Background…
In mid January, Leah – the youngest
child - was invited to apply for a job with her current company ACC (American
Campus Communities) in Tucson, Arizona; although initially exciting, after a
couple of conversations with the hiring manager, Leah decided to graciously
decline the invitation; it was not a good fit for her. Jan and I were somehow
relieved because, even though we raised our girls to be confident and seize
opportunities (“we gave them wings so
they could fly…”), we thought Tucson was very, very far; in other words, we
dodged the bullet… One week after that, Leah was invited to apply for another
job in Arizona, this time as the Assistant General Manager for one of the two properties ACC had in Flagstaff. After several conversations and then
interviews with the hiring manager, and others in the chain of command, Leah
was offered the job and she accepted. She had made known to them that she was
the maid of honor in a wedding in Gainesville on Saturday, February 22. So,
even though they would have her in their payroll since Monday Feb 17th,
they asked Leah when she could be at work; she candidly responded: the 24th!
It was some hours later, after she spoke to Jan and me, that she realized she
would have only 30 hours between the wedding and the time she would have to
show up for work, but it would take, minimally, 31 hours driving nonstop for
her to get there. Asking for an extension was not something she wanted to do;
so, after some thinking and considering of options, we decided that Leah would
fly from Orlando to Flagstaff on Sunday, February 23rd, in the
morning, make it there middle of the day with enough time to regroup and make
it to work, as expected, on Monday morning, February 24th, Alex’s
birthday! The rest of the plans called for me to fly to Florida, finish packing
Leah’s stuff, load the car, drive her to the airport early on Sunday - her
flight to Flagstaff was at 7:10 AM - and then drive to Tennessee, pick Jan up
and continue driving to Flagstaff with Leah’s car.
Alex jumped in the game and went
to Gainesville in early February to help Leah with the
packing/trashing/donating selection process. She also proposed that, instead of
me taking Leah to the airport on Sunday morning, she would drive from Atlanta
to Gainesville and meet me there on the night of Friday the 21st of
February; we would ‘finish’ Leah’s car on Saturday morning and I would drive
home to Tennessee during the day with enough time to rest and then continue on
to Arizona… We all agreed on this plan but, to complicate matters, the previous
weekend (on Feb 15th) Leah got the flu, a strain of Influenza common
in the Orlando area, where the Bachelorette party took place on the weekend. She could go to work on Monday, and she could not get out of bed for the
following three days, sending all her plans for last minute packing and
organizing her move, down the drain…
Friday, February 21, 2014
So, as planned I am flying down
to Sanford, FL today… Leah will pick me up and Alex will join us later in the
evening… Looking forward to seeing my babies… Well, this execution is not
coming out quite as planned… The original schedule was for my Allegiant Air flight
to leave at 2:30 PM from Chattanooga to Sanford, FL (a suburb of Orlando),
arriving at about 4 PM , and for Leah to pick me up. Jan and I left the house
at about 10:45 AM, to make it to the airport at about 1 PM. Jan dropped me off
and went back home… At about 1:30 PM they announced that the plane, coming from
Sanford, was late by about two hours due to bad weather; the new departure time
was 4:30 PM; I duly notified Jan and Leah (Leah was still not really up for the
drive so she was going to have a friend drive and Leah would pay for the gas…).
The plane made it to Chattanooga at about 4 and the gate agent announced the plane was
being cleaned and reconditioned and to expect boarding at about 4:30. And just
at about 4:30 another announcement came saying that ‘due to the crew having
exceeded their air time, the flight was being postponed until the next day at 8
AM’. No other crew was available to fly the plane – no other recourse; too bad,
so sad! There were lots of people who were going to Florida to go to the
Daytona 500 race, both Saturday and Sunday programs… The counter agent commented that another plane would be there between 6:30 and 7 AM the next morning to
ensure timely departure. Jan picked me back up at the Chattanooga airport and we took a
ride on 111 for the fourth time that day… Meanwhile, Alex had started driving
from Atlanta to Gainesville to help Leah with last minute packing and to
eventually drive her to the airport on Sunday morning…
Saturday, February 22, 2014
I wanted to be at the airport at
6:30 AM; that meant Jan and I getting up 3:45 and leaving the house at 4:15,
which we did and made it back to the Chattanooga airport at 6:30 AM; this time Jan came with me to ensure that, if there were any other delays or cancellations she
would not have to drive back to get me. Everything was in order and on-time so,
I went through security and Jan left. The flight was scheduled to leave at 8
AM; however, the crew (must have had a great time the previous evening) did not
show up until – precisely - 8 AM! Started boarding at 8:30; boarded the plane
and, as we seem to be sitting there for a long time, along came the pilot’s
voice over the PA system apologizing for the delays and bearing more bad news:
the hydraulic system was producing abnormal readings and we would have to
deplane for him to have the plane checked; and so we did. A mechanic showed up
30 minutes after that and found a leak; they shared with us that it would take
about 90 minutes for the work to be completed and that it was only after the subsequent
test that they would know if the fix had worked; meanwhile they were contacting
partners about availability of another plane to make the trip. So, if the fix
worked we would be looking at a 1:30 PM flight; or, if it did not work and a
new plane had to come in, we would be looking at a 3 PM flight; if neither of
those options worked, all bets were off … (That third option would have meant
that Jan would come to pick me up and, instead of going back home, we would
have kept on going to Gainesville…!) So, I was trying to keep all affected
parties – Jan and Leah/Alex- updated and called Jan to update her on every new
item of information I got, and asked her to update Alex (my phone was not too
high on charge); after the second update Jan requested I update Alex myself – I
guess she felt that was the best course of action for her; oh well… Eventually
the leak was fixed and we left Chattanooga at about 1:45 PM, over 23 hours after
the original departure time! There were lots of people who had missed already
the Saturday race (at a clip of $350 per person, non-refundable) and most of
them were very upset; some other folks were meeting their entire family in
Disney World and they – the ones in Chattanooga still – were holding everybody’s
tickets… Yet another person was collecting names to give them to a lawyer to
pursue further action against Allegiant… We finally made to Sanford; Alex
picked me up at the Sanford airport and we made it Gainesville at about 5 PM.
Leah had left the house at about 8:30 AM; her day was to be consumed by the
preparations for the wedding she was the maid-of-honor in, and then the wedding
itself… Alex and I finished packing a few last-minute items and loading and
securing the top cargo pouch (Alex was a true blessing! I praised her about
being a very hard-working woman and she responded “Only if and when I have to,
Daddy!” That’s my Alex!). I left the 2nd Avenue compound at about
6:15 and, after stops for gas and food, I left Gainesville at about 6:30 PM;
made it home at about 1 AM. My plan was to get enough rest and to hit the road
as early as possible…
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Jan and I left the house at about
9:30 AM after a shower, a cup of coffee, a walk with the pups, and rearranging
the load in Leah’s car a bit to fit our luggage and provisions for the road…
Took TN-111 North and, after filling up in Sparta, hit I-40 in Cookeville and headed West;
passed Nashville and then Memphis four hours later (Tennessee is a very wide
state). Went over the Mississippi river into Arkansas (the weather had changed
from sunny to cloudy) and eventually passed through Little Rock and Fort Smith.
Got into Oklahoma as it was getting dark and then through Oklahoma City at
night, and finally hit Clinton, OK - where we had reservations at a Days Inn
(the worst ever!) - at about 10 PM; in bed by 11. Grateful that the weather
held well for the most part…
Monday, February 24, 2014
Alex’s 24th
Birthday!
After a less that restful night,
got up at about 6 AM and called Alex for her birthday; left Clinton, OK at
about 7 AM after gassing up and continued headed West on I-40; Leah’s car is
behaving well and, since its gas gauge is broken, we are measuring the
availability of gas based on miles driven (need to refill every 300 miles or so
and we have been very consistent about it…) After we entered Texas, the roads
became more and more desolate; exits and gas stations became more scarce than
before… Nice land with lots of wind powered turbines generating lots of
electricity – the ‘windmill’ farms extended for tens of miles… After passing
Amarillo, we left Texas and entered New Mexico; very strong side winds and even
stronger head winds at times (once I could not get the car to accelerate beyond
75 MPH…) Right after passing Albuquerque, NM and when the mileage still read
230, the alarm for ‘Low Gas’ started to ring; it was completely unexpected and
became an ‘oh shit’ moment – as it turned out, the head wind made us lose more
than 20% effectiveness on the gas usage; we were able to find a gas station
near a Casino on the road and, literally, saved the day! The terrain gradually
changed from the grassy plains from Oklahoma and Texas to the more rugged and
rocky Southwestern one… Got into Arizona and, after climbing to 7,000 in
elevation made it to Flagstaff at about 6 PM under the duress of a setting sun
shining right in front of us at eye-sight level! Leah had directed us to a
parking lot in front of a Starbucks store which is right under her building -
The Suites - and she met us there, inside the Northern Arizona University (NAU)
campus… It was good to see that baby! Made two or three trips unloading the car
(with the help of an industrial-strength dolly Leah had borrowed from the
maintenance office). Went to a nearby Wal-Mart for some basic supplies and
crashed in Leah’s place; she was fading rapidly since she was still very weak
from her bout with Influenza the week before…
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Leah’s apartment is simply great;
it is an ‘efficiency’ apartment with a sleeping area, a sitting area, an ample
full bathroom, two bathroom sinks, two mini-refrigerators, and a microwave oven;
a full kitchen is available to the whole floor down the hall… After seeing Leah
off to work (she left with us her car and house keys along with a fob for
access to some doors and elevator), Jan and I had some coffee, rearranged
completely Leah’s furniture to make more effective use of the space (and we did
a great job, if I may say so myself!) and got ready to go out; Leah called to
ask if we wanted to tour her work place – The Town-homes at Hilltop @ 1500 S.
San Francisco Street - which is about a 7 minute walk from her apartment, still
inside the NAU campus, and so we did… What a place! The lobby, game room,
meeting rooms and gym are first class; Leah’s office is about 14 x 14, nicely
appointed; Rob, her boss, is quite young, well spoken, and rather polished;
and then we toured their model; their ‘product’ is unbelievable: they offer
townhouses of 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms (two of the bedrooms share one
bathroom) with all conceivable niceties and very attractive…!
Later, we went to several stores
(Target, BB&B, Wal-Mart) and got the materials to build a pantry for Leah
and ‘hide’ it behind some curtains… and so we did! Later on, for dinner, Jan
made an 8-can taco soup in the Crock-pot we just bought for Leah and (a) it came
out great, and (b) Leah had a good amount of leftovers for later days…
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
We modified the ‘pantry’ to make
it more effective and then put together an area for her ‘kitchen’ work using a
couple of Kitchen Island pieces… In it we put all her kitchen appliances
(toaster oven, electrical skillet, rice maker, crock pot, George Foreman
grill), utensils, bowls and a lamp. She can now do 100% of her cooking, if she
wishes to, in her apartment without having to go to the kitchen… Bought all the
material we needed to build her a stand for her flat screen TV (her old
building in Florida was having all their TVs replaced with newer ones and they
were giving away the ‘old’ ones, less than three years old in perfect
condition, but no remote control or stands)… That night we met with Rob (Leah’s boss), his girlfriend and Sara, another coworker, for dinner at La
Fonda, Mexican restaurant. Nice time!
Thursday, February 27, 2014
After our daily coffee, I built a
sturdy and safe stand for Leah’s big screen TV; it ended up being quite
adequate and worked very well; Jan helped me get it to where it needed to be
(high above the twin refrigerators) and it looked great. Later that day, at
about 2 PM a dear old friend, Chris
Redrup, drove up from Phoenix to visit with us (he also drove up from Phoenix
the previous Sunday to meet Leah at the Flagstaff airport, to welcome her to
Arizona, to driver her to her place and to a grocery store, and to ensure her
general well-being… For all that, I am eternally grateful!) After catching up
over some Stella Artois while waiting for Leah to get off work, we all went for
dinner at a Mexican restaurant, ‘Salsa Brava’, featured by Guy Fieri in his
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives program. It
was great to see ‘Crittopher’ again and he promised we would come to Tennessee to
visit again one of these days!
Friday, February 28, 2014
Today, Jan and I decided to take
the day off and play hooky... We went to Sedona; a once sleepy town, it eventually
became an artists’ retreat and now has become a veritable tourist trap. Still
pretty and with beautiful offerings, all entirely overpriced! The drive from
Flagstaff is simply spectacular and there are many Navajo artisans works
offerings along the way…
During the day, the weather was
fair; a little chilly and cloudy but not much else; it deteriorated later… We
picked Leah up from work, went out shopping for more business clothes, and then
ordered pizza from Papa John’s!
Saturday, March 01, 2014
Since we had an 8AM flight from
Flagstaff to Phoenix, we got up at 5:15 AM, left Leah’s place at 5:45 and were
at the airport at 5:55 AM; the airport was closed and the weather was foul.
While waiting in Leah’s car for the airport doors to be opened by somebody, she
checked from her phone to ensure our flight was still on-time and we found out
the flight had been cancelled! Jan got on the phone with US Airways Customer
Service and, after 15 minutes of non-answer (on hold plus trying to communicate
with the rep) we decided to ask Leah to drive us to Phoenix… Our original itinerary
was Flagstaff->Phoenix->Los Angeles->Nashville; so, since we were
still early, 6:15 AM, we could be at Sky Harbor by 8:15 AM and still be able to
resume our itinerary since that leg of our trip was scheduled to leave PHX for
LAX at 10:15 AM. So Leah was a champ and, even though she had been looking
forward to go back to her place and continue sleeping, she cheerfully drove us
to Phoenix and dropped us off (we asked her not to park since, for sure, we
were not going back with her to Flagstaff under any circumstances; if worse
came to worst, I would rent a car in Phoenix and return it in Nashville…). So,
after standing in a queue to check in into US Airways for about 30 minutes, we
finally got to talk to an agent who, after hearing of our cancelled flight
situation, directed us to a ticket counter with a real person behind it. After
double checking and verifying everything, she let us know that, even though it
was an US Airways flight, it was operated by American Eagle so we needed to go
check in at the American Airlines counter; with some disappointment, we grabbed
our bags and graciously went on as instructed. At the American Airlines area,
they directed us to the self-checking kiosk even after I explained we were
trying to catch a flight in the middle of our itinerary (first leg cancelled);
as expected, the kiosk response was ‘CONTACT AN AGENT’ so they directed us to
the ticket counter. Darla, nice lady, started to check us in and, after a few
minutes stopped and let us know that, due to the bad weather in LA, US Airways
had already re-booked us on a flight to Dallas, and that we needed to go back
to them; after we, politely yet clearly, expressed to Darla our reluctance to
get on that queue again, she understood and asked us to stay where we were while she went to do whatever needed to be
done (Side note: American Airlines and
US Airways are merging – approved by the FAA and all other pertinent regulatory
bodies; however, as one of the ladies put it ‘we are living together but we’re
not married yet’; in other words, processes, procedures, systems are still
separate). Darla worked diligently, by herself and with other agents, to solve
our issue (the problem was caused by the difficulties to modify our PNR after
one leg had been flown; in our case, the leg had not been flown, it had been
cancelled but the system did not seem to process the difference properly…)
Eventually, and after over one hour, she came through for us: we were booked on
a flight from Phoenix to Dallas at 12:40 PM (with priority boarding) and then
from Dallas to Nashville at 6:40 PM (in First Class!). The rest of the day, did
not come without anxiety because both flight were delayed (and one never knows,
based on my experience, when a delay will lead to a cancellation!)
Unfortunately, Rick and Shawn Perez had offered, and insisted on, picking us up
at the Nashville airport and I had to let them know that we had screwed up
their evening in Nashville because, instead of arriving at 5:20 PM as the original
scheduled said, we were coming in now at 8:50PM! We landed at 9:20 PM; picked
up our luggage and Rick got us home right before midnight… Our pups were elated
to see us and the greeting and welcoming went on for several minutes (McGee had
taken good care of them while we were away, and she also took good care of us
by making us a chicken pot pie) … Jan texted Alex and Leah to let them know we
had finally made it home… All is well!
