I am awake.

July 23, 2001

So I'll give you the lowdown on yesterday. Kara and I got to the plane without any problems. We were there early and the plane left on time, no problems. We fly seven and a half hours without any problems. We get above Lake Michigan, which I know because I am watching the big screen that shows where we are on the planet and all that other information, and I notice we start to turn around. "Hmm." That is never a good thing. And to confirm my fears the captain gets on and says "Yeah, there seems to be some bad storms in Chicago so we'll have to circle here for about 15 minutes until we can get a runway." Okay, that sounds reasonable; do what you gotta do pilot man. Twenty minutes pass and I notice that we're still circling. As we're circling I notice that as we're heading on the west leg, away from Chicago, we start angling southeast. "Hmm." "Yeah, this is your captain. Unfortunately we don't have enough fuel to continue holding so we'll have to divert to Indianapolis for fuel." Click. There was a collective sigh. So we diverted and landed. Now if we had just refueled and left, it would have been fine. But, we had to wait for a customs agent to oversee the refueling. I mean, there are always tons of illegal aliens climbing out of the fuel tanks so I completely understand. It took two and a half hours for this guy to come. It was hellish especially because we couldn't get off the plane. After waiting (and waiting) we arrived in Chicago around 9:15, five hours late. It was not a pleasant end to the trip, but I did make it home.

So that's the story and I'm stickin' to it.

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