Our flight didn't leave until ten pm. Yeah, it was late and Kevin (Chris' brother) wasn't exactly thrilled to picking us up in Texas so late, but it was the best use of Chris' SWA points. Unfortunately, the Pikes Peak parking lot was full. Fortunately, we had left a little early and had time to drive to the Mt. Elbert parking lot. We unloaded and headed over to the covered bus stop. It was a bit chilly and none of us had heavy jackets because hey, we were going on a Caribbean cruise.
The bus stop was filled with people, and not a single one had opted to call the support line to ask where the shuttle was. Thank heavens for Chris and his proactive thinking. Apparently the bus had just been sitting off in a corner of the lot doing who knows what. All of the people that had been waiting filled the shuttle. I watched as we drove on by the next bus stop and the people waiting there literally had their jaws drop at being left behind. I would have been ticked off as well.
We arrived at the terminal to find a pretty quiet check-in desk for Southwest. We got our suitcases taken care of rather quickly and headed down to security. Amy, Misha, and Chris had pre-check. I think I have gotten pre-check once in all the time we have been traveling. Anyway, Kristen came with me so that we could easily got through the regular scanner.
We easily boarded with Chris going first with his "A" boarding number and saving us seats near the back. Sadly, I got the middle seat and a big man sat down next to me. I was not pleased as his arm kept touching mine. I finally pulled my jacket up around me so that we weren't touching skin to skin and took over the arm rest the next time he shuffled in his seat.
We waited at the airport for Kevin for about 20 minutes after retrieving all of our bags. We were all running on fumes at this point, and we still had an hour ride to his home.
It was 2 am local when our heads hit the pillows.