I slept in a bit and then got to work cleaning the house so that it would be tidy for Meredith to come and watch the dogs. I got some things packed away in storage and then finished getting my bags ready to go (all without alarming the dogs!) . I got a Lyft at 1:30 and got to security to find that the the PreCheck line took longer than the regular line because...DC. I had to toss my completely sealed Coke, only to discover that DCA doesn't sell coke products. Because of course they don't. I was only at the gate for a little while before we started boarding. I was in the last boarding group and there was no more carry on space, so they made me check my carry on through to Cody. This...was not the plan. I hastily pulled out the porcelain pitcher I was bringing for Dad and Jenifer and tossed my keys into the bag so that I could track the Airtag and make sure my bag made it.
We boarded and I crammed myself into the middle seat for the flight to Denver and occupied myself with playing Zelda, watching Old Enough, and playing 2048 on my phone. We landed on time but I only had an hour until my next flight so I was a little nervous about my bag. I made my way to the next gate, found some snacks (coke!), and settled in to watch my bag take a tour of the Denver baggage sorting facility...for an hour. We boarded the tiny plan and as we pulled away I saw the Airtag in my bag arrive at the gate...bye bag.
Beautiful view over Wyoming as I flew into Cody...sad my bag didn't get to join.
I got to Cody at around 8:30 pm (10:30 EDT) and Dad was there to greet me. I broke the news that my bag "had taken an alternate flight" as United explained, and that we had to go to Walmart before we could go to the hotel (toiletries -- including contacts -- were in my bag). We spent the next 30 min. or so meandering through Walmart as I got progressively more exhausted and punch drunk. I picked up some toiletries and clothes to get through until the next day, and then we headed to the hotel. I popped out my contacts and crashed.