It was time to take Lilli for an outing for her birthday,
and she pretty turned up her nose at everything except New 
Orleans, but as turned out the hurricane had that city in its 
crosshairs, so I did some digging and came up with Denver, 
where it was supposed to be clear, incidence of virus was 
relatively low (she cares about this quite a bit), the 
temperatures were going to be in the low 80s in the day and 
no lower than the 50s at night, and United goes there with only 
one connection. And what's 60K miles when I have a million.

Her only responsibility, as I saw it, was to turn the key
in the ignition and get us there. Came the day, half an hour 
before it was time to go, and it turns out she lost her 
Global card, her driver's license, and her state ID, all at 
the same time. After some frantic searching, I found the 
license, and guess what, it was expiring! and would not be 
valid for her return. So off on another goose chase for her 
passport, which at least was near where she thought it was.
Edited to add: there is a one-year grace period for senior
citizens in California to reduce the crush at the DMV.

The trip to the airport was uneventful, and security was
almost nonexistent, so we had a half hour to enjoy the
Airspace lounge, where she had a glass of the 19 Crimes
red blend (she had a coupon), and I an MGD (free) and some
Nutter Butters. I downed the beer in record time and called
for another, but the pleasant attendant said that because
of low demand, the place was closing in 5 minutes!, but I
could take one in a go cup, just don't try to take it on
the plane. So I found myself in the unusual situation of
walking through the airport with a sloshy cup of beer past
the TSA people and the gate agents and at least three of
San Diego's finest. In some places that's considered normal
behavior - most of Europe plus New Orleans -, but not here.

UA 458 SAN SFO 1520 1655 739 21AC

The flight was midboarding when we got there, but it was
not nearly full, and we had no problem stowing our bags.
I'd booked exit aisle and window to give us more room and
more peace of mind, and they'd rebooked us aisle and middle, 
to give them more flexibility in case of a full flight. I
changed us back, and there was no problem. Of course, the
idea is that when we're in the air, and nobody has tried to
sneak into the exit row, one of us scoots over next to the 
other and we continue our conversations in peace.

A pretty good crew and despite that the flight took just 
over an hour, a full beverage service, a rarity in these
nontrying times. We landed about as far from our next flight
as the airport would allow, but luckily the sole remaining
club out of 5 that used to be available to us was on the way, 
so we had time for a refreshment of mixed nuts, cheap Cabernet, 
and the e-mail. Most of this was "because it's there," but the
sustenance of the nuts (almonds, cashews, and pistachios) was 
welcome.