A Little More Air Time or How the Natives Really Pronounce Louisville

This has shaped up to be a whirlwind week. I'm sitting in the Louisville airport waiting for my flight to Atlanta on my way to Tucson.

Buick brought me here to drive its new Verano Turbo and 2013 Enclave. I love it when someone else pays for my ticket to fly me to a place I'd gladly spend my own money to go to. In fact, I'll be coming back to Louisville for Thanksgiving.

I only lived in Louisville for about 15 years, but I consider it home. I graduated high school here and my parents are buried in its Resthaven cemetery. Louisville just makes me happy. If I hadn't moved to Greenville, SC, I'd probably be living in Louisville. It was No. 2 on my list.

For two days I've listened to Buick internals kidding about how they have learned to pronounce the city's name like a native and then mispronounce like they've never heard a native say it. For the record, to pronounce it like a native it's two syllables: "Loo-vuhl."

Here endeth the lesson for the day.

Tucson is another place I've spent my own money to visit. I have a good friend who moved there from South Florida about six years ago. He'll be picking me up from the airport. After eating lunch we'll hit a microbrewery or two. Let the adventure continue.

Lexus is paying the freight to get me to Arizona. What are the chances of back-to-back carmaker events each taking me someplace I really want to go?

Delta upgraded me on this first leg of this journey. My chances of being upgraded on my return flight will be about 30% better than they are right now. The flight from Atlanta to Tucson will push me over the crest of the next tier of Delta's Sky Miles program. I'll exceed 75,000 miles flown with them for 2012. That will make me Platinum -- a status I haven't enjoyed for six or seven years. And that was before Delta sucked up Northwest and Platinum was its top Sky Miles status. Of course, Platinum used to require 100,000 miles and included a free Crown Room membership.

Ahhh, those were the days.

Now Platinum just means a couple of extra free-drink tickets and a boost up the upgrade list.

Oh, well….

Stay tuned for more on my Loo-vuhl visit.