Last Thursday Joe and I attempted to get home to Indianapolis because I had an appointment that Friday. We arrived at San Jose Airport, checked in and we were informed that our flight was delayed. Wouldn't be a problem normally but unfortunetly we had a connecting flight to catch in Arizona. If we were to miss the connecting flight, the next available flight out of Arizona wouldn't have been until the next day and I would have missed my appointment. So after a couple hours and the plane still not there we realized we would miss our connecting flight so we rebooked for the following Thursday with hopes that I could reschedule my appointment.
Turns out rescheduling my appointment was no problem. The next day, however, Joe's grandmother, who has been very sick, passed away. So Joe was able to rebook our flight for the next day (Saturday) after fighting tooth and nail to change our reservation without pay (he succeeded) We would spend the week in Indy and the wake/funeral is on Wed and Thursday.
Also, I had signed up for a photography class and ended up having to cancel the entire class due to me missing last Thursday and this Thurday (I thought I would only miss one class but two is a stretch because it's such a short course)
Saturday morning comes and we are getting ready to go when we make the decision that we need to take the RV to the airport because in Pacific Grove you need to move your vechicle every 72 hours (and if you remember from some posts ago, our RV was towed because we failed to do so) So we walk about a mile up the road to get the RV and it stalls and then eventually does not start (mind you, this happened while we were trying to do a u-turn in the middle of the road, therefore we were stuck in the middle of the road) We ran out of gas. Fortunately some nice men helped us push the RV back to the side of the road and we were given a ride to our house to fill up a small gas tank to bring back to the RV. After getting the RV fixed (with 20 mins to spare to shower/pack before we need to go to the airport) we head up to San Jose again. Once there the flight again is delayed. But this time it's ok if we miss our delayed flight because we are told our connecting flight is delayed as well and we would get to Indianapolis later on that night. Once boarded, they realize there is a mechanical problem with the flight and we await on the plane for 2 hours until they fix the cargo door that does not close. All the while we keep being told that our flight from Phoenix to Indianapolis is delayed as well. So after arriving in Phoenix our flight is no where to be found. Turns out that plane departed about 2 hours prior. So much for correct information. So they gave us a hotel voucher and upgraded tickets to first class to leave the next day at the same time (7:40pm) Usually this would have sucked but we have a friend who lives in Phoenix.
So we call our friend Kenny and we go out in town, get some drinks, watch a live band, get drunk and call it a night. Next day Kenny picked us up and we went to the Chicago Cubs Spring Training baseball game (most teams spring train in Arizona due to the weather)
After the game we explored some of Arizona (Scottsdale, downtown Phoenix), went to my favorite thrift chain shop Buffalo Exchange, got some food and then got to the airport to catch our flight. Cue in the dramatic music now.
We got on our flight, first class extravaganza with free drinks and took off. We were informed that the flight attendants would have to stay seated for the first hour due to turblance. So after some light to moderate turblance we were served dinner and allowed to move around. After about 45 minutes I look out the window and see lightning from far away. Panic starts to set in. Then the flight attendants are instructed to clean up the plane as quickly as possible and get seated because we are expecting more turblance. That turblance was a TORNADO! After about one hour of severe turblance we are told that the Indianapolis airport had a microblast and it caused their radar to shut down as well as the entire airport. Therefore we were told we would be flying into Columbus Ohio. It took us, no joke, one hour to decend through a tornado which would usually take 15 minutes. The entire sky was white (lightning) The entire airplane shook uncontrollably and I was literally crying my eyes out. Finally, we get on the ground. I tell Joe that no matter what they try to do (they wanted to let the storm pass and then take off again) we are getting off the plane and renting a car to drive back (about 3 hours away) and we would pick up our checked luggage in Indianapolis. Well I wasn't the only one. About 40 other people had the same feeling with fear in their eyes but relief to be off this crazy flight. We get off the flight and are given a hotel voucher. We get some shut eye and the next morning we find out that all rental cars are SOLD OUT due to everyone having the same idea (I guess there was other flights that had the same problem) We also find out that the flight that we got off of took off again to try to land in Indianapolis but had the same exact problem and turned right around and landed in Columbus Ohio again at 4am. WHY WOULD YOU GO THROUGH A TORNADO AGAIN? That storm was traveling at 75mph. The airline then shuttled busses for the passengers to Indianapolis at 6am. So after being stuck in Columbus Joe's Mom ended up picking us up in the afternoon and we got into Indianapolis at 8:30pm Monday night (we left California Sat). Tomorrow we are heading to the airport in search for our luggage. Wish us luck. Oh and it's a good possibility that I will be taking a train back home.
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