Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

Whew!  What a trip.  The best (and only) good news about my trip to Abilene Thursday was that I eventually arrived in one piece and that my luggage made it, as well.  But it was a long, harrowing trip in which I had delay after delay of flights, a canceled flight, overbooked "replacement" flight, excessive weight causing people to be bumped, threatening bad weather and very jangled nerves.

Thursday was a very eventful and tiring day.  It started early in Picayune for us with a roto-rooter guy coming before 8 a.m. to work on the plumbing.  The good news there is that he found the heretofore big obstruction in the line back in our master bath and was able to clear it all out.  He used an electric auger type rod to go down in the plumbing line after dismantling the commode and said that the other plumber (who had done the plumbing in the construction of the house) never would have been able to have found or cleared the obstruction with his limited single "snake" type rods he had used to go down into the line.

So it was worth getting up early to wait for the new plumber with the right kind of equipment.  We are very happy to finally (hopefully) have the plumbing problem solved.

Then we hit the road to New Orleans to the airport.  That was a harrowing trip itself.  We left way ahead of time (thankfully) to get me to the airport and it was a good thing because there was a major traffic jam on the bridge going across the end of Lake Pontchartrain.  The bridge was heavily damaged (and we’re talking about Interstate 10 here) in Hurricane Katrina and is still under heavy construction to repair it and then replace it with a brand new even higher bridge.

I call it a bridge, which it is, but it’s about seven miles long across the end of the lake and so it takes a while at best to get across it.  They had traffic down to one slow lane on the bridge because of the construction and traffic was backed up about 30 minutes worth, to give you the crisis in time language.

I was a nervous wreck over that thinking I would be terribly late to the airport and miss my flights entirely.  But, thank God, we were finally able to get through the congested area and on to the airport in good time for me to be able to sit and wait, as it turned out.

My flight from New Orleans to Dallas left about 30 to 45 minutes late and arrived in Dallas pretty late as a result.  I had opted to take a four hour layover in Dallas rather than a one hour layover and it’s a good thing (I guess) because I would have missed my flight to Abilene if I had not.  As things turned out, the bad "karma" was just beginning.  All I can say is that it’s a good thing we can’t envision the future or know what is going to transpire ahead of time or else I’m not sure I would even have gotten out of bed Thursday morning, much less tried to come to Abilene.

When I arrived in Dallas I found out that my flight to Abilene had been delayed an hour already, so I now faced a five hour layover.  I had to change concourses and remembered from my May trip through Dallas to Virginia where a TGI Friday’s was down Concourse B where I was going.  It was a good ways away from the Gate I was headed to, but I figured I had enough time to stop and eat and that proved to be a fortuitous move on my part. 

Before I ordered anything, I called my mom to have her call the airline to make sure they were saying the flight was delayed by an hour so I could decided how much to eat.  I had planned to eat dinner at my mom’s, but figured that now it might be a little too late to do so.  Little did I know how late I would end up being.

Mom called me back and said, yes, the flight was delayed an hour, go ahead and eat, so I did.  Then I got back on the Sky Link and rode down closer to my gate area to commence waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting.

I kept checking with the flight agents at the gate periodically to make sure I was in the right place because American Airlines has been bad the past few trips I’ve made about changing gates multiple times on me and I was paranoid.  For good reason, as it turned out, because sure enough about 5 p.m. when I checked, they had changed the gate for my flight.  Way back down where I was to begin with eating.  I didn’t have enough time to catch the Sky Link, etc, so I started walking, but I’m not very fast, you see, because of my health problems and all and I was nervous about making it in time to board when I needed to.

Luckily (and again thank God), one of those carts came up behind me and I was able to stop the guy and catch the last seat up next to him to get a ride down to the proper gate.  As I was getting on the cart, I fell forward and hit my knee hard on edge of the cart.  It hurt pretty bad, but I was more embarrassed than anything.  But I made it in one piece, more or less, down to the gate where I needed (for the moment) to be.

It was a long wait after all.  The planed was delayed even longer in getting in.  They had changed the departure time back even further by the time I got to the gate.  It was now going to be more than 1 1/2 hours late in leaving Dallas.  That was just the beginning.  The plane finally came in but weather looked threatening around the airport.  Then they said that we would be delayed in boarding because the plane was experiencing some mechancal difficulties.  I decided to run to the bathroom.  That is, walk very carefully.  I’d already fallen once.

The next news was that they were canceling the flight.  Luckily, (God, again) I was near the counter where I always try to get, watching all that was going on so I was able to jump up to get in line at about number six to re-book the flight.  I was praying all afternoon and evening that I would make it safely to Abilene, but things were looking terrible grim.  I told the harried young man when I got to the counter that I had serious medical prolbems and really needed to get to Abilene that night.  He was on the phone talking with someone and complaining about being left all alone with this long line of people to tend to to try to re-book them all on the only two flights remaining that were going to Abilene.  I wasn’t sure that he heard a word I said and so when he finally got off the phone I repeated what I had said.

He grouchily responded and I told him I wasn’t trying to give him a hard time, I just wasn’t sure if he’d heard me.  He said he had and then proceeded to hand me a ticket – on the last flight out of Dallas to Abilene that evening, leaving at 8:50 p.m.  Thank the Lord, I thought.  Things have brightened up just a tad.  Little did I know . . .

The next gate and flight were just one gate away, so that was good, as well.  The bad news was that I now had another hour and a half to wait.  It was now 7 p.m.  We’d left home at 9:30 a.m. after a long morning at home with the plumber.  It seemed a lifetime ago. 

This time I was at the counter every 15 minutes inquiring about the flight and the weather.  With good cause, it turned out.  About 8 p.m. they picked up the microphone and made a dreaded announcement.  They were begging five people to turn in their tickets, take $250 credit vouchers and spend the night in Dallas for a flight Friday afternoon all because the plane had to take on extra fuel because of the bad weather and they had to let some weight go.  Or else five people would be bumped from the flight.  I felt a wave of panic.  I scurried up to the counter again and repeated what I had told the previous agent at the previous counter.  I had serious medical problems and I really, really needed to get to Abilene and not spend the night in Dallas and go through all of the hassle that that dilemma would give.

The guy was pouring over the passenger list as I spoke making marks.  He asked me my name.  Panic rose higher in my throat.  Then they both told me not to worry because they started with whoever booked last and paid the least.  I told them that was why I was worryied because I had just gotten canceled off another flight and had just been booked.  They assured me that they wouldn’t bump anyone who had been on a canceled flight and had to change. 

I went to sit back down (where I could see them).  I told the two ladies I’d struck up conversations with, one of whom had gotten canceled off the other flight, too.  She was trying to make it home after a long week on a business trip to Tucson.  Ten minutes later they bumped her.

During all of this time I was trying to use my cell phone to keep my mom and Tom abreast of what all was rapidly happening around me and to call my daugher Rebecca to see if I could, in the event I was bumped, possibly come stay with her.  But she lives about 45 minutes to an hour from the airport, so that would have been hard.  Plus, I only had one small bag with me with no extra clothes or anything but all of my medicines and insulin and wallet.  I kept getting failed call messages.  I couldn’t get through to anyone.  I never did reach Rebecca. 

I finally reached Tom and told him to call my mom with the latest news.  About five minutes later I was able to get through to my mom.  Thank the Lord for the connections and the comfort of loving voices. 

I wanted to get on the plane.

They finally – about 15 minutes later – called for boarding and began by groups.  It was a small jet on American Eagle and I was near the back, but in Group 2.  I walked up to get on anyway.  About that time they said everyone get on board.  Panic began to subside a bit but even more was so come. 

People seemed to just trickle on and I didn’t think the plane was going to ever fill.  There was an empty seat right across from me for the longest time.  The plane was only three seats wide and I was in seat B on the right side of the aisle.  Finally, after a terribly long time, a young man got on and sat in seat A.  We sat.  And we sat.  And we sat. 

Departure time came and went.  We sat.  The door to the plane didn’t close.  We sat.  The ticket agent came on board.  He started walking back looking, looking.  He stopped at my very row.  Then he looked down and locked eyes.  With the young man to my left.  The young man had to get up and leave.

Ten minutes later we were still sitting.  Then, miraculously, the young man got back on the plane.  They finally closed thet door and we were underway. 

I struck up a conversation with the young man.  He was going home to Abilene where he is a senior at ACU.  He told me what all had happened to him and I was dying to know, but I’ll leave the rest till later.  This has already gone on way too long, but I couldn’t leave you hanging totally.  I did finally make it from Picayune to Abilene about 10 p.m.  In the time it took, Tom and I could have gotten up Thursday morning and driven the 750 miles out here!

More later.  I’m worn out still from the whole day Thursday and need to rest.  So will catch you up later on my trip out here and the terrific young man I met on the plane from Dallas to Abilene.

Cheers & Blessings to you all this evening.  It’s Saturday night about 7 p.m. and I’m just recuperating today from the day Thursday.  In other words, my mom is taking good care of me.  But, y’all join me in thanking God I made it through the day Thursday and that I made it here intact and even with my luggage.  Things sure seemed bad for quite a long while, but I saw them a lot worse for people all around me who I had gotten to know.  Dee