Monday, November 06, 2006

Goodbye to WFC

After many hugs and a few last dashes through the dealers room and bar, it was off to the Austin airport to catch a plane to Dallas. All seemed well. We had a very friendly shuttle driver, and security at the airport was a breeze. The flight was quick. And then we hit Dallas airport and the long wait began. Just as we pulled into the gate the thunderstorms, complete with rain and lightening hit. Nothing to worry about, we were told. It will pass quickly. And, hey we still had nearly two hours until our next flight, even if our first flight had been about 15 minutes late due to the changing weather.

So, off to the gate in C terminal we headed. Now Dallas is a huge airport, if you've never been there. But we were lucky enough to have flown into A terminal and only be about a 20 minute walk around the horseshoe from C. Just as we arrived at our new gate, we were told "oh, the gate has changed to D terminal". Now this was not going to be an easy walk. A ride on the train would be required to reach the gate in time for our flight. Luckily the now "no longer our gate" in C was right next to a train station. So up the escalator we went, arriving just in time to catch the train, which happened to let our right next to our new gate in D. And now we had approximately 15 minutes to boarding, a three hour flight ahead of us, and a non-food flight at that. Oh well, we thought, no time to pick up food. We could stand to lose some weight anyway.

Much to our surprise, the flight had been delayed by about half an hour. So, while my companion held seats in the waiting area and watched our bags, I headed off to hunt up food. A few minutes later I was back and we were eating, and now still without giving us a reason, our flight was delayed an hour. The hour soon stretched to 2 and then a little more. And finally they told us it was due to weather, the thunder of which was now shaking the building, and the lightening flashing through the windows frequently. A bit later and they let us know that they were going to attempt to board the plane between storm cells. We boarded quickly, and then ended up stuck on the plane at the gate waiting for another storm cell to pass and then to find out if we would be able to take off that night, well now almost morning. Finally, more than 3 hours late, we took off into the storm.

It was a bumpy ride for the first hour or so, but a little before 2am we landed at LAX, and a little after 3am we were back home. Our luggage was soaked through, or at least mine was, but at least we were home.

I immediately sent an e-mail off to work to let them know I would be in late--I suppose I could have just freshened up and changed and headed off to work, but I had already been up for more than 24 hours. Ok, I would have, but my roommate insisted that I get some sleep and he drive me in a few hours late.

And that, in a very confused nutshell, is the adventurous trip home.

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