Monday, January 21, 2008
Cancelled, cancelled, cancelled, cancelled…. Finally Alabama!!
I’ve been bragging about how lucky we’ve been without having problems with flights—well, after the delayed one to Philadelphia—we really had problems getting to Alabama. We were leaving at 11 am on Wednesday, because I was going to have meetings and make some copies on Thursday. Then Bob, Phylliss and I were going to drive to Alabama for the retreat on Friday afternoon and Saturday.
We had square dancing on Tuesday evening and got home around 11 pm. There was a message on the phone that said our Wed 11 am flight was cancelled. So I got on the phone to rebook our flight from Bemidji—it took 1 ½ hours, but we got booked on the 7 am flight. So we were going to bed at 12:45 am and set the alarm for 3 am—short night. We saw hundreds of deer on the drive down, but got there in plenty of time and then we waited and waited and waited. The flight originates in Thief River Falls and it was too foggy to land, so it ended up flying over rather than picking us up. We rebooked for the 1 pm flight and then went to the mall to kill some time—and got another call that that flight was cancelled. So we rebooked for Int’l Falls on Thursday at 11 am and drove back home. We got another call—that flight was also cancelled. I called the airport and they said they were sending a van to the cities, so we should come up at the regular time. We did—they didn’t. Instead we ended up on the 4:30 pm flight—but couldn’t get all the way to Jackson, so we ended up going to Memphis and driving to Jackson. Finally checked into our hotel at 1:30 am and had to pick up Phylliss at 8 am—another short night!
The trip from Jackson to Alexander City, AL took about 5 hours. The retreat was held at the Children’s Harbor Conference Center—which is a beautiful facility that is used by children with disabilities, but can also be rented by any group. It is right on Lake Marin, but the lake is really low because that area is experiencing a terrible drought. The buildings are all log with lots of wood both inside and out. We were in one that had a bedroom, kitchen and living room area—it was really neat.
I learned what tremendous fans the football teams in the south have—some woman came to the retreat with her Auburn crocks, shirt, pants, earrings, and jacket on. They had a game on the TV in the room next door, and every so often, someone would go to catch the score and report back to the group. As we were going home, traffic from the ‘Bama’ game was really thick—mostly going toward us.
We checked back into the hotel late Saturday evening and had Sunday to relax. Then headed home on Monday—thankfully, there were no delays. I did complain to the airline and Bob and I each received $200 vouchers for our next flight—that should almost cover what it took for the extra driving we had to do.
We had square dancing on Tuesday evening and got home around 11 pm. There was a message on the phone that said our Wed 11 am flight was cancelled. So I got on the phone to rebook our flight from Bemidji—it took 1 ½ hours, but we got booked on the 7 am flight. So we were going to bed at 12:45 am and set the alarm for 3 am—short night. We saw hundreds of deer on the drive down, but got there in plenty of time and then we waited and waited and waited. The flight originates in Thief River Falls and it was too foggy to land, so it ended up flying over rather than picking us up. We rebooked for the 1 pm flight and then went to the mall to kill some time—and got another call that that flight was cancelled. So we rebooked for Int’l Falls on Thursday at 11 am and drove back home. We got another call—that flight was also cancelled. I called the airport and they said they were sending a van to the cities, so we should come up at the regular time. We did—they didn’t. Instead we ended up on the 4:30 pm flight—but couldn’t get all the way to Jackson, so we ended up going to Memphis and driving to Jackson. Finally checked into our hotel at 1:30 am and had to pick up Phylliss at 8 am—another short night!
The trip from Jackson to Alexander City, AL took about 5 hours. The retreat was held at the Children’s Harbor Conference Center—which is a beautiful facility that is used by children with disabilities, but can also be rented by any group. It is right on Lake Marin, but the lake is really low because that area is experiencing a terrible drought. The buildings are all log with lots of wood both inside and out. We were in one that had a bedroom, kitchen and living room area—it was really neat.
I learned what tremendous fans the football teams in the south have—some woman came to the retreat with her Auburn crocks, shirt, pants, earrings, and jacket on. They had a game on the TV in the room next door, and every so often, someone would go to catch the score and report back to the group. As we were going home, traffic from the ‘Bama’ game was really thick—mostly going toward us.We checked back into the hotel late Saturday evening and had Sunday to relax. Then headed home on Monday—thankfully, there were no delays. I did complain to the airline and Bob and I each received $200 vouchers for our next flight—that should almost cover what it took for the extra driving we had to do.
# posted by bjm @ 4:32 PM 
