Yesterday morning, Ken drove me to Kansas City where I would hop on a United plane and fly off to my writer's conference. He helped me to the check-in line, kissed me and zoomed back to the car so he could make it home in time for his tee time at the golf course. I was on my own!
I checked the bigger bag and wheeled my carry-on to the security area. I put purse, shoes and jacket in one plastic bin, my laptop in another and then slid the carry-on through. I walked through with no problem but I noticed 2 security officers having a conference while looking at my carry-on on their screen. I caught the word "powder" and then a woman security officer asked me if I'd mind if they looked inside.
I told her to go right ahead, so she opened the suitcase and saw all the tins and plastic boxes of cookies I'd made and packed to bring to the conference. My contribution to the meals and once started has become a tradition. "May I remove these?" she asked. "Sure," said I, "as long as you put them back the way they were."
At that point it hit me. One of the cookies had powdered sugar on top, THAT was the 'powder' they were so concerned about. I explained to the woman and she took all the cookie containers out of the suitcase, placed them in a plastic tub and then put it through the screening process plus the almost-empty suitcase. Finally, they were satisfied that the threatening white powder was confectioner's sugar. Once repacked, I was free to go to the waiting area, still giggling inside over my threatening white powder.
My flight left early and arrived early. A gold star for United! One of the conference attendees who had driven picked me up. She waited in the cellphone lot while I walked what felt like a million miles to the baggage claim area. I called her from there and by the time I got outside, Shirley drove up. We stopped at a grocery store to get breakfast items and some wine and then it was off to the cabin.
Dinner last night was takeout Baja Fresh Mexican. Everyone paid $10 for a fabulous dinner. But the best part was seeing old friends and meeting the newbie members of our online critique group. Lots of hugs, lots of chatter, lots of food and wine.
Today is a free day, and I'm going sightseeing with 3 others. More on that in tomorrow's post.
Several years ago (but after 9/11), my husband and I flew to Salt Lake City to ski. While there, we bought breakfast makings, including powdered milk. We had lots of milk left over, and he packed it in Ziplock bags in his suitcase. We, too, got a thorough check at security on our return flight because of the white powder.
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