It seemed like holiday travel this year was just a comedy of errors. Which reminded me a bit too much of the movie “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” with family members including myself having a bit of a time trying to settle in for the Holiday.
Monday, December 19:
It was 3 kids coming home for Christmas, plus one spouse and a dog. Except, a couple of days ago, that was changed to two kids and a dog, with the third who will linger a while after the holidays while she returns to Law School after the first of the year. No problem. Always happy to support my kids’ education.
So now, for those who would be present for Christmas, the kids were going to commute together from the DC area on the 21st or 22nd with my wife driving cross country.
But a wrench was thrown into the works. A Christmas storm started to loom. My son couldn’t leave his posting at the Navy for the holidays until his ship came into port after being dumped ashore the previous week due to a bout of tonsilitis. And those driving needed to get a move-on to beat the storm. So mom, daughter and dog took off at a breakneck pace across the country to beat the storm, leaving me to figure out the travel arrangements for my son, while he waited for his boat.
Tuesday, December 20:
Mom, daughter and dog take off at 5am Eastern time and start pushing hard to get back home. They would not be caught in the storm.
With travel arrangements made.. My son was set to get home on Thursday at around noon. No problem, right? ..Wait, plane tickets are how much when you buy them the day before you need to travel at Christmas? But flight UA 1678 on United Airlines was procured.
For the travelers by car, everything seemed to be going smoothly.. Weather on the drive was great for the travelers. Dog was a great passenger. They turned it around quickly at gas stops grabbing a bite at gas stations along the way and made it as far as Waterloo, Iowa the first night.
If it hadn’t have been so late, they might have pushed the rest of the way. But, why risk fatigue, right?
Wednesday, December 21:
5:09 AM Message from daughter: Mom not feeling good. We just got started. What’s going on? Probably food poisoning. Uh oh.
Snow is starting to blow just in time for the travelers to pick up a car at the Sioux Falls airport, but roads are good.
Mom, kid & dog got home, and literally slept for 18 hours. Mom vows not to eat gas station food while traveling ever again. And tomorrow was my turn for getting a kid home.
Thursday, December 22:
Son’s flight as scheduled was to land at 10 am, but delays at the Chicago Airport pushed it back to 11am. So, dad hops in the truck and takes off at 10:30 to meet him. A little snowy, and a little breezy, so I better grab my wife’s phone charger. And off I went down I-29. And 30 minutes later I was kind of regretting that decision as the snow whipped up, and the wind whipped up, and it became a complete white out.
Thankfully I got behind a semi-driver who knew how to drive on this stuff, as his rig remained visible the whole way, when the people punched up doing 35-40 weren’t visible through the white out. This was not a place I wanted to be, and I had the feeling that my son and I might be stranded in Sioux Falls for a while.
Around the time I hit the Baltic exit as I continued South on I-29, I got a call.. Dad, I’m back in Chicago. The plane turned around and brought us all back because of weather conditions. Uh oh.. “Siri, call Hilton Garden Inn Downtown“. If I was going to be stuck in Sioux Falls, I was at least going to be stuck in a place with a decent restaurant.
The only hiccup is that I came down in 3-layers of clothes for the weather. And a phone. And that was about it. After surviving the trip to Sioux Falls, I now had to survive Sioux Falls WalMart at Christmas time. Quickly grabbing a change in shorts, some pajamas, a toothbrush and toothpaste, socks, and a decent looking jacket/pullover I could wear at the restaurant, I made my way to the checkout. It’s South Dakota in winter, so I’m sure no one will pay me much mind with snowmobile boots.
I made it to the hotel to check-in as the storm continued to pick up, and walked into the front desk with three Walmart bags as my luggage, and went to my room until dinner. About that time, I noticed that when I went to put it on, while the hanger of the pull-over I bought said it was a 2x, the tag said Medium… and in no way, shape or form was going to fit. Leaving me to dress for dinner with my pick of two of the three layers I was wearing.
My son managed to find a room across from the Chicago airport, so we hunkered down in our separate locations to wait out the storm for the night, and he received notice that his delayed flight would now take off in the early evening.
Friday, December 23:
I had a bad feeling about today. Looking out my hotel window, that storm didn’t look like it was going to let up. Road reports were equally as poor as the night before. With my son coming in the early evening, just to be sure I had lodging, I got another night of the room. Even if he did get in, I didn’t think we’d be going anywhere.
I ventured out long enough to hit Barnes & Noble for a last minute gift for my daughter that my wife wanted me to grab. And I stopped off for a haircut at “Great Clips.”
“Same as last time?” Sure. Where after they got started, I noticed that my last haircut at that location must have been in the heat of the summer a couple of years ago, as they proceeded to literally shave my head. Okay.. I definitely got a haircut.
Reported back to my son that it looked like the Sioux Falls airport was reopening at 6pm, and all reports were looking good until they weren’t. About an hour after his flight was supposed to depart, he received notice that his estimated departure would be 9 hours and 47 minutes late. It was a little late for him to find a hotel, and the Chicago airport hotel rooms were running at $400 a night, because they could. So, he opted for a quiet space on the floor to wait out the storm and delays. Someone was nice enough to pay for his dinner and a beer because he’s in the Navy. A nice gesture for a service member stuck in the Chicago airport.
While he did that, I chose 2 of my 3 layers to go to dinner in, shaved head and all, and later went back to my room to wait out another night.
Christmas Eve, December 24:
I was up at 5am, checking road conditions, which looked more promising than they did the prior night. It was supposed to be nicer today, and only at -1.. when your past few days were -15 and -20 at times, you’re glad to see a balmy -1.
At 7:55 my son sent me a text noting that his plane had arrived at the gate. And at 8:55 it was almost boarding time, but he didn’t want to say anything for fear that he might jinx it, because the pilot had arrived. But.. where were the flight attendants? And then it was announced that they would have another announcement at 9:30. My son was ready to offer himself as a flight attendant at the time, if it would help an airbus full of weary and displaced travelers to get home. Then the next update was at 10AM.
Shortly thereafter, they let the travelers know that a flight crew was on it’s way, and they would be taking off at 12:15.
Finally flying in around 1:30 or so, my son arrived a little more than 2 days later than expected, but thankfully we had clear roads home.
I did notice that a lot of the traffic coming out of the airport and heading north on I-29 might have exceeded the speed limit, as I’m sure like me, there were plenty who just wanted to get home. Pulling on at 2:30 – 3ish in Brookings, everyone was excited to see my son, especially the family dogs who hadn’t seen him in a years’ time.
From there, we thankfully moved into a state of mundane Christmas bliss. And my youngest picked up a nice pull over which didn’t do me much good until I was able to re-gift it.
No more planes or automobiles for at least a few days, until they start on the journey home. And I pick up another child lodging for a while.
Enjoy the rest of the year, as we move towards 2023!
Happy to hear all are well!
We’re never done parenting. Never.