At Last, alone, at last

This is the final chapter of this adventure. We warmly awoke to a chilled shower, fresh clothes, and a descent breakfast with a touch to latte latte macchiato. We boarded the van and made it to the airport in time to catch the end of a summation of the EuroCup tournament to this point. Aunt Kathy and I had some coffee (much better, the barista special) and some doughnuts.
We boarded the plan and bid farewell to Europe. Our flight was long and uneventful for the most part. I watched I am Legend, P.s. I love you, parts of Jumper, and the end of the Golden Compass at least 4. I also listened to some very bad Austria rock and hip hop for a total of 57 seconds. I sat by a mysterious German man who got up once on the forever flight. We saw the coast of Greenland (that was probably the highlight). We made it to Chicago (mostly on time) and passed through customs and claimed our bags with little incident. The XNA crew rechecked their bags while I held mine. As we exited the went for their gate and I was going to go and check my bag and get my boarding pass at the appropriate carriers. As they went up the escalator that was the last I saw of them.
I searched and found my carrier and went to check in only to find that it was not possible to check in more than 8 hours before your flight. It is 3 o'clock pm and my flight doesn't leave until 5:50 am, so I am referred to the local hotels. I had planned to sleep/lay/sit/pace in the terminal until the flight but the terminal was closed to me, so Quality Inn here I come. I've never done this part of the journey by myself, but I found and caught the shuttle, got a room, ordered dinner at the bar (bacon cheeseburger, yeah...), and am set to catch the shuttle back at 3:50 am. I am due to arrive on Long Island at 11:30 am eastern.
I've been awake for 21 hours, but now I am clean, fed, sheltered, and in America; this journey has come to an end. Thank you for being with me every step of the way.