liverock
RC Sponsor
Here is what it is like flying rock home as baggage.....is not easy, but can be done!
This customer picked up the rock here in Tampa....and.....
This was the absolute shortest, but most rewarding part of my trip!
I'll tell you what happened after we parted. I ended up going back on Hillsborough to 275 (?), then to 4 east to get to Orlando.
At Thrifty Rent-a-Car
Checked the car back in, and one of the shuttle drivers helped me load the boxes to go back to the airport. Great guy - I'm still trying to locate his name and badge #. He took up to curbside check-in and was kind enough to unload the boxes. I spotted him $5.
At MCO
The ever proud check-in clerk who thought he was God's gift to checking people's luggage weighed them (one was 48#, the other was 49# -- whew - great job, Richard!). He looked at me dramatically and murmured something to a young kid who at least had the ***** to approach me.
"Sir, you're gonna have to check these inside."
"Really? Hmm. Okay."
"Do you have a way to transport those in, or?"
"No, just my roller bag."
"Okay, lemme get a cart and we'll get those inside."
So he loaded them and wheeled them in for me, right up to the front of the check-in line inside.
"I'll be back when you're through the line, sir."
"Hey, thanks a lot."
So I checked in, and claimed two check-in 'bags'.
The sweetest lady, who could have been any 1-year old's young petite grandma, gave me the boarding pass and pulled out the stickers for my 'bags'. I had to forewarn her:
"Ma'am, not to be offensive, but I don't think you're going to be able to lift those."
[Big eyes looking at the "HEAVY" stickers]
"Oh. um, er... you're going to have to take those over there." [pointing to a gaggle of people and activity] "But let me come through there and we can get everything filled out."
[At the boxes now at the front of check-in]
"Live tropical fish? Oh, goodness - I think these have to go with pet cargo."
[Dreading exorbedent pet fees and time I didn't have by now] "Well, it's actually just decorative rock for my aquarium."
"Oh, just rock? That'll be okay."
By then the young kid came back around and said, "I can can get those from here, sir." Took the cart and started wheeling them away.
"Hey man, take $10 - those are heavy and it looks like you work for a real ***hole." He smiled, sheepishly took the cash and wheeled them away to "heavy" baggage claim. My life impregnated rock and I were on our way!
At TUL
Waiting anxiously with my buddy at the mouth of the baggage conveyor, about ten bags passed before I saw your boxes come on through. They were wrapped in clear plastic, the cardboard a little soaked. The good news was they hadn't been sliced open.
Got home and had to put them in the garage until I got back from my son's cub scout dinner.
I carefully cut open the boxes finding the styrafoam was cracked on all structural corners from the lunkheads working at baggage cargo. I removed the rocks and started preparing them for drip acclimation with my daughter, Tabitha. Needless to say, trying to use 5 gallon buckets was not the way to do this. I got impatient and just told my daughter, "Babe, let's put them directly in the tank." So we started carefully doing just that, despite the dangers I've read about.
You know this already, but this rock was teeming with all kinds of life. It was hard to figure out what side to put down! Tabi yelped excitedly - "Dad, there's a crab, and a shrimp in the bucket." My son, Caleb: "Dad, there's a Gary (the name of SpongeBob's pet snail)!"
Well, I got ancy, drained out all the Gulf water I could and poured all the sand and animal life directly into my tank. Called my buddy and told him I had some stow-aways. His take was equally rewarding, but he took the more conservative and sensible approach of letting it accilimate in a separate 20 long.
Richard TBS
:rollface: :rollface: :rollface: :rollface: :rollface:
This customer picked up the rock here in Tampa....and.....
This was the absolute shortest, but most rewarding part of my trip!
I'll tell you what happened after we parted. I ended up going back on Hillsborough to 275 (?), then to 4 east to get to Orlando.
At Thrifty Rent-a-Car
Checked the car back in, and one of the shuttle drivers helped me load the boxes to go back to the airport. Great guy - I'm still trying to locate his name and badge #. He took up to curbside check-in and was kind enough to unload the boxes. I spotted him $5.
At MCO
The ever proud check-in clerk who thought he was God's gift to checking people's luggage weighed them (one was 48#, the other was 49# -- whew - great job, Richard!). He looked at me dramatically and murmured something to a young kid who at least had the ***** to approach me.
"Sir, you're gonna have to check these inside."
"Really? Hmm. Okay."
"Do you have a way to transport those in, or?"
"No, just my roller bag."
"Okay, lemme get a cart and we'll get those inside."
So he loaded them and wheeled them in for me, right up to the front of the check-in line inside.
"I'll be back when you're through the line, sir."
"Hey, thanks a lot."
So I checked in, and claimed two check-in 'bags'.
The sweetest lady, who could have been any 1-year old's young petite grandma, gave me the boarding pass and pulled out the stickers for my 'bags'. I had to forewarn her:
"Ma'am, not to be offensive, but I don't think you're going to be able to lift those."
[Big eyes looking at the "HEAVY" stickers]
"Oh. um, er... you're going to have to take those over there." [pointing to a gaggle of people and activity] "But let me come through there and we can get everything filled out."
[At the boxes now at the front of check-in]
"Live tropical fish? Oh, goodness - I think these have to go with pet cargo."
[Dreading exorbedent pet fees and time I didn't have by now] "Well, it's actually just decorative rock for my aquarium."
"Oh, just rock? That'll be okay."
By then the young kid came back around and said, "I can can get those from here, sir." Took the cart and started wheeling them away.
"Hey man, take $10 - those are heavy and it looks like you work for a real ***hole." He smiled, sheepishly took the cash and wheeled them away to "heavy" baggage claim. My life impregnated rock and I were on our way!
At TUL
Waiting anxiously with my buddy at the mouth of the baggage conveyor, about ten bags passed before I saw your boxes come on through. They were wrapped in clear plastic, the cardboard a little soaked. The good news was they hadn't been sliced open.
Got home and had to put them in the garage until I got back from my son's cub scout dinner.
I carefully cut open the boxes finding the styrafoam was cracked on all structural corners from the lunkheads working at baggage cargo. I removed the rocks and started preparing them for drip acclimation with my daughter, Tabitha. Needless to say, trying to use 5 gallon buckets was not the way to do this. I got impatient and just told my daughter, "Babe, let's put them directly in the tank." So we started carefully doing just that, despite the dangers I've read about.
You know this already, but this rock was teeming with all kinds of life. It was hard to figure out what side to put down! Tabi yelped excitedly - "Dad, there's a crab, and a shrimp in the bucket." My son, Caleb: "Dad, there's a Gary (the name of SpongeBob's pet snail)!"
Well, I got ancy, drained out all the Gulf water I could and poured all the sand and animal life directly into my tank. Called my buddy and told him I had some stow-aways. His take was equally rewarding, but he took the more conservative and sensible approach of letting it accilimate in a separate 20 long.
Richard TBS
:rollface: :rollface: :rollface: :rollface: :rollface:
