YUCK Yuck Yuck

S o I leave Florida right on time and without too much trouble. I did scramble for a ride to the airport last minute as one of my guys didn't get back in time. OH and the stupid airport forgot to mention that there was a weight limit on bags so after the guy tells me that 65lbs is too much (no comments from the peanut gallery) my friend rummaged through her truck to find me a duffle bag to balance things out a bit. Seems you can take TWO bags but not one heavy bad. WHATEVER!

So I'm getting on this plane and already made a few friends prior so thus far not a biggie. I take a seat at the wing where MnM said it would be the least jumpy and off we go. I tried to sleep but I was way too excited at this point. Finally at the halfway mark I ask the guy next to me for the time. He doesn't have a clue but asks the attendant and from there "David" and I became friends. It helped the time go by and relaxed me a bit. He is married and has kids and so we had a few things in common. (A bit of a jokester though as he added a few things to my fears each time the plane jumped.)

Okay we finally hit Albuquerque and he walks me to my next gate and we part. I jump on the phone to yap w/ my MnM while I spend 2 hours hanging out. Stop and play w/ a baby for a bit, bought my favorite Rum Lifesavers (I can never find those here) and waited to get on the plane. Finally it's boarding time and I decide I want to sit up close so when we land I can run off and into his arms. I sit in row 2 with a single little boy who has his head down. Seems harmless enough so why not. UNTIL they serve the peanuts. He's struggling with his bag so I offer to help and from there on I couldn't find a freakin' off button on this child. He's 8, he spent a few weeks in Lubbock w/ grandma, he has $15 left out of $90 and his mom will be so proud. He was going to see the Jonas Brothers concert the next day and today he's starting an ice skating camp. I can go on if you'd like... lots more to tell about little Jake, really.

So as little man and I are talking it dawns on me that we aren't heading to Ontario but instead Phoenix? WTF! Then the sky goes dark and we start bumping around. I hear the captain announce that he wants all his people sitting and buckled ASAP and just when I'm about to wet my freakin' pants the little monkey next to me throws his arms up into the air and yells "I love when roller coasters go upside down"!!

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

So we finally land and all the Phoenix people get off when the captain comes back on and lets us all know that the plane is unable to fly any farther due to mechanical issues (yeah no crap) and that we all need to haul booty to some other gate on the other side of hell to load on another plane. On your mark, get set, go!

I'm panting as I'm chasing this woman with hopes not to get lost. BTW her name ended up being Kim and we became ***** buddies real fast! So we get to the other gate and there's no plane. Finally some guy walks up and says the weather is so bad that no one can come in or out and that we may as well sit a while. GGRRR!!! Double GGRRR!!!

Wait Wait Wait Wait... hours go by and we still wait. Kim, Ryan (he was going to Salt Lake) and I yapped the entire time. We watch the rain fall, lightning strike and some dumb nut head driving a big employee bus take out a golf cart. (That was the highlight). Finally they announce for us to line up that we get to leave. We all stand and rush the gate waiting for the magic door to open when here comes little man with the great news. "Sorry folks but there is damage to this aircraft and it is unable to depart". AAUUGGHH!!

Someone announces snacks and drinks and feeling rather light headed we decide to head over. Grab a few OJ's and some snack bar thing and go to sit down when we see a large crowd fly by. I jumped in front of someone and asked if this was our flight and she said YES so away we went. We managed to get up to the front and yep, you guessed it, we had to wait. AND WAIT AND WAIT! FINALLY the guy says give me your name if you were a bumped passenger and I'll check you off. We file on and Kim is ahead of me but saves me a nice up front seat. Then the flight attendant gets on, after everyone is finally seated, and says "we do not have ice and it will take up to an hour to get some... who wants to wait"? Now this woman must have been feeling pretty bold 'cause there were more than a few ppl ready to unbuckle and tackle her down. I hear someone yell "screw the ice" and the plane begins to leave... until it suddenly gets a bit quitter. The pilot comes out and said there was luggage forgotten and in order to load it the engine on one side had to be shut off. OMG OMG OMG are we ever gonna leave!

FINANALLY he gets the okay and we start to go and just as I see plane after plane just lined up on the runway he says "Looks like it may take a while to get out of here". I'm not sure but it was about an hour before we left the ground. It was just a crazy, bumpy, wild ride. I kept looking at Kim asking if this was normal and she just shook her head with great big eyes. She flies all the time so that did NOT give me a warm and fuzzy. Eventually we hit the ground and with a big screech! I called MnM to tell him but he was already watching. See apparently they don't let anyone come to the airside to greet passengers unless you're a big, strong, and really angry Mountainman! He was the lone soul there and just for me. WHEW! What a flight... we didn't get back to the house until after 3am his time which meant I'd been up for about 24 hours.

Yeah it took a LOT to get back on another plane after this one.