There can be only one!

One and done.

That suitcase is the single piece of our luggage left after the great gate shakedown. We set out on our quest with two backpacks and two suitcases.  One backpack was sacrificed at check-in as we knew it was way too big. In it were the near-essentials that we could afford to lose consisting of mostly clothes.  The other backpack and two suitcases had the essentials including the rest of the clothes and portable food for Patti, our hyper food allergic family member.

We probably spent the most cumulative time trying to divide our items across the luggage so as to mitigate the effects of baggage loss. We were prepping to lose the one that we put under and prepared to keep that ones we bought onboard. That grand plan failed when the gate attendant profiled our luggage as being suspicious, suspiciously oversized.

After Tara, Riley, and I had sprinted to the gate following a very slow food order, we hopped right in line for our second wave boarding position which should have all but guaranteed an overhead spot for our items, but no.  First to fall was the backpack which I had meticulously fashioned to be quite svelte, then the suitcase that was with Tara. Patti and Riley had check-in wave three (losers) and had the last remaining bag which now was destined for the under plane dustbin. 

Patti and Riley, however, using half ninja, have Jedi mind trick, were able to get past the gate guards with the one remaining bag.

The gate attendant kept telling me that it was my lucky day and that our bags would be checked all the way through to Lima. And...I was thinking just he opposite. We arrive in Lima at 10:30 PM and are out on another plane to Puno and Lake Titicaca in the morning.  Puno sits at 12,500 feet so we are thankful that one article we do have in our Camelbak's is a light down jacket to meet the overnight lows which can be in the 20s F.

As we now sit on our plane from DIA to MIA (is that the airport code for Miami?  If not it may definitely be the code for our luggage) we are praying that at least Pattis food makes it.  We will see what God has in store for us.

Oh, but we do still have Riley's lamby along for the ride.

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