Back in the U.S. of A. But Still Far From Home

          I'm back in the States, but it's going to take me two hours longer to get from D.C. to Wilmington than it took to get from London to D.C.  It all started when the flight from Heathrow left about 45 minutes late.  I was already on a tight schedule to make a 2:29 p.m. connection with Delta at Dulles.  By the time I cleared immigration, customs, claimed my bag, and got to the Delta desk, it was 2:00 p.m.  The agent said it was too late for me to make it to the gate.  She rebooked me on a later flight to LaGuardia in NYC, then on to Wilmington, due in a little after 11 p.m.
           As I was sitting at the gate for that flight, I overheard someone say that LaGuardia flights had been canceled.  Sure enough, when I checked the departure board, I saw that my flight had been canceled.  The agent rebooked me on US Air through Charlotte on to Wilmington, to arrive around 11:30 p.m. tonight.  So, I had to go through security AGAIN!  The x-ray person pulled my bag and had another TSA agent check it for liquids (I didn't have any).  She unpacked my carry-on and pulled all of my wrapped wooden souvenirs out to be scanned again.  She was very nice and, when she found out I had flown all the way from Zambia yesterday and that my flights had been missed and canceled today, was very sympathetic.  She told me about her trip to Africa.  I thought it was interesting that that happened, since my bags were scanned at Heathrow, again at Dulles when I went through customs, and again after I had checked in with Delta earlier this afternoon.
             Oh well!   Here's hoping I'll make it to Charlotte and then Wilmington.  I'm at the gate, and the flight to Charlotte that was supposed to leave a little while ago has been delayed.