Welcome home, self! (early September)

After many hours of flying and just as many hours of waiting in airports, I arrived home in San Diego. Feeling great, I began preparations for the start of my vacation only to discover that my car battery had died completely while I was gone. Waylaid for an extra day, I visited some friends and enjoyed the last little bit of southern California weather I'd see for a few months. The drive to Colorado Springs was fairly uneventful. At around 1250 miles, it's a bit far to try to do in one shot and I aimed to get to Albuquerque by 10 or 11pm, grab a hotel room, and make the rest of the drive in the morning. As luck would have it, I was driving through over the Labor Day weekend and every hotel I stopped at for 80 miles was full. Eventually, I gave up the search and napped in the front seat of my car for a few hours. I timed my drive through southern Colorado perfectly, as I met my dad and our friend Les at a lake for some much needed fishing. Three days earlier I had been in Germany and now I was catching smallmouth bass from the deck of a pontoon boat, tired and jet lagged but so happy to be home.