Day 1 - Travel Day to SLIG

Sleep eluded me.  I’m SO excited to just get there.  That, and I was terrified I would sleep through my 5:00 am alarm.  Is it morning yet??  No, it’s 1:38 am.  Is it morning NOW?  No, it's 4:20 am.  Close enough.  If I go back to sleep at this point I won’t get up.  I bound out of bed like I’m the lead ballerina in Swan Lake and start getting ready.  I’ve made a LONG list of last minute things I need to make sure I have (I’ll spare you the entire list of items…).  Phone Charger. Check.  Computer.  Check.  Lip Balm.  Check. (I’ve heard it’s very dry out there so I brought 4 of them, oh and probably 6 different lipsticks that my husband says are all the same shade.  Clearly,  they are not. ~eye roll~ ) Reading glass.  Check x2!  Baggies of individual Lysol wipes to wipe down my area on both planes.  Check, along with extra to give people in my row.  Now I should tell you that I am not normally a germophobe, but after reading an article about germs on a plane (spoiler alert:  the tray tables have more germs than a toilet. You’re welcome.) combined with this nasty flu season I’m ready to break out the Michael Jackson mask if need be.  I will NOT be sick at SLIG! 

I get to my seat and I’m on the aisle.   This very nice older couple sit next to me.  I immediately bust out the wipes.   I offer a baggie of germ-killing heaven to them and they gladly accept.  As they are wiping down their area the wife tells me that she just got over the flu but isn’t contagious now.  Great……  Totally don’t believe her.  I wipe more stuff ….  I ask them where they are headed and they tell me Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  Hey, I’ve heard of that place!  That’s where the Love Boat used to stop all the time!    They ask me where I’m headed and I tell them I’m going to Salt Lake City, Utah for a big genealogy conference.  I am met with glazed eyes and head nodding.  Crickets.  They are NIPs.  Not Interested Persons.   They are not at all interested in genealogy.  Oh well.  There will be no speaking of dead people on this flight.

So, Mr. & Mrs. NIP got back to whatever activity they are doing.  I pull out my new book.  What is my reading of choice you ask?  Why it’s a Genealogical Crime mystery by Nathan Dylan Goodwin!  He writes a series of books and I can’t put them down.  The main character is Morton Farrier, a Forensic Genealogist.  #my people.  

Flight one flies by.  A quick stop in Dallas for a connection and I’m off to genealogy Mecca.  

#SLIGExperience

#firstieSLIG

#keeperofthepastgenealogy

#newbie

#SLIG2018