There was a time when I'd opt for an afternoon flight. But I've grown to love the relative calm of city mornings and the reality, upon arrival, that there was still a pretty full day left not spent in airplanes or airports.

This is the first commercial flight I've booked in probably a year; RV life will do that to you. When you have the ability to travel the path least taken, stop whenever you want, go whenever you want and eat whenever you want. Bag of peanuts? No, thanks! I'm having a burrito as big as my head.

Flying used to be fun, remember that? Your loved ones came to see you off at the gate, there was decent food and in-flight entertainment and there were usually loved ones waiting for you at the gate when you landed.

Now, post-9/11, it's a drag. Before you even reach the plane you've been subject to long lines, search of your belongings and body scans. Tack on the increased baggage fees and dwindling services courtesy of the airlines and yeah. Who wants to go through that willingly?

Well, I'll tell you what. This is the nicest cab I've ever been in. And it's a hybrid! Nice start to a long trip.

And then...TSA checkpoint.

Now, I know how to do pre-check. But that didn't keep agents from singling out my ukulele because it had "alarmed."

"Please don't touch your personal belongings," said the TSA agent as I reached for my carry-on laden with technology. No alarms there. But my wooden musical instrument was still suspect and now he needed to swab my hands for traces of explosives.

Yep. Missing Rita a lot today.

I wonder if the first TSA guy had jinxed me by joking that I had a Thompson sub-machine gun in the ukulele case.

An Early Start