Heading Home - Adventure Day 6

We were up around 5am - none of us slept very well last night. The air conditioning, or lack thereof, made it difficult for sleeping. It was a constant pull the blankets off because you are sweating, then cover up because now you are too cool. The air conditioner was working, just not consistently.  I was glad when I found out that the other three in my room dealt with the same issue all night! I won't go into detail on the snoring, or who was guilty of it, however I am pretty darn sure I was the only one that didn't snore! ;)
We quickly packed up, taking care to make sure our check-in bag wouldn't go over 50lbs. We were thankful that the hotel front desk had a luggage scale so that we didn't have to do any adjusting of weight at the airport. 
The hotel had a wonderful spread for breakfast - pretty much anything you would want! It was surprising how many folks were up so early and in the breakfast room! We finished up eating, then made our way to the airport, which was only about 12 miles away. We dropped off our rental car, which was a practically brand new Chevrolet Traverse - it was so nice having it all week! Drop off was super convenient! Bozeman Airport is probably one of the nicest airports I've ever been in - it was like being in a gigantic Log Cabin!
I had checked us in online and already had our check-in bag paid for, so we didn't have a line to stand in. We dropped off our bag at Delta, then sat and waited for Steve and Patti. United Airlines had long lines, so it took awhile for them to get their baggage checked. 
It was interesting tho to sit and people watch! I saw several people who were traveling with their dogs. I happened to noticed one Mom with her kids and their dog and thought she looked familiar, but chalked it up to the fact that lots of people can look familiar in one way or another. Scott mentioned her cowboys boots, and their Golden Retriever and there still was something familiar about her, just couldn't place it.
I noticed another Mom with 3 kids, 2 of which were in a stroller and they were pushing a cart full of luggage to check in. At $25 per bag to check, I tallied up nearly $200 in luggage fees for this woman! 
I saw another lady with what looked like a standard size poodle, which she took into the restroom with her on a leash! We later found out that her dog can sense when she is going to have a seizure, so he travels with her. Pretty amazing what dogs can do for people!
Steve and Patti finally got thru their line and met back up with us and we headed to Security. Lucky for us, all four of us got TVA Priority, so we went thru the short and quick line and didn't have to practically undress to go thru security. After that, we stopped for a minute to regroup our stuff before heading to our separate gates. Patti all of a sudden went to the familiar woman I had previously seen and started talking to her and hugging her. That's when I realized why she looked so familiar! This was the lady with her kids and dog and the cute cowboy boots that I noticed earlier. It was Taya Kyle, wife of Chris Kyle, a.k.a. "American Sniper". Patti was in a mess of emotional tears and Taya was just as cordial and down-to-earth nice as she could be! She hugged us, talked to us like she's always known us and she even allowed us to do a mini-photo shoot right there in the airport!
I love what Patti later posted on Facebook: "There are celebrities and there are heroes. Celebrities wont allow you to approach them or take their pictures. But the heroes let you have a pic, hug your neck and talk to you for 10 minutes and introduce you to their kids. Met Ms Taya Kyle (wife of Chris Kyle) in the Bozeman airport this morning. What an awesome and gorgeous woman. I hope God fills her life with an abundance of blessings."

My lack of sleep sure shows well in this pic - ugh!

Needless to say, this truly was the highlight of the morning! After that, we bid our farewells to Steve and Patti, saying what a great time we all had and already started talking about planning another trip for the future! We then headed to our departing gates. 
Taya, her children and her dog were on our flight to St. Paul/Minneapolis and then were catching a connecting to Texas. They were flying first class, dog included, while we sat in coach. I wondered if anyone else had recognized who she was - didn't seem that anyone else did tho.
As we boarded the plane and got settled in our seats, it was kinda sad to see our trip come to an end. This seriously was one of the very best trips I have ever been on. There is something very-very incredibly special about good friends that once they move nearly 6 hours away, that you can pick right up where you left off every single time we get together. I cherish our friendship and I am so glad we were blessed to be able to take this trip with our very special friends. We had the best of time each and every day! I look forward to many more adventure trips with them in the future!

I am still processing the gazillion pictures I took. I will be uploading them to my Flickr page soon and will write a new post when they are added to my albums.