France Day 8-9: The VERY long road home

On Sunday, I had to get Jenn to the Nice airport around noon and then had to be back at my aunt’s in Auribeau around noon for a lunch.  I said goodbye to Jenn knowing that it was going to be a sad 5 weeks before we would see each other again (sniff).  At the lunch, it seemed like everyone from the wedding was at the house the next day.  The sun was beating, the food was flying off the buffet and some dared to drink more.  Wow!  However, at 2:45pm, our caravan (my car and parent’s car) had to start the journey to La Tonnellerie.  Along for the ride were my godfather, his wife and Gaude.  The road was long.. and dark eventually.  We made a couple stops for gas and food, but eventually we rolled into La Tonnellerie around 11:30pm.  The journey was finished for some people (mom, dad and Gaude).  My godfather, his wife and I still had about 1 ½ hour to Paris.  We left La Tonnellerie around 12:15am and were at my godfather’s house around 2am.  No messing around; I went right to sleep. 

The alarm went off at 6:45 am and my godfather took me to the airport shortly after.  I checked in no problem and we hung out having a coffee and letting the traffic die down for his return home.  My flight to Minneapolis took off on time, but strong headwind estimated a late arrival.  That wasn’t good for me since I only had 1 ½ hour layover in Minni (and had to go through immigration and customs).  I slept the entire 9+ hours to Minni (the trip had taken its toll on me).  We landed at 1:30pm (my next flight was at 2:15) and I raced through immigration and customs no problem.  The security line agent took me to the front of the security line and I was at my gate at 2:10.  I had made my flight, but I doubted my bag would. 

Sure enough, upon arrival at DFW, my bag never came through on the baggage claim belt.  Damn, I needed that suitcase for my trip to Vancouver the next day.  I filed my report and they put a rush on it.  It would probably be on the next flight to DFW landing around 7:30pm.  I got home without my suitcase and just relaxed for a few hours.  My bag came around 11pm and I started a load of laundry.  Tomorrow I was off to Vancouver.