So, you're probably wondering what's up with the blog. Why aren't there any posts? I thought they were going to Colorado Thursday? What has been said or done? Where are these guys?!!
It's a dramatic story that begins Wednesday afternoon. Our original travel plans had us heading out to Denver bright and early Thursday morning. That was before the perfect storm rolled through the southeast. Wednesday afternoon, it started snowing. And it snowed. And then it sleeted. And then it snowed. All the way until Thursday afternoon around 3pm. As I'm sure you're guessing, this impacted our travel plans. By Wednesday morning, our original flight out of Greensboro was cancelled. Luckily, we had some inside connections in reservations, and we were automatically rebooked for Friday morning. Great, right? Well, yes and no. Let me go on. Our rebooked flights had us split into two groups - one of five going through Chicago and the other of six going through Washington (Dulles). Washington had also been hit by the inconvenient storm, so we had some concern that the six going there might be delayed or worse, but we were ready to just cross our fingers and go with it. Pat, who was coming from Charleston, had also been affected by the weather, but after some doing, we had him lined up to arrive in Denver about an hour after us.
We had a lot riding on this Friday morning departure, because we were told that if those flights were cancelled, the earliest we would be able to leave after that would be Sunday morning. That would completely nix any chance of playing in the tournament and make no sense for Jack, Erik, and Pat who were all coming back on Monday. Lots of prayers, chants, and good thoughts were sent out Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Thursday afternoon arrives, and though the main roads around the Piedmont Triad area were relatively clear, many of the back roads were still very treacherous. This lead Mac and I to decide that we would go ahead to Greensboro to stay with Chris Vrettacos, who lives 15-20 minutes from the airport. While on the way to the airport, the sun came out, the ice was melting, and things were feeling good.
Then Scottt called me.
Despite the weather looking like it was going to give us a break after all, Scott informed me that he had just received an email saying his flight Friday was cancelled, and he was rebooked for Saturday morning. It was like the air going out of our balloon of happiness. I checked on the status of the other flights when I reached Vrettacos' house, and sure enough, all of the guys on the Chicago bound flight were rebooked. Scott and Vrettacos had the better luck, being that they were going out on Saturday morning. Jack, Erik, and Mac were not headed out until Sunday afternoon now. Now, would you like to hear the absurdity of these new schedules? I thought you might. United had Scott and Vrettacos flying from Greensboro to Washington, then to Las Vegas, THEN to Denver, arriving around 6:30pm on Saturday, effectively negating any chance that they would play the tournament. Pretty silly, right? Wait...it gets better. The others were flying out on Sunday at 4:30, going through Chicago, BACK to Washington, THEN on to Denver, to arrive at 11:51pm. Yes, almost midnight. Then, they had those same guys scheduled to get back on the plane Monday morning at 11:30am to go back home. I'll let that sink in a while.
So where are we now? I'll try to condense all the contortions we've been through, but Jack, Erik, and Pat ended up bowing out altogether due to the ridiculous travel. The six going through Washington were still booked and were at the airport bright and early this morning. Mac, Scott, and Vrettacos also got to Greensboro this morning to see, if by any chance, they might get on our flight as a standby. As we were boarding in Greensboro, we were thrilled to learn that ALL of our standbys made it on the plane. We got in to Washington on time, and headed to the gate for our next leg. We were feeling pretty good when the rug got pulled out from under us again. The standby list for the Washington to Denver flight was around 60 people long.
Skipping ahead, I am now on the flight to Denver with five other guys, hoping that by the time we land in Colorado, I'll have a text from one of the other three that they have made it on another flight and are on their way out. The air travel gods giveth and they taketh away.
I'll update you with some more details once we get to Colorado, and I promise the posts will resume their normally humorous nature. In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of my kids and me in the snow right before I left the house yesterday.
No comments:
Post a Comment