This edition of my dear wife Karen’s family reunion took our fearless foursome the rest of the tribe calls “Syracuse” from our Hancock Airport International Airport through Chicago O’Hare to San Antonio.

Our quartet planned the first two days in that Texas city before meeting up with the contingents from Alaska, California, Oregon and Arkansas in the sunny and hot Gulf of Mexico resort location of South Padre Island.

Thanks to a very personable Uber driver by the name of Frank with his spacious SUV, my dear wife Karen, terrific daughter Elisabeth, her sensational significant George Three and I arrived at our airport in plenty of time for our 7 a.m. American Airlines flight. Frank stepped in for an unnamed Uber driver who did not respond to an advance reservation Karen had placed on her app earlier in the week. Frank explained to us that indeed, sometimes drivers say they’ll take those 5:10 a.m. rides and then decide that morning not to show up.

Anyway.

We thought we’d have an hour or so layover in the Windy City before boarding for the Lone Star state.

But when we got off the plane and took our gadgets off airplane mode, Karen and Elisabeth noticed they’d received notifications at the flight had been delayed 45 minutes.

We wandered around the concourse.

The Harley store carried a nice hometown feel as well as plenty of bike gear. Yes, they welcomed a sit-down on the big cycle.

I didn’t purchase anything Harley. Shirt or bigger.

While we wandered, there were more dings signaling delays of our flight.

We discovered through announcements at the gate that there were troubles getting our plane departed from Pittsburgh. We were at the mercy of the mechanics there.

Click on a gallery photo for an enlarged slide show.

Walking through a food court, Elisabeth and I decided on a deep dish pizza to say within the local tastes. Karen and George both ordered from a burrito stand. We took our time eating.

By the time we took off, we’d spent four hours at O’Hare.

Instead of most of the afternoon to explore the area around our centrally located San Antonio hotel, we’d get there just before nightfall.

There will be way more about our trip in the days to come.