>Mike,
>
> I am brainstorming about all kinds of things, including driving my car back down here next weekend.
>
>Have you considered flying into New Orleans? Both Expedia and www.airtran.com have return airfares for <$300 this w/e.

I have been using NOLA. It's cheaper in general.

John, I owe you. I just booked a fare on AirTran and it was cheaper than anything I had found. Emily is not going to be delighted because the departing flight next Sunday is from Midway at 10 in the morning. That's OK. I am probably going to be buying her a car before this is over (cutting down on the car rental side of expenses) so she can just suck it up, as her sister would say <g>.

The airlines always do seem to have an unpleasant surprise or two. AirTran charges $6 to reserve a seat. (The more desirable seats are $20 per flight leg). As opposed to what, standing up? <g>