My internal clock went off at 5:12 and again at 6, but it was too early to get up. Our flight wasn't leaving RIC until 9:30. I drifted back to sleep for what felt like a minute and my 6:30 alarm was going off.

Getting out of the house and to the airport was uneventful, but we encountered a rather long wait at the ticket counter. We printed our boarding passes at the kiosk and just needed to drop off our luggage before we could go to security.

The customer in front of us was getting some help with her taxes. Just kidding, but it took them forever to get things sorted out. It was nearly 8:30 before we headed over to security. 

For some reason, they love to inspect my Javelin Odyssey! I ALWAYS get stopped and Matt passes through without any trouble. This time, they called Matt back to have his rig swabbed after they spotted mine. 

Going through the airport with my rig on my back was much easier than carrying a gear bag. It's heavy either way, but at least, now it's not AWKWARD!

When we were waiting to board, the flight attendant announced that our flight had limited carry-on space. They were looking for volunteers to check roller wheeled bags. Good thing I made my rig cover!  I didn't have to worry about it fitting in the overhead and they wouldn't be asking me to check it.

On the first leg of our trip, our seats were not together. After we boarded, Matt asked the gentleman that would be sitting next to me in seat 34D if he would swap. The kind man agreed; trading an aisle seat for one next to the window (31E).

For a long time, it looked like he might end up with a vacant seat next to him, but right before they closed the cabin door a large gentleman came and sat next to him. The guy looked like a linebacker! 

I wish there was a way to send a thank you note to him! I am sure he would have been more comfortable sitting next to me in his aisle seat. Thanks to the kindness of this stranger, Matt and I were able to be together. 

Matt spent most of the flight using his laptop and I spent most of the flight trying to take a cat nap. We were late departing from Richmond, but they made up most of the time and we arrived in Atlanta only two minutes after our scheduled ETA.