My good buddy and grad school roommate flew through the major airport here yesterday. He insisted on seeing me, though he had less than a half-hour, near about midnight, at the airport. We are rather close.

So… I loaded my bicycle in my old (200K+ miles) kid transporter, packed some survival food, and left for the rather distant airport. Packed a couple of small gifts for his kids too. My buddy’s reaction, when he saw the bike inside the car, was priceless.

“What is that?”

“To get back home, in case this old clunker dies.”

“Ride all the way?!”

“Hey, two wheels are better than two tired legs…”

He said no more, packed two of the three gifts I’d brought along for his kids into his bag, and got in.

We drove out to a nearby main street and corner shop, sat outside, munching on my survival fare. I dropped him off at midnight, as he’d asked, for he’d seen long lines at security checkpoints in the terminal. He just about made his flight.

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