As most of you know Kilz and I traveled down to the lower 48 for biz. Thought I'd share with everyone our recent adventures................... .
Well, after about 24 hours of sleep I’m starting to feel like a human being again LOL. Woke up only once, read the forums, ate a meal fit for a king and in my opinion prepared by the world’s best chef……mama.
In my life time I’ve flown several thousands of miles. Don’t really like flying, this coming from someone that used to jump out of planes lol. Always had to put up with the normal BS that goes with flying, luggage, delays, long layovers, etc. But I’m here to tell Yas I’ve never experienced the type of adventure Joe (Kilz) and I experience over the past week and a half (especially when it was suppose to be only one week).
These classes/certifications are pretty important for company growth. Hell two classes during last week has netted us around 35 new customers and we are now listed as the only factory trained reps in the state of Alaska. What it took to get those certifications is another matter………………………………
December 13th; Saturday:
Leave Fairbanks to Seattle; From Seattle to Chicago; From Chicago to Dayton; Meet Henny Penny rep in Dayton, drive to Holiday Inn at Eaton, Indiana. Arriving around 3 pm Sunday.
Take off from Fairbanks, nothing eventful. Seattle……OMG!! Storm hitting Seattle. Small one, snow, freezing rain, wind. The landing was………looking for proper words………diddlyED UP!! After swallowing my heart (a few times lol) Joe and I take off running to catch the next fly to Chicago. By this time it’s snowing a pretty good clip. Board the next plane and wait……….and wait………and wait. Seems as though Seattle is not too well set up to handle snow. Rain yes, snow no. 2 hour delay for de-icing. Which means we’ve now missed the Chicago/Dayton connection.
Seattle to Chicago: Taking off from Seattle was just as fun as when we landed. I’m still wondering how and why we managed to stay in the air. Got above the clouds and all is well. Pilot comes on the air and advises Chicago is experiencing some bad weather but all is good.
We begin to land at Chicago and again the pilot announces we’re fixin to land and it’s going to be a little bumpy due to poor weather conditions (Great). Next thing I see (window seat) as we’re next to touching down on the runway you feel the wind catch us sideways, the plane is coming down sideways. Pilot makes corrections and I’m watching as the right wing dips towards the pavement of the runway. Now I know I’m a puss when it comes to flying, but when I hear most of the other passengers go “OH diddly!” I figure it’s time to kiss your good-bye lolol. That damned wing looked like it was only inches from hitting the pavement. It took EMS to remove me from the plane due to the fact that my seat was embedded into my , due to the pucker factor!
Chicago to Dayton: Missed original flight due to Seattle delays. Next flight……4 hours.
Arrive Dayton: Henny Penny rep not overly thrilled to pick us up in the middle of the night, but “Oh Well”. Arrive Holiday Inn, 1 am Monday morning, classes start 7 am.
Seems as though were ever we went the bad weather followed. Monday it turns windy and bitterly cold. Today there’s snow. Tuesday, we’re to move to Holiday Inn next to airport in Dayton, fly out Wednesday morning back to Chicago and then be transported to Rockford for Taylor classes. By Tuesday afternoon……..Freezing Rain. The drive from Eaton Indiana back to Dayton, normally 30 minutes, took 2 hours. Wednesday morning, shuttle takes us to airport were we endure a 6 hour delay due to the ice buildup. We finally get to board the plane…………..the PLANE!! Orville and Wilbur’s plane was bigger than this thing!! WTF!! You want me to fly in this thing!!!! Wait….Wait….I have some new diddlying rubber bands for yas!! Yes this little piece of toejam picked up the freaking bumps.
Arrive Rockford 11 pm. About 8 hours behind schedule. Classes start 8 am Thursday morning.
Mix up in the transportation arrangements. Factory suppose to pick us up, ended up getting shuttle to take us. Normal shuttle driver not here, Hotel cook will drive. This Mother Fker, all I can say is One Crazy Mexican! 60 MPH on snow packed back roads………..No Damned Seatbelts!! Slid through 2 stop signs (with oncoming)……………Another call to EMS for SEAT REMOVAL!!
By Thursday afternoon, winter storm warning in effect. By Thursday night 4 inches already on the ground and calling for 10 more. Factory cancels class at training center and moves it to the Hotel. Friday we attend the all day event at the hotel. O’Hara airport is basically shut down at this point.
Saturday:
Chicago to Seattle; Seattle to Fairbanks.
Chicago to Seattle: Small window to get the hell out of town before the next storm system moves in. They had done well to cleanup from the day before. Still had a 2 hour delay but managed to get out. Our biggest concern now was Seattle. We had been watching the news and knew Seattle was getting ready to be hit with a major winter storm. Arrived in Seattle at 6 pm Saturday.
Seattle to Fairbanks: Flight time 10:30 pm. From 6 pm to 10 pm we watched as the weather turned to complete toejam. From rain, to freezing rain, to high winds and snow…….blizzard conditions. We watch as 1 by 1 flights are being cancelled. At 10 pm Alaska airlines announced a 1 hour delay for our flight, same at 11 pm, same at midnight, 1 am, 2 am…………. Finally at 2:30 am flight cancelled. ALL FLIGHTS CANCELLED! Instruction was to go to nearest tick agent and have ticket redone onto another flight………………..ALL PASSENGERS WITH CANCELLED FLIGHTS MOVE TO THE RESCHEDULE LINE FOR REASSIGNMENT……..WE HAVE SEVERAL AGENTS SET UP OUT IN THE TICKETING AREA TO TAKE CARE OF YOU.
4 Ticketing agents………FOUR!! To take care of, what I later found out to be, over 3500 passengers! Joe and I stood in that diddlying line for over 5 hours, and the squeak of it…….I knew we still had AT LEAST 3 more hours to wait. By this time it’s 11 am Sunday morning, and I’d had enough. Screw this, we get a room and do this toejam via computer. Easier said than done. Wife finally finds us a room that isn’t occupied within a 100 mile radius. We’re finally checked in by 7 pm Sunday. 24 hours at Seattle airport alone. Needless to say sleep came pretty easy.
The word is……….Wednesday will be the first available flight. Oh but wait……second snow storm to hit Seattle Tuesday night, Wednesday………WTF!!! If cancelled, the next open window will be the weekend after Christmas…….AARRGG!
Credit where it’s due. Pam (my lovely bride of 37 years) was on the phone and computer from moment one. She’s the one that managed to find a hotel room close to the airport, with shuttle service………..and she’s the one who found 2 seats on a flight out of Seattle to Anchorage at 9:45 Monday night. The only unknown was whether or not the airport would be cleaned up enough to fly out, as they were still cancelling flights.
Long story brought to an end. There was about a 2 hour delay, but we were finally headed to Anchorage, and after an 8 hour layover in Anchorage, home to Fairbanks. The layover was the only flight available………and at this point I didn’t give a toejam. Arrived home at 10 am Tuesday morning, grateful to be home.
I learned during my stay in Seattle just how bad the area had been effected by the storm. Transportation down to a crawl, obviously air travel stopped. Portland was hit even harder. The local news reported Seattle hadn’t been hit with so much snow during Christmas in over 100 years. And it showed, as they were unable, due to lack of proper equipment, to clear it away. At the airport they actually ran out of De-icing chemicals and had to wait for a shipment to arrive…….causing more delays.
Once in Anchorage, while waiting for our final flight, Joe and I sat watching the runway crews maintaining the runways. A fleet of plows, scrapers, de-icers, traveling up and down the runways, in a very uniform and organized manner…..just maintaining the pavements and tarmacs. It was interesting conversation to compare the two locations.
Couldn’t make it on last night, dead to the world. Need to do some catch up at the office today, but off for the next 4 days. Hopefully will see yas online this long weekend. If anything was learned here it is to study the weather map as far in advance as possible. Out of all my travels I’ve never had a flight cancelled on me………….and hopefully never again. Oh, and the other thing……if you take Maintenance medications as I do………always take more than you need. I ran out on Saturday and had to improvise………for thinners I used aspirin………..for blood pressure…………..he he he…….nothing a good 12 year old scotch couldn’t take care of (LOL)
this well wrote out story was done by SWrokit. SWrokit is my father and we tend to travel from time to time for some classes. Salute fellas i am dam glad i got to be home for the holidays with my family Salute happy holidays all and a safe one at that
