This morning, at 11:00 ET, I spoke at the "Scholars and Scribes" Supreme Court Roundup at the Heritage Foundation. And this evening, at 6:00 CT, I spoke at the Houston Federalist Society's Supreme Court Roundup. It has been some time since I did two events in two cities in the same day. (Back in 2012, I visited six airports in thirty-six hours.) Today's travel was not easy to execute.
The event at Heritage wrapped at 12:15. Approximately one minute later, I was in a waiting Uber, en route to Reagan National Airport. I placed the suitcase next to me to avoid having to waste time going to the trunk. Boarding for my flight began at 12:25, as I was crossing the Fourteenth Street Bridge. I arrived at the curb of Terminal 2 at 12:31. I made it through security and to my gate in about six minutes. I scanned my boarding pass at 12:38, just after they called my name before closing the boarding. I was in my seat by 12:40. I landed in Houston around 3:00, with plenty of time to spare before the evening event.
Why did I engage in this insane turnaround? As it turned out, today there were thunderstorms in both D.C. and Houston. (Summer travel is actually worse than winter travel, as airports can remain operational during snow, but not during lightning.) Looking at the radar, I realized there was a good chance that my original flight, which was slated to leave D.C. at 3 ET and land in Houston at 5 CT, would be delayed. So I called an audible and switched to the earlier flight. I would rather rush to the airport to try to catch the earlier flight. If I had missed it, I would just wait for the later flight.
