I’m baaaaackkk!  I rolled into Fargo at about 11 PM last night after arriving at BWI airport at 9:30 AM. The earliest they could get me out of BWI was on a 6 PM flight so I spent a lovely day at the airport flitting from terminal to terminal visiting other folks I knew from my week in Emmitsburg who were also waiting.  Needless to say (but clearly saying it regardless), by the time I finally arrived in Fargo I was all kinds of tired.

I did have an enjoyable airport day though…I had a lot of people watching time.  People watching is my favorite sport (which likely clears up any questions you might have on my fitness level).  Couples and families and business folks all coming or going…a thousand different stories.  My favorite game of people watching at the airport is trying to pick the Air Marshals out of the crowd.  I have met a few of them over the years and I have learned enough to know what behaviors to look for.  I a pretty sure I pegged one going to Detroit. 

On about hour six at the airport I started to nod off.  I hate when that happens.  I am sure that I fall asleep with my mouth open and make unflattering noises…snores and snorts and such.  No doubt at that point I become the one who is watched.  I don’t find the thought of that very appealing.

I often wonder if there are other people watchers in the airport looking for fellow people watchers.  I am sure in that situation I would be easy to pick out.  My voyeurism is nothing if not evident.  Most other people are busy worrying about themselves and their own lives – I think any novice could pick up on the way I scan an area for activity.

My most noteworthy observation this trip was the Fargo phenomenon.  That actually happened both in the gate area and as the plane was loading.  It is a rare occasion when people at the gate (that are not traveling together) know each other.  Of course, in the case of Fargo a different picture emerges.  Folks waiting at the gate in Minneapolis for their Fargo flight actually came upon folks they knew.  On the plane, folks stopped and visited in the aisle when they saw others they knew.  I don’t see that happen anywhere else.  And let’s face it, with all the people watching time I have in I would likely know about it if it was happening elsewhere. 

I like the Fargo phenomenon.  It is comforting to see that level of connectivity between seemingly random folks at the airport. It reminds me that it is good to be home…there really is no place like it.

Day two hundred and fifty-nine of the new forty – obla di obla da

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