On the road, continued

When you rent a car, the clerk does his damnedest to scare you into buying insurance:

• "Yes, you have other insurance, but you could still have to pay hundreds of dollars just to meet your deductible."
• "If you make a claim on your own insurance policy, you may see your premiums go up."
• "California is a no-fault state, so even if you're not responsible for an accident, you'll still be getting a bill for it."
• "Check the car very carefully before you leave the lot; if you return it with any scratches or dings, you'll be responsible for them."

But when you return the car, you usually get someone like we did, Billy, who pretty much said "What's the mileage, and how much gas is in the tank?" As long as a bumper wasn't dragging on the ground, Billy didn't seem to care what the car looked like.

So, returning the car was easy. Getting on the plane? Not so much.

We were at the airport several hours before our flight, but we needed all that time because when we presented ourselves to the American Airlines counter to check in our bag we were told that our flight had been canceled. (It might have been nice of them to phone us or send an email, don't you think?) Anyway, long story short, they booked us on a United flight to Denver and another to Dulles, getting us back to the Washington area within minutes of the time our American flight had been scheduled to arrive, so no great harm done.