This is our fourth year in San Miguel. We've stayed in 3 different casas, none of which have had shower curtains. Although I find it to be a minor inconvenience, it drives Rick crazy. Even though there's a drain on the floor, he hates how the water soaks the area all around the tub, including the floor and the toilet.
When we were here last year, bless his heart, he even made it his mission to find an expandable shower rod, a curtain and some hooks. Despite his extensive search however, he found none of the above.
So this year he purchased the items at home, intending to ship them ahead of our arrival - until he found out that it would cost $100 UPS or $30 US Parcel Service to send a $9 shower rod.
Frugal guy that he is, he decided that he would just bring them with him - despite the fact that the rod wouldn't fit into his suitcase. He would just carry it on, rationalizing that it wasn't much different from a cane, was it? And people carry canes onto planes all the time, don't they?
I was totally skeptical of this plan, certain that he'd never get this threatening looking item onto the plane, and I didn't want anything to do with it. But he was determined - to the extent where he went to the Traverse City airport a few days before the trip to speak with the TSA folks. They basically told him that they would let him through with it, but that they couldn't predict what would happen in Grand Rapids.
I was amazed that when we checked our bags in Grand Rapids, none of the attendants said a word about this pole Rick was carrying. And so we confidently began striding towards our gate - only to be stopped by a female security guard who wanted to know what that was and where he was going with it. She didn't look particularly impressed as he explained his situation. She took the rod, swung it like a baseball bat, and stated that it it could be used as a weapon on the plane. She didn't take it away however, and said it was up to him whether he wanted to try to get it past final security. But he had gotten this far, and he wasn't going to give up unless he had to.
Would you believe that my dear husband actually managed to get that "lethal weapon" on the plane? Aside from the one security guard, no one seemed to blink an eye. Several of the passengers noticed it however, and Rick had fun telling everyone his "story" to whoever was interested. He now has a shower curtain hanging in the bathroom, and he's as happy as a clam. I'm happy for him, and I'm glad he didn't buy into my doubts about his ability to pull this off.
It does make me wonder about security though. How does it make sense that I have to bag and show all my liquids, and make sure I don't have manicuring scissors in my carryon, when Rick can get an aluminum rod through? Go figure.
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