Sunday was a travel day – we planned to drop Khan and Polo at an RV storage site where we had made a reservation weeks ago – 25 minutes from the Denver airport and a half hour or so drive from our Longmont AirBnB.  What could go wrong?

We left the AirBnB on schedule around 7:45AM and arrived at the Mountain View around 8:30AM.  On the way there, we saw several hot air balloons, parachutists and powered parachutists. One of the balloons looked like Nimo.

As we got closer to the storage facility, Tom asked Scott to check that we have cell service to request Uber to the airport – no problem.  No one around, but a sign that says “call for appointment.”  Tom calls and gets a cryptic message that “you have reached the number you called – leave a message.” Luckily, Scott dials the number from the email, and gets right through to one of the owners.  Turns out our reservation to drop off Khan and Polo was for 9AM – but they would be right over.  We used the time to use their credit-card-activated dump station , which worked well.  Then the husband-and-wife team shows up in the Yukon to register us.

When Scott explains our plan to use Uber to get to the airport, the nice lady says “you better request one right away”  During the 20-minute registration and check-in process, Scott waits while Uber repeatedly says “confirming your driver – confirming your driver – confirming your driver…” then “failed to confirm your driver.”

Luckily, not only were we able to park Khan and Polo in our assigned spot (though we had to unhook Polo to push the two closer to fit in our assigned spot,) but we were able to convince the owners to clear out their Yukon and drive us to the airport.

Again, Scott and Tom with their Clear/Precheck credentials split from Anthony, who had neither.   After a frustrating experience with Clear (and the generally crappy Denver airport,) Scott got a call from Anthony.  Apparently, he had placed his Identification in his checked luggage, and had stepped out of the 30-minute-wait line to call for advice.  We agreed he should get back in line, and try and talk his way onto the plane.  Scott texted him the baggage claim numbers, Tom and Scott finally found the American Airlines lounge, and we waited to see if Anthony would join us on the flight.

Turns out Anthony charmed his way past the TSA people after a lengthy and detailed questioning and search, Scott was first on the thirty eight (38!) person upgrade list and he and Tom scored the two first class upgrades and all was good.

We approached the Philly airport during a thunderstorm. We avoided it for the most part in the air, but once on the ground, they called a ground stop due to lightning, so we sat in the queue for the gates for about 20 minutes.

Karen met us at the Philadelphia airport, drove us home, and the long day ended well for all involved.