A Mini "Great Race"

I got back from my trip to Montana this morning. I was supposed to come back last night but not before having a bit of adventure in the skies above Salt Lake City. From Missoula, the 2:30 PM flight was delayed later than my 4:50 flight, and the 8:30 flight was cancelled due to expected fog at Salt Lake City. But for some reason, my flight took off on time and without a hitch until it came to landing at SLC where we were to catch all of our connecting flights - Santa Barbara, Vegas, Boston, Calgary, San Francisco... I felt the landing gear prepare and then we ended up circling SLC airport for 20 minutes. Then the announcement came that we would need to divert to Twin Falls, Idaho due to heavy fog preventing us from landing, plus we needed to re-fuel. We sat in the plane for news that we could head back to SLC, but the announcement never came. So we de-planed, bombarded the tiny Twin Falls airport restaurant, picked up our luggage and tried to re-arrange our trips at the Delta counter diverting to Phoenix, Denver, anywhere that would get us closer to our destination.

After hours spent at this tiny airport, our small same plane was planning to try to land at SLC one more time and would come right back to Twin Falls if unsuccessful. So, John from Sacramento, me from San Francisco and 5 others hopped back on the plane, hoped for the best and took off once more. SLC was only half an hour away, but we could see the fog was like soup down below with the faint twinkling of city lights. The landing gear prepared once more, we slowly lowered down, leveled out, lowered down, I couldn't see a thing. Next thing I know, I see the lines of the tarmac and feel the thud of the ground - we made it! John and I whooped with the rest of the group - we made it! Ahh...we were halfway home at 11PM.

I checked into a local hotel, passed out for a few hours, then got up at 5:15AM to fight the airport check-in and security lines (all flights were cancelled yesterday and everyone was trying to catch an early flight) so I could get back to San Francisco. I was confirmed on an 11AM flight, but I put my name on a stand-by list at 9:25 AM. I hoped and prayed I'd get called because I had a haircut appointment I really needed to keep - ha!, plus I really just wanted to come home, plus I didn't get up at 5AM for nothing. The plane seemed to fill quickly as passengers trickled onboard, then a long pause til the roll of the stand-by list. I was first! - YIPEE! "I get to go HOME??!!" I dramatically and desperately asked the ticket lady. She smiled Yes! and I glowed, so relieved, so happy. I beamed to the lady who was sitting next to me on the plane, poor woman, but such a nice Morman lady who was so genuinely happy for me. I was on my way home. Home.
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A shout-out to Montanayan folks - the most friendly, down-to-earth people I've met in a long, long time! Thank you for a taste of your lives.