Dallas snow storm = travel nightmare

I made it home.
This morning at 12:45am.

It had started snowing around 4 am and snowed all day long.  There really wasn't any let up at all during the day and evening.  I left client office about 4pm.  It took my regular 15 minutes to get to DFW though the snow was sticking to the roads.

My flight was still scheduled to fly and only 30 minutes delayed which meant 6:20 departure.  There were tons of flights being canceled and the airport itself wasn't all that bad.  There were long lines at the ticket counters but gates were not too bad.

I got upgraded to first class again and boarded the plane about 6pm.  Four passengers got on before a maintenance man showed up.  The pilot told us there was a leak in the front galley.  It wasn't just a drip like he has seen before but a real leak.  The maintenance man, Rick, walked on the plane and said, "Holy, shit!" -- Okay, that's not a good sign.

The water was streaming out of the coffee maker nozzle apparently.  A call went to the tower to have a maintenance truck sent over. Meanwhile a box of paper towels showed up and blankets were being gathered.

The truck showed up but only stayed a few minutes.  He had to go to an international flight.  Rick kept working on the leak though a few times he said into his radio that there might need to be an equipment change...which means getting off and finding another plane.

Rick got the leak under control then went down to check the black boxes in the avionics room below the cockpit.  If water got in there, then the plane would definitely have to be taken out of service.  He came back to report that no water had gotten in the avionics room.  However, water had gotten into the cockpit.

Another truck was paged over.  A wet vac was attached to the truck and water sucked up.  More blankets more paper towels.  Success.

Boarding started again and everyone got on by 7:20pm.  The pilot then announced that we had to wait for de-icing.  The DFW de-icing station was close to our gate so we would hang out at the gate until called over.  He estimated 1/2 hour.  Well, an hour later we pulled away from the gate to get in line.  And another hour later, we pulled into de-icing station and got de-iced.  It was still snowing.

So it is now 9:20 and we are de-iced.  And we wait.  and wait.  and wait.  At 10:10 we leave de-icing to get to runway.  So while we were sitting in the de-icing area, no other plane can be de-iced?!  I didn't understand that theory.

We got to the runway and took off at 10:20pm. I noticed that nothing had been plowed!  I can only assume that DFW doesn't have any snow removal equipment.  The runway had snow on it!

The temperature never got below freezing so the snow was slushy but there was still quite a bit of it.

We landed at 12:15am to a clear Minnesota winter morning.  I got home about 12:45am totally worn out and not feeling so great.

Dryer sheets

So what is it with dryer sheets appearing out of no where.

This morning I was packing my clothes for return trip home.  I get a shirt out of the closet.  The shirt has been on a hanger.  I've already worn the shirt.  I had packed the same shirt for flight down.  I had already hung up the shirt at home when it was clean.

After ALL the above, I find a dryer sheet stuck to the shirt tail!  There has to be some scientific purpose or reason for dryer sheet adhesion.

Dallas snow

Every tv channel this morning only covered the weather and the traffic because of the snow.  Forecast is for 2 -5 inches.  Yes, inches.  You would have thought it was feet by the news coverage.

It isn't even below freezing so while it is sticking, it is mostly slush on the roads.  Dallas has so many elevated roadways though it does cause problems when it snows because they have a tendency to freeze up even when it is above 32 degrees.

But really?  Only weather and traffic!?  Hopefully there aren't any nuclear warheads headed for Texas because we would have no idea.

Snowy Departure -- Rainy Arrival

It was snowing at a pretty good rate when we boarded the plane in Minneapolis. But we pulled away from the gate on time and got de-iced. We only had to wait a while before heading to the runway and taking off.

Fairly smooth flight other than when I spilled craberry-apple juice because of my own clumsiness.

We landed a few minutes late to a rainy cold Dallas day. Yes, I'm back in Dallas....don't ask!

City Of Lakes Loppet

The quintessential Minneapolis event...the City Of Lakes Loppet.
1) outdoors
2) athletics and arts
3) winter -- snow and ice
4) Uptown location

Christine and I made it to one of the biking events this year. I thought the bike races were speed ovals but turns out they are agility races on a complicated course with turns.  The bike races are on the lagoon between Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun.  Was kind of interesting to watch but not so much.

The loppet gets people out and on the frozen lakes.  It is such a neat thing to have thousands of people out and about on the snow covered lakes.

The highlight for me is the luminary loppet on Saturday night.  There are thousands of candle luminaries made from frozen water.  The luminaries light the course for the cross-country skiers and those of us who just walk it.

There were fire artists.

There was a mystical forest lit with ice sculptures illuminated with candles.  There were candles in the trees. It was so beautiful and not really photographical unfortunately.

There was free hot chocolate...real hot chocolate not the instant stuff.  There were warming fires along the way.  There were snow sculptures.

Tide-to go is a no go

I went out to lunch yesterday to have pho.  Pho is a vietnamese soup with noodles and meat and sprouts which is very good and perfect on a cold, damp day like it was yesterday.  I use chop sticks to get the big parts and a spoon to get the juicy parts.

As would be expected with me, my shirt got splashed on.  And since this was a beef pho, the splashes were greasy.  I had plans to go see a play later in the evening and wouldn't have time to change shirts so I purchased a Tide To-Go instant stain remover stick at the Kroger...which for you Minnesotas I usually refer to as Bylerly's.

According to the directions, you just push the stick on the stain to release the cleaner then rub with the stick's tip.  Well, I did that....and did that...and did that.

My orange red grease specks turned into blue-green and orange-red big blobs.  The Tide To-Go removed a little bit of the stain but created a much bigger stain with its own chemicals.

I must say that I would not ever use this thing again.

Ford Flex

Finally a new vehicle to rent.  Back at National Car Rental where you get to pick your vehicle.  I wouldn't normally pick a large rental like the Ford Flex but I've been wanting to test one and figured I wasn't driving very much.

From the outside, it looks quite large and is shaped like a shoe box.  The floor is low though so easy to get in and out of.  The front seats sit on a pedestal so you ride high like a truck.  The pedestal kind of makes it cramped for your feet though.

The ride is very smooth and being up high and with plenty of glass, it is very easy to see around.  There is an available third row of seats.  They were in the seat position when I picked up the vehicle and I tried to lower them for my suitcase but couldn't figure it out.  There was a Ford Flex commercial on tv during the week and the lady had her hands full of groceries and flipped the seats with one hand.  I was able to after seeing the commercial.

There was one big problem.  The merge ramps to get on the highways around Texas are not very long and Texas drivers are not good mergers.  I floored the gas pedal to get me in the traffic but the Flex had a really hard time finding a gear and the vehicle actually started to swerve as the engine over-reved.  It was more than a little scary but I let up on the gas and it calmed itself.

I cannot recommend the Ford Flex given the above reaction.