MANKATO — When the auto dealer from Mankato and the politician/media star from Wasilla finished with their brief greeting and settled in for the flight from New York to the Twin Cities, the auto dealer shared the news on his Facebook page.

“Interesting ride home,” Todd Snell wrote. “Sarah Palin sitting next to me. Alaska bound via MSP.”

The CEO and president of Snell Motors figured that was pretty much the whole story, but he agreed to share a bit more of his impression of one of America’s best-known and most polarizing political figures.

“It was a thrill to meet her,” he said, although he declined to say whether he’s a fan of the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate. “I think Mankatoans would think she was a very nice, genuine person — more so than other politicians I’ve met.”

As the Minnesota director of the National Auto Dealers Association, Snell has made numerous first-class flights to Washington, D.C., and New York for association business. He was returning from an 11-day journey to both cities on Wednesday afternoon.

It was actually three guys headed to Alaska for a fishing trip that pointed out to Snell who he was sitting beside.

“I didn’t even recognize her,” he said. “She had a hat and glasses on. So incognito.”

The fishing buddies, who appeared to have had a few cocktails, ended up in an extended conversation with the other Todd — Palin’s husband — about fishing in Alaska.

Snell had a brief conversation with the self-styled mama grizzly and found her friendly enough.

“I said hello, a few words,” he said.

But he threw no autograph requests at her and didn’t try to draw out any campaign trail tales or stories about her guest-hosting stint on NBC’s “Today” show — the gig that had brought her to NYC. The hat and the sunglasses suggested she didn’t want a lot of in-flight attention.

“She was probably trying to be pretty low key,” Snell said.

When the guys got into their Alaska fishing talk, Palin checked out.

“She kind of rolled her eyes and cuddled up and went to sleep,” Snell said.

His flights to the nation’s capital and to New York have brought other celebrity sightings, including professional athletes and numerous politicians. Snell made it clear he hasn’t been awed by any of them, including Palin.

“You have to remember, she puts her pants on one leg at a time, too,” Snell said.

But Wednesday’s story impressed his kids — 14 and 17 years old — more than their father’s 2011 brush with another nationally known conservative woman with a Minnesota-sounding accent.

“I sat with Michelle Bachmann last year flying to Washington,” he said. “Frankly, I enjoyed my conversation with Palin much more. She was a little more down to earth.”

His kids were more impressed by the Palin meeting, too. When Snell told them about Bachmann, they had no idea who she was.