Now why'd you have to do that?!

It's one thing to find the parking arrangement at Tulsa International Airport confusing.  When I left for the Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference on Thursday I found myself completely lost trying to find the extended day parking.  I actually drove on the wrong side of the road trying to find the correct turn while reading the signs.  I finally submitted to the more expensive parking, sacraficing $4/day to preserve life and limb.

However, it's a totally different thing to arrive at the Indianapolis International Airport this afternoon and discover that the entire airport has gone missing.  

That's dirty pool.

The embarrassing thing is that I had talked to two friends about the fact that Indianapolis built an entirely new airport in the eight years since my last visit.  I knew that it had moved.  Yet I followed my GPS (which, incidentally, had difficulty the entire trip figuring out where there were new roads versus old roads) and found myself looking at a run down vacant parking lot and an obviously empty terminal.

It was small comfort that I finally recognized something – the extended parking lot I used to use for my trusty green Tacoma when I flew home to Arizona from Indiana University on breaks.  It was also closed.

I called the rental car company and proceeded to embarrass myself:

"Dollar Rent-A-Car, how can I help you?"

"Um, yes.  I can't find the airport."

"Oh... Where are you?"

"The airport."  Pause, in which I realize that comment was less than helpful to my phone friend.  "I mean the old airport.  I'm sitting in the old airport and I can't find my way to the new one!"

My savior was able to quickly give me directions – my GPS argued with me the entire time I followed them – and I was able to arrive at the new airport with 20 minutes to spare.

Whew.

So, after multitudes of U-turns and gentle reminders from the GPS that it is "recalculating," I sit in the airport, resting with my last few minutes of quietness before I head toward my family.

Indianapolis... Could you please move the airport back?  Maybe just remodel next time instead of get a totally new airport?  That would make me feel better.

Now I just have to find my car in Tulsa.