Texas Eclipse 2024 Day 1: Pillowcase to the rescue!

The eclipse made for unusual times, and travel. The cost of flights from DCA to Austin were prohibitively expensive, so I opted to fly out of BWI on Spirit Airlines (a first) to Houston with a tent packed in my largest suitcase. This matters because when I went to check my bag, I discovered that it weighed 49 pounds…and unlike the other major domestic carriers, Spirit’s weight limit is only 40 pounds. At that moment I recalled a video I’d seen, and stuffed all my clothes into the pillowcase I’d brought to use while camping to lighten the suitcase, bundling it into my rain jacket. My suitcase went down to 41 pounds, and the nice man at the counter didn’t bat an eye–call it mercy or apathy, I was grateful! It created a new challenge, though, as this pillowcase was a pink poly-satin that had no intention of staying put inside my jacket and kept sliding out. But both the pillowcase and I made it on the plane, arrived in Houston, and I was warmly welcomed by my friend Anna and her family.