(no subject)
Our flight to Seattle was canceled. The flight before it was canceled because it was too snowy in Boise and visibility was bad, which means they have to space flights out more, which means that smaller planes get canceled to make way for bigger planes. Then the sky cleared, and I thought we were okay, but we got canceled anyway due to Seattle weather.
In the accommodation line, I asked for a refund on our tickets, and we went downstairs and rented the only car available to go one-way to Seattle from the Boise airport. At about 5 PM, we were on our way out.
The roads were a little slick, and we saw several cars on the side of the road, but things went great until about 60 miles later when we hit the Oregon border. Then the roads turned to packed icy snow, and we pulled off at a truck stop to reevaluate.
What we learned from about 8 truckers inside was that the interstate was closed from Portland to the Dalles (and had been closed in NE Oregon earlier in the day), and chains were required for all vehicles in Portland. We already knew Snoqualmie was closed. The gorge was only open during daylight hours. According to the police, there were over a thousand trucks stranded on the side of the road, and all the rest stops and truck stops were full.
We still tried. We stopped in Ontario to look for chains, but there was nothing available that fit our car, every place was cleaned out. I was shaky and scared and miserable. At some point, we decided what we were trying to do was not worth our lives in case we crashed or got hit or got stranded in the middle of nowhere, so we turned back. We got a refund on the hotel room we'd gotten, and the rental car place refunded more than half our money, which was nice of them.
So, I rebooked our tickets. The best I could do was Christmas Eve at 9:55 AM. Then I stewed all day today. I finally got ahold of a person at the airline on the phone today to see if cancellations had opened up any seats today. He said that if we were ready to leave now, there was a flight leaving for Seattle at 5:25 tonight. We scrambled to get our stuff together and got to the airport immediately.
And here we are. Our flight has been delayed twice now, to 7:35 PM. We apparently have a plane and a crew, but there's a mechanical issue holding us up. I have no idea if we'll make it home or not.
Most of all, I'm trying not to control things and let things happen as they happen. Desire is the enemy of happiness, right?
In the accommodation line, I asked for a refund on our tickets, and we went downstairs and rented the only car available to go one-way to Seattle from the Boise airport. At about 5 PM, we were on our way out.
The roads were a little slick, and we saw several cars on the side of the road, but things went great until about 60 miles later when we hit the Oregon border. Then the roads turned to packed icy snow, and we pulled off at a truck stop to reevaluate.
What we learned from about 8 truckers inside was that the interstate was closed from Portland to the Dalles (and had been closed in NE Oregon earlier in the day), and chains were required for all vehicles in Portland. We already knew Snoqualmie was closed. The gorge was only open during daylight hours. According to the police, there were over a thousand trucks stranded on the side of the road, and all the rest stops and truck stops were full.
We still tried. We stopped in Ontario to look for chains, but there was nothing available that fit our car, every place was cleaned out. I was shaky and scared and miserable. At some point, we decided what we were trying to do was not worth our lives in case we crashed or got hit or got stranded in the middle of nowhere, so we turned back. We got a refund on the hotel room we'd gotten, and the rental car place refunded more than half our money, which was nice of them.
So, I rebooked our tickets. The best I could do was Christmas Eve at 9:55 AM. Then I stewed all day today. I finally got ahold of a person at the airline on the phone today to see if cancellations had opened up any seats today. He said that if we were ready to leave now, there was a flight leaving for Seattle at 5:25 tonight. We scrambled to get our stuff together and got to the airport immediately.
And here we are. Our flight has been delayed twice now, to 7:35 PM. We apparently have a plane and a crew, but there's a mechanical issue holding us up. I have no idea if we'll make it home or not.
Most of all, I'm trying not to control things and let things happen as they happen. Desire is the enemy of happiness, right?