Holy Toledo!

Ohio and Michigan fought over the Glass City in the 1830s. Ohio "won" when Congress decided the Buckeye state would keep Toledo and Michigan would receive the Upper Peninsula.

So when Jessica and Brian left Port Columbus (and Ohio) for the Detroit airport (and Michigan), how did they end up in Toledo?

"Sorry folks the weather suddenly got bad" as we were circling Detroit over and over and over again, the pilot announced when he told Jessica, Brian, and the other passengers of their new destination. "We'll talk to you again upon landing."

He sure did talk to us again when he landed. The pilot also got his boss, and his boss's boss on the radio. Turns out, the pilot had just finished a 16-hour day, and he really wanted to get to his hotel room in the Detroit metropolitan area. Our airline did not normally run flights through the Toledo airport so we didn't even get to pull up to a gate. The pilot was not in a mood to sit on the tarmac in Toledo. (Neither were his passengers.) Before we had much of a chance to complain, however, the pilot had radioed half of the Northwest supervisors asking for the chance to take off again.

The pilot eventually summed everything up for us. Company policy (if not federal regulations) mandate that planes must have 2400 feet visibility to land. Detroit had suddenly been covered with fog, and we had only 1100 feet visibility. We made two landing attempts at Detroit before we were redirected to Toledo. The National Weather Service expected five hours of the dense fog, but after about 30 minutes in Toledo the fog had appeared to lift enough for flights to get in and out of Detroit.

"Let's just see how lucky we can get," the pilot said.

It took another hour for the airline to arrange to get us additional fuel and to get all the proper clearances to leave.

So, after a 90-minute wait sitting on the plane, Jessica and Brian's flight returned to the air and landed in Detroit at 11:05 p.m.

The pilot's response?

"We barely made it," he told the flight attendant.

Might want to keep those thoughts behind the sealed cockpit door next time. Now, to see about a new flight (the Dec. 26 flight to Scranton was cancelled). We also have to find a bed in a state that we'd rather not be in right now.

Who hurries to get to Michigan?

Time to go back to Pennsylvania. Jessica and Brian left St. Marys at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The flight was supposed to leave Port Columbus/CMH at 7:10 p.m. for Detroit. Jessica and Brian arrived at the airport and were checked in by 5 p.m.

The flight schedule showed a delay, with the flight now scheduled to leave at 7:59 p.m. Jessica and Brian sought out Brian's parents for one more meal and a few more memories of the trip. Finally, at about 7:30 they said their goodbyes and went through the security checkpoint.

They made the announcement at 7:45 p.m. The flight to Detroit/DTW would leave at 8:54 p.m. Jessica hurried to get to the front of the line, and she was able to get us bumped to another DTW-bound flight. (The departure of that flight was originally scheduled for 5 p.m.) The plane pulled away from the gate at 8:25. We landed in Toledo 70 minutes later.

If you drove here, you'd be home by now

DETROIT - The problems withour flight from DTW to Port Columbus really weren't (comparatively) that bad. In fact, they were rather routine. Jessica and Brian arrived at their gate (A21) and sat down. Brian went to McDonalds to scrounge for food; Jessica began chatting up our future traveling companions.

About 20 minutes before boarding, they finally announced that they didn't think we'd be flying from that gate. The plane arrived and its passengers disembarked looking frazzled and stressed. After a respectful delay, they announced that there were mechanical problems with that plane. They'd look for a new plane - and new gate - for the flight to CMH.

We were sent to gate A9 where we were told that Northwest had found a new plane for us. They even offered that the plane was in the air from Memphis. Brian called home quickly (his parents were picking us up for the two hour drive to St. Marys) and learned that his parents were arriving at CMH at that minute.

Jessica and Brian's plane finally arrived, and (with several other slight delays) we were finally airborn to Ohio. We were supposed to arrive at 10:48. We arrived a little after midnight. (Not bad, considering.)

By the time we had the luggage, left the parking garage line, and nearly sideswiped two deer near Wapakoneta, we arrived home at 3 a.m. It's normally about a 9 hour drive from Scranton to St.M. Driving - we would have arrived around midnight.

This entry written on Brian's cell phone in the Detroit airport on the return trip. More on that in parts 3 and 4 (and 5!)

Christmas Travels Part I: We Can't get out of Pennsylvania

Merry Christmas from Ohio,

Jessica and Brian are spending Christmas with Brian's parents in St. Marys. (It's Jessica's first Christmas-day visit with the Clarks, and Brian's first December 25 in Ohio since 2003.) The trip to get to the Buckeye State was full of set-backs (delays) but no lost luggage.

Several months ago, Jess and Brian decided to fly to avoid any nasty winter weather on Interstate 80. They arrived at AVP (Wilkes-Barre-Scranton "International" Airport) for their 4:10 flight. They found a check-in desk that was booking people on taxis to the airport in Binghamton, New York (70 minutes away) so they could make their connections in Detroit. The airline was so happy to learn we had a long layover in Detroit because it meant we'd make both flights. We checked our luggage and headed to the airport's bar and arcade to kill the next three hours.

While sipping drinks and swapping travel stories, we heard the airport's announcements to other holiday travelers:

• The U.S. Air flight from Philadelphia was in the air, then back in Philadelphia, then in the air, then at the gate. But the return flight was cancelled. Anyone with tickets to fly from Scranton to Philadelphia got to ride the bus (courtesy of the airline) at 5 p.m.
• The United flight from Scranton to Chicago was delayed because of fog. Then the story changed. The airplane was stuck in Akron, waiting to take off to fly to Chicago. From Chicago, the plane would fly to Scranton, where Pennsylvania passengers could board for their flight to Chicago.

We considered ourselves lucky when we went wheels up at 7 p.m.

Watch for Part II: Stuck in Michigan

Early Holiday Greetings

I would like to take the time to wish and early Merry Christmas to my friend Lucky. I know he can't wait until he is able to sit under the fake Christmas tree at the house of the parents of the nice lady who feeds me. I also know that he can't wait for the present his former owner, the sister of the nice lady who feeds me, is going to bring.

Merry Christmas, Lucky, and Happy Boxing Day.

Bundled Up

It's so cold outside and it keeps snowing/raining/sleeting that I hope that Santa Claus person is able to come. The nice lady who feeds me had a big project due the other day and I helped her out with it. I chewed on the book she needed - I thought my teeth made excellent bookmarkers.

So Cold

It's so cold outside, it may snow tomorrow night. I'm happy I have a warm place to stay because there are many dogs outside barking to get in. These days I'm most disturbed by Percy, a cat who looks like me and lives outside. Every afternoon he wakes me up and comes to the window that I sleep by and starts jumping up and down and wants me to come out and play. I want nothing to do with him. I don't like him and wish he would find a home so I could go back to my nap.

Game Day!!

Today's the day of the big game.

I've sat on the couch for most of the fall to watch football games with my owners. But I won't get to do that today.

The two of them woke up early today and began putting things into a suitcase. The man even asked me to turn on the computer and print directions somewhere! I agreed to do it once he fed me, and I figured that I could write on here if I was working on the computer.

I guess they're going somewhere. I don't know how I'll watch the game without them to turn on the television.

I hope they give me extra food and remember to come back for me.

Crazies

The nice lady who feeds me recently got married to the nice guy who's black pants I like to sit on. Now I'm crazy happy running around their place, running up and down steps and in and out of closets.