Southern Swing, May 2010, Day 8 - Charlotte to Los Angeles

Something strange happened.  I lost 17 pictures.  Poof!  This is unfortunate, because this means I cannot show you a daytime view of the Charlotte airport's statue.  Even more unfortunate, I always take the position in instances such as this that the problem was human error.  In other words, by my own rules, this was my fault.  It really stinks being mentally consistent.  It would be much nicer to blame people when it is someone else and blame technology when it is me.  And here we have Reason #37 why Jeff cannot run for President.

Fortunately I only lost the first 17 pictures of the day.  Therefore, you merely have to imagine seeing the Ballantyne Luxury Collection Hotel one last time, maybe a shot of the road, the aforementioned fountain shot, and maybe an airport candid of strangers in black and white.

There.  Let us continue.

I spotted this man as we taxied toward the runway and the patron saint of centered picture shined her light upon me.  Talk about a man looking isolated in his environment.

Queen City.  Charlotte, North Carolina.

In French this is probably not, "Le wing." But it sure looks like it to me.

The vastness that is ATL, an insane monument to moving human beings quickly across various distances.

I did my best to get you a shot of planes lined up like cars at an auto dealership.

I am reminded of a Propellerheads song that features an announcer stating, "Two thousand people in a seething, roaring, shouting mass."  I would wager that any direction you look inside ATL you are going to see at least two thousand people.

Can you make Chili's Chicken Crisps look artistically valid?  Can you?

Not really.

A view out the Chili's window.

We boarded the plane and I soon began to amuse myself with the on board trivia competition.  Then they announced that they would have restart the entire system because some bum somewhere could not get his stinking movie to start.

My reflection as well as proof that the plane's entertainment system runs on Linux.  A jillion dollar airplane and they go open source.

I know it was silly of me, but I took a picture of the screen every time I won a round of trivia.

Which was every round.  Like, fifteen or twenty victories and no defeats.

Until...

My own betrothed defeated me!

Babs defeats Dood by 700 points, Film At Eleven.

Dood reclaims the title.

Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Taxi.

I was so excited to be home that I completely failed to take any picture to commemorate this fact.  After much debate, I decided to precisely map out our entire trip for you to provide emotional closure.

Never discount the value of precision.  I tossed on the trip's title and year as well.

We are home for a while.  Until... some fancy shmancy weekend at a fancy shmancy Montana ranch that will likely be a single post trip.

Until then... Enjoy.