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Chris checked the Rand McNally to verify that Indianapolis was still close to where her parents lived in South Bend. Deciding it was so, the Richter's bought one ticket for Chris and endowed Charlie with the Icelandic title of "Lapp baby." The pair would leave on Wednesday and join Chuck's trip already in progress. Chris who was embarking on Travels With Charlie, would driving the Honda to the airport. Meanwhile, the real Chuck would "get to" ride the bus to SeaTac a day earlier.
To make life easier for Chris, Chuck asked what he could take along on with him to reduce her load. An extremely heavy duffle bag was the tangible response. Well-packed the luggage would be coaxed into the overhead compartment with only moderately offensive swear words. Checking was not an option as the crafty Chuck Richter was "outsmarting" the airlines by leaving the airplane at a non-terminus city.
"Chris, the bus will leave in three minutes. We're three minutes from the stop." said Chuck wondering why they had cut it so closely. Chris responded, "My dear husband, I will wait for you to make sure that you catch your bus. Don't worry." As the white honda pulled near the 165th St. stop, Chuck saw a bus depart. Was it his bus? He studied the print out. No. A minute passed. His bus didn't come. Another minute. Still no bus. Chuck glanced again at the printout. This time he studied the address. Chuck returned to the car, "This isn't the right bus stop!" We need to be down at the 132nd street stop. That's five minutes away, and those buses have already left! Arrgh!
Putting the bags into the back seat again, Chuck noticed that his wallet had fallen onto the seat when he had exited earlier. Dooh! If he had caught the bus, he would have been stopped without an ID at the airport security gate. Irony narrowly avoided, the husband and wife travel team decided that it would be best to drop Chuck at the proper bus stop. Using the "Bus Only" lane, the Richters bypassed the everyday morning gridlock to successfully deposit Chuck at the stop, where he found that the buses would come fairly frequency.
Two hours, two dollars and two buses later, Chuck was at the airport where he caught the NWA flight to Memphis. Arriving in Memphis, he retreived the rental car and proceeded to drive from Tennessee into Arkansas (which for Zeke's sake is different than regular Kansas).
The day before, Chuck had stayed at the office until late placing onto a website software for the Midwest Market that his team had been working on for over a month. The cell phone would be his link to the client to verify that things had gone okay and to provide support. As he watched the battery charge indicator on the cell phone quickly diminish, he extracted the DC adapter/charger. Opening the ash tray and removing the cigarette lighter, Chuck found that the large curved plastic lip of the ash tray prevented the charger from fitting into the socket. (It would be five days until returning to home where the wall charger remained due to packing constraints.) Chuck pulled off interstate 70 to find another charger for his LG510 cell phone. After visiting several places that didn't have a similar charger (Walgreens, Radio Shack, All Call Cellular, Subway, Verizon), he suspended the search and continued to Little Rock.
After checking into the hotel, and taking 4 aspirin ($1 each) for his headache, Chuck asked the Hampton Inn desk clerk if there were any electronic stores open at 9:30 at night. She indicated that Best Buy would be open and was on Shackelford. After determining that Best Buy was not located on Shackelford Road, Chuck hypothesized (and later proved) the existence of Shackelford Boulevard. Contrary to the assurances of the hotel desk clerk, Best Buy was indeed closed, but the man shouting through the glass doors informed Chuck that the Walmart just down the street was open, and of course they would have the sought after charger.
At the Walmart Chuck thought it was funny that the doorman was having trouble getting the door open. After he had climbed around him, saying "hey thanks!", Chuck looked back and noticed the guy was actually going through the doors. Oops. A moment later he chuckled to himself when he overheard a guy in the mens clothing section trying on a tight stocking hat. The heat index was 111F that day according to the radio report. "To be honest, I need a beanie like this," said the 30 year-old man to his wife. Chuck figured that guy needed to be beaned.
Of course, Walmart didn't have a charger for the LG510, but they did have a $25 AC inverter allowing the connection of 120V appliances like computers and TVs to the DC power, which incidentally came with an extension cord. And the extension cord fit the outlet! However, when his meeting was finished, it was on the trip to the Little Rock Airport when Chuck found that the car had a separate DC power outlet for accessories hidden (to him) on the passenger side of the console. Arrgh!
Onto Indianapolis where Chuck met Chris and Charlie who had a pleasant flight from Seattle. A night in the hotel with Thomas and the Magic Railroad prepared Chris for her meeting with college friends at the Cheese Cake Factory, and Chuck for his meeting with customers. Angie Z. played the role of chauffeur for Chris, Charlie and a stuffed panda bear that she had given to Charlie. At 4:30, Chuck was done with meetings and the family headed north to the city of our lady: namely South Bend. There we stayed with Chris' parents, Norm and Mary.
On Friday, the Richters utilized their annual zoo pass with its reciprocal zoo admission to enter the Potawatamie Zoo in South Bend, where the Animals were out in full force. On Saturday after Charlie's bee-sting, the trio traveled to Warren Dunes along the southeast Lake Michigan shore. The Richters admired the large sand dunes and fresh water waves, while Chris tore open her toe on a half buried branch, and Chuck locked the family out of the car. Later Chris' brother Tom and Family dropped by the house. Sunday's morning outing involved attending the 8:45am mass at a nearby church. After brunch (during which we noticed the bees were actually living inside Norm and Mary's home) the Richters headed for Indianapolis to catch flights back to Seattle.
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