Deja Vu

We are once again at the DIA Wal-Mart that I described in great detail previously (map).

It was not really our plan to end up here. Yesterday afternoon I drove in to the airport and got Odyssey squared away in an oversize-vehicle space in the "Mt. Elbert" overflow long-term lot. I went in and kicked around the terminal for a while and used the free WiFi while I waited for Louise's flight. The idea was that we would grab a bite there in the terminal after she landed, then retire for the night in the long term lot, leaving this morning.

It was not to be. Louise's flight was scheduled to land at 8:35, but was delayed. It was after nine by the time she popped up out of the train tunnel. By this time, every joint in the terminal was closed, even Panda Express, with the sole exception of the Burger King (which I think is 24-hour). That was not what we had in mind for our reunion dinner.

That left us with the option of cooking a pot of pasta (the only food I still had on board by this time) in the parking lot, or rolling out to one of the restaurants in the area. We did not want to take a chance on eating at one of the closer joints, such as Ruby Tuesday or DeCicco's (one of our old California haunts that has opened up here) and then finding out that we couldn't just leave the bus there overnight, so we came here instead, where we knew there would be a good overnight spot, with a Chili's right across the street. Chili's is open till 11 on Saturday, so it was no problem walking in at quarter past ten.

As long as we were here this morning, we went in and did the grocery shopping, stocking up for the next several days. In a few minutes, we're going to pull up stakes and head next door to Home Depot, where I don't feel out of place being on the roof for repairs -- I still need to get the HID lights fixed, and now the bedroom FanTastic is also on the fritz.

When we're done there, we'll head over to the Flying-J, one exit west, for the night. We're out of fresh water (I put in less than half a tank in when we were there last Monday), and that's probably the closest spigot that doesn't involve finding someone to grant permission. Besides, they have 150 parking spaces and a restaurant.