to do was run downstairs, get a new boarding pass and be on my way. So I run downstairs, decide the hell with the 1130 standby, this is a sure deal. So I get downstairs, the dog has to pee, the girls have to pee...so we make a few pitstops...afterall, I am not supposed to leave until 130...it was 1030ish. I get in line, go to the counter, the guy looks up the ticket and because they did not charge mean anything and they linked me up with a delta flight out of Chicago(they basically rerouted me) he said it was illegal and he would not issue me a ticket, he gets his boss and he said the same thing. I am sick to my stomach by now.....wondering how in the world will I make it back upstairs in time. My only option was to kick but, run back up to the gate and get moving. By the time we got through security, all the way down to gate B(for those of you who have been in and out of ATL airport, you know how crazy this is) and by the time I get to the gate, she was calling our names....I was so releived, but not for long. She looks at me and the girls and said.....oh..."there is three of you and we only have two tickets left".....I am so angry I could spit.... but I was to tired from all the running....so I said, to make this worse...that man walking down the tunnel, he has one of our tickets? She said yep. I said to make this even more frustrating how long have you been calling our names? She said for quite a while. I was so darn upset. We missed this flight too! So we get on standby for the 230. I finally call the reservation line and talk to someone more helpful and little more customer friendly and she basically told me that we could be on standy for most of the day, all of the flights were either full or over booked. So I had her check to see how much it would cost to fly out later or purchase new tickets and it could have been anywhere from 1500 and up per person! Ouch....so I tell her I will just wait and go from there. In the mean time, a good friend of mine who took us up to the airport and had been keeping me calm through this crappy morning was on the way back to ATL just in case I decided to call it quits and head back home. I was greatful to find that out when I got the news about the flights. I really needed to get home though, I really needed to see my family, Joel's family and get a break from GA. I had to get home, but I knew and my friend knew that if I went home, I probably would not spend the money to buy new tickets to go home later in the week. So....my friend suggested that we drive to SD and then they would turn around and drive back to GA the next day....so that is what we did. I protested at first, knowing that this would be a crazy and tough trip, but I was told to get in the car, we were going. So I did......scared of how the girls would do on this trip, the dog and scared of how tough the drive was going to be. The last time I drove it, it was with my Joel and we either laughed, argued about bypasses to get through cities or were cleaning up vomit from the "car sick queens" as we called the girls.