Last day of DragonCon (yesterday)

Seeing as how we didn't get back to rosiewook's place until about 4:00am the night before, we ended up not getting out of there until quite late. I drove nmissi up to visit chalice66 for the afternoon and then headed into the convention. I'd hoped to meet up with jidabug (and wisteria_) before the Serenity panel, but it was already well under way by the time I made it to the convention area... turned out that they hadn't made it either!

I headed up to the Con Suite where vampry said she was going to be working... and in one of those serendipitous things that seem to crop up at conventions, the very first person I approached to see if she a) was working there and b) knew Vampry turned out to be Vampry, herself! Had a wonderful visit with her -- so nice to finally put a face the name I've been seeing for the last, um, five or six years (I think it's been that long, at least).

Next I hit the dealer's room and spent way too much money... though, in my defense, quite a number of the things I picked up are actually destined to be Christmas presents. Oh! And I met Don Maitz! Who is not only a very talented artist, but also a very nice guy. Afterward I found a place where the noise was down to a dull roar and there was actual cellphone reception and called jidabug to apologize for missing her earlier and arrange to meet up with her the next time I'm in Portland. I ended up having to leave a message on sdwolfpup's voicemail, which I hope she got... just no time left to meet up in Atlanta (which would have been fun, since we're both from the Seattle area and have still never met in person).

And, sadly, I didn't get to see rosiewook again before heading out. :-( I'm hoping she'll take me up on my offer to visit Seattle sometime!

On the way home, we passed something both eerie and kinda cool... between 100-150 semi-trucks traveling slowly up from Atlanta (I'm guessing to the turn off toward Birmingham), hazard lights flashing and with a police escort (we saw them being handed off to other officers in new jurisdictions). Kinda cool because of the sheer number of people and goods that were being mobilized... almost every truck was from a different company. It was just not something I'd ever thought I'd be seeing. There was also the initial awkwardness of not knowing how to treat it... whether it was okay to pass or not, since they were going fairly slow in the right lane. It just goes against what we're taught, to drive past police cars with flashing lights like that, but I followed the rest of the traffic, so I'm guessing it was okay. Past the Birmingham exit, we started passing electronic highway signs with information on where buses were to take evacuees. The sheer numbers of people who are being displaced and the distance they're having to go to find room is absolutely staggering.

Just a few more hours and I'm off to the airport for the flight home, with a layover in Detroit. I'm probably over-planning things, but the last two times I've flown out of Louisville, the flight has been horribly delayed... I once caught my transfer flight in Atlanta by mere seconds (I ran around the corner just as the door was closing and the attendant stopped it for me) and I once stayed overnight in Cincinnati. I've only got a one hour layover, so if things get delayed at all out of here, I may be giving snarkel a call to meet up for dinner or something. At least I've got the bare basics for an overnight stay in my carry-on.