SATURDAY MORNING: Last night, the girls packed everything. They showered and put on their clothes for today. The alarm went off at 2:45. At that point, Judd said he needed to shower. My plan was for them to plan on leaving at 3, so they would get out the door by 3:30. I woke the kids up and brought them to bed with me until it was time to go. They finally left around 3:40. I went back to sleep around 5, finally.
At 7, James texted me, and woke me up, to ask if everything was on schedule. I responded with "As far as I know. They should be landing in about 45 minutes, so I will let you know when I hear from them." So I got up and checked the airline's website... Their plane hadn't even taken off yet! Judd had his phone on, so we've been texting... Apparently, the first plane that they were on had been fueled for the West coast instead of a little jump across one state(Minneapolis is about a 4 hr drive from us), so they made them switch planes... For too much fuel?? hehe Anyway, just turned his phone off about 5 minutes ago, so I'm assuming it was because they finished switching the luggage and were headed out to wait in line to take off.
So far, the flight to NY is on time. Thank God they were scheduled for an almost 3 hour layover.
I will keep updating as today progresses....
SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Ok, well, the plane that was supposed to take them to NYC was flying from Fargo, ND to Minneapolis, to NY. So... The plane got snowed-in in Fargo! It took off 2 1/2 hours late. In the meantime, they found a different plane that could fly to NY, but it didn't have a crew. So now, back to the original plane again. It will arrive in NY around 4. Hopefully things stay on this schedule now because Judd is supposed to head home at 6. BUT it is steadily snowing in Minneapolis now, and we are supposed to get another 7 inches here in WI tonight, so hopefully Judd can make it home....
SATURDAY EVENING: Ok, nope, it didn't happen that way. They got the "extra" plane ready, the one with no crew, and they waited for the other plane to come from ND so they could have that crew. So all in all, they ended up in NYC 4 1/2 hours late, at 6:30. (Judd pointed out that he could have driven to Minneapolis in the time that they sat at the 2 airports!) Judd's plane, which was scheduled for 5:55 ended up being delayed until 7:30. He had just enough time to eat some pizza, call me, and say goodbye to the kids. So he got on the plane, it left the gate, and it waited in line for an hour and a half to be de-iced! In the meantime, I am watching the progress of this plane as the delay gets longer and longer, and also watching the status of the flight from Minneapolis to Milwaukee, which still says "On Schedule."
Judd finally takes off, and is estimated to arrive in MN around 11:30, a full hour after his other flight is supposed to leave, at 10:29. So at 10:24, I hit the refresh button once again, and WHAT? The plane is delayed! It's only until 10:50, but it give me hope that my prayers are working. Maybe if I keep praying, the delay will stretch out.....At 10:54, the estimated departure time changes to 11:20!! C'mon... Just 15 more minutes!!!
On that website, it will tell you when the plane leaves the gate, and when it actually takes off. So I keep refreshing the page, waiting and waiting to hear from Judd. I also text Judd, telling him to tell someone his plane is about to leave the gate so that maybe someone will have a heart and radio in to tell them to wait a couple more minutes. At 10:28, Judd texted me that he was on the ground. He tried to talk to the flight crew, but no one would help him. At 10:29 the other plane pulled away from the gate. Judd jumped off the plane, ran for the gate, COULD SEE THE PLANE OUT THE WINDOW, but the nasty lady at the desk yelled at him, "The plane left the gate and is gone!" (among other things)!!!
SUNDAY, WEE MORNING HOURS: The next flight to Milwaukee that had any available seats was at 10:30... Sunday night! So Judd starts looking around for a comfy place to settle in when he hears, "Flight...to Madison now boarding at gate..."!!!! So he asks someone if there is room on that plane and is told yes, so he jumped on!! YAAAAYYY! The car is in Milwaukee but we'll deal with that tomorrow. After all the de-icing, flying, then getting a cab from the airport, at a little past 2AM, Judd arrived home more than 22 hours after leaving. 15 minutes later, Bernie called to say that Madison had just arrived in Rutland. (It was snowing, a lot, in NE last night)
SUNDAY MORNING: Judd left a little bit ago to catch a bus back to Milwaukee. I wanted to go with him, but it was $20/person, and he didn't think the extra money was worth it. The bus leaves at 9:40 and arrives at the airport at 11:55. Then it's about a 2 hour drive back home again. Man, does my head hurt! But at least I know my family is safe. Yesterday was a very trying day for me, and I wasn't even the one going through it!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment