The Bible Belt Knows Where My Tripod Is

As fate would have it, everything "met me in St. Louis" except my tripod. Yes, my tripod. A gold plated gem worth as much as a used SUV. It's immensely important that I shoot a documentary with a tripod, no professional would be caught dead without one.

Somewhere between Dulles, St. Louis and the ozone, my tripod took a turn without me, and now, here I am, stuck in a hotel on the outskirts of town, checking baggage claim every hour on the hour, worrying myself to death rather than seeing beautiful downtown St. Louis. Oh, the humanity!

This isn't your everyday tripod where I could easily just rush to a local Kmart and grab a spare. Oh no. This is a tripod worth many thousands of dollars and yes, toting expensive gear around the planet gives me an ulcer but I have no choice. I go where the work is and tomorrow it's along the Mississippi and Missouri river - that is if I get my tripod back tonight. If not, I'm in big trouble -as is the airline carrier.

This ordeal got me grunting up a storm in the airport terminal and on the bus to my hotel. Within minutes 3 sweet locals responded with wide-eyed optimism to help ease my worries. "Don't you worry sweetie, put your trust in God. Don't worry, he'll find it. God knows where it is, he won't let you down," and on and on.

Is this how the Midwest handles a crisis? They pray? Just the same I'd rather alert the proper authorities, make some contingency plans with a local network affiliate and order a shot of lemoncello to calm my nerves. Then I'll pray....