Coe Ann picked me up at 5:45am to take me to the airport. I caught the 7:30 to Chicago and the 10:50 to Montreal. My luggage all arrived (always my concern when I have to check anything...), I cleared customs and met Sylvain outside the customs area. We talked about whether to leave the airport or just hang out there and decided that it was pretty borderline whether I had enough time to actually go anywhere. If I had another hour, it would be worth it...
We went up to a food court area...very nice for an airport...with slate-tile type floor, wrought iron cafe tables, huge windows (looking out over the tarmac) and very decent food. I was very thirsty but not particularly hungry so we stopped at a cafe and he got a sandwich, I got a bottle of water.
We had a nice long chat, got caught up with each other and took a tour of the Montreal airport (that part took all of 20 minutes...). I gave him a couple of chocolate bars and a copy of my quote collection. Eventually I decided that it was time to check my luggage again and discovered that my plane left an hour later than I thought (I hate military time...or I can't do math...or both...) We could have gone someplace more interesting than the airport cafe. Hmph!
Made it to Halifax about 8:30pm and took the shuttle to the hotel. Keenan was already checked in and, in fact, had been there most of the day since he took the red-eye out late the night before. He was pretty congested and had spent most of the day filling up the room's only garbage can with used Kleenex. What is it about the prospect of camping with his favorite cousin that makes him ill?!? I'm going to develop a complex...
Actually, I was mostly concerned about how we were going to deal with it. If he got as sick as he was the last time we went camping, we were going to have to pay for some hotels... Turns out to have been not a big deal. He was mostly all better the following morning and we both stayed healthy for the rest of the trip.
