The Official Tour Blog of Cobra Golf

Nov 20, 2009 - 06:02 PM

Cobra Staff member and Golf Entertainer/World Long Drive Champion, Dan Boever, is visiting Iraq on a goodwill tour to meet with the troops. This is the third in a series of updates from his travels.

November 20, 2009 I would have to say that most of the time I love seeing our troops in airports as I travel.  When you fly 120 times a year you tend to see a lot of military personnel. I will usually silently pray for them and their families. It is always great to visit with one of them, especially when they are coming home. Man, are those wonderful sights to see as the entire crew gathers around to welcome home their hero.

Today was different though. Today I wasn’t so happy to see someone in uniform. Why? It goes like this. I was in the airport at Chicago O’Hare waiting on my flight to depart. I make the assumption that when some of you read the word O’Hare, you wince. Any seasoned traveler knows that going through Chicago is not always the most pleasurable experience. My flight into Chicago today was pretty typical. We left at 2:35 p.m. for what is to be a one hour flight. We will land, taxi a bit and be at the gate at 4 p.m. Right? Wrong.  Here is a tip for those of you who do not fly much. When you land and taxi away from the terminal, you should get on your cell phone and check on your connecting flights. It is never good.

Here is how it usually plays out. First you hear a clicking noise with the microphone and then the captain comes over the speakers and says something to this effect:  Ahhh (there is always a bit of a stammer), ladies and gentlemen thanks for flying with us (right out of a Zig Ziglar sales book), we know you have a choice when it comes to air travel (non of which are good) and we appreciate your business (read from a manual and very heartfelt). I am pleased to announce we were able to take a short cut and we got you here four minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time (very impressive to everyone).  But (oh here it comes, you never want to hear the “but”), I am sorry to inform you that because of our early arrival, the gate we are heading to is still occupied (listen to hear if the engines shut down, that will determine the level of your screwed-ness). We are quite certain the plane is about to push back and we will get you to the gate as soon as we can (the cockpit conversation is much different I’m sure). Thank you for your patience.

I can’t be the only one to ever hear those words.  My favorite was in Dallas when we arrived six minutes early (they made sure we knew) only to sit on the plane (small tube) for 26 minutes waiting for the gate agent to come move the jet bridge up to the plane. I repeat, 26 minutes! They actually told us over the loudspeaker the gate agents didn’t know we were coming. We were all too stunned to even make fun of them. Here’s an idea, next time pick up the phone and let them know we might be dropping by.

Back to gate B17. I am just minding my own business eating a Big Mac – I mean a salad and fruit cup – when out of out the corner of my eye I see a very small, very fast brown thing run past my foot.  I initially think it is some motorized toy a nearby child is playing with. After all, we are in one of the world’s most heavily traveled airports, so surely they don’t have varmints running around.  When it darted back past me at a very high speed I realized it was no toy. It was a live mouse.  Are you kidding me? I think he was after my Big Mac and that ain’t happening. I grabbed my video camera and jumped up on the chair. That’s when soldier boy sees me and asks if everything is alright. You really had to hear the tone. I don’t think his words meant what he was asking. I told him I was looking for a good angle from up high to shoot video in case the mouse returned.

You know, it might be cool to have that footage. You don’t see a mouse doing wind sprints all that often in a major airport. His grin told me I was busted. Why couldn’t he have been off having a drink or doing some push-ups somewhere?

I got a funny feeling I am not getting away with much over the next ten days.  Our troops seem to have a pretty keen sense of the “latrine level” someone is dishing out.

I’m actually praying for him as well. I am praying he was coming home. I can’t risk seeing him again over there, stupid mouse.

Tomorrow is Walter Reed and the troops. Excited, nervous and soon to be humbled I’m sure.