The beginning we didn't plan

Our journey began as many others, an early morning alarm sounding after we were already awake. The coffee pot was full, the dog was ready for her walk, our bags were packed. After our finals chores, off we headed to the New Orleans Airport. I was proudly holding our boarding passes for our American Airlines flights, having checked in online and printed them from the comfort of my easy chair. We needed only to arrive at curbside, unload and check our bags, park the Suburban, and head straight through security to our departure gate. Yet, that is not how it worked. The trip to New Orleans was uneventful, but as we pulled up to the American Airlines curbside check in counter, I sensed something amiss in the posture and attitude of the skycaps. They told us all AA FLIGHTS HAD BEEN CANCELLED because of weather in Dallas-Ft. Worth! I took a deep breath, and tipped them to help with the bags so Dee could get in the 300 person line at the AA counter while I dialed AA on my cellphone. The computer voice told me how glad it was we had chosen American, and please hold for 30 minutes. I held as I parked the truck in the long term lot, held as I walked through the garage, held as I crossed to the terminal, and held as I returned to curbside. I could see Dee in the line inside, a very, very long line. Finally, a cheery young woman named Wanda took my call. She confirmed all AA flights out of New Orleans through DFW were indeed cancelled for the day. Worse yet, they were completely full for Friday. Continental was not taking their tickets for rebooked flights. Maybe Delta. And so, we were rebooked on Delta for Friday at 7:20 am. It was now Thursday at 8:45 am, our travel day. I got Dee out of line, and we moved to the Delta counter. Dee sat in the lobby with the bags, and I waited in hopes of confirming our new Friday travel plans and actually getting our Delta tickets in my hands. The Delta lady, K. Singleton, could not have been nicer. First, she could not find us in her computer system. Then, she did. Then, she asked with raised eyebrows, if we wouldn’t prefer to travel to San Francisco TODAY? Well, gosh, that would be OK, seeing as here we are, bags all packed, car parked, hotels reserved, etc. So, Delta was ready when we were. We got out of NO at 12:45, went through (you guessed it, Atlanta) and arrived in SF at 8 pm, about 6 hours later than expected, but we got there. After picking up our too cool Mustang convertible, we ambled on down to Monterey, and got to our Inn at 11 pm Pacific time. Only a 19 ½ hour travel day from alarm clock to beddy-bye in the Old Monterey Inn. We count our blessings.