I’m sitting here in a Greyhound bus depot, in Milwaukee, WI, killing three hours until I can pick up the bus and ride all night to Houghton, MI and hope I make it to the conference early tomorrow morning. I’ve been up since 5am. I’m sick. My day did not go as I planned. I’m not dealing with it very well…
It all started fine, I got to the airport, caught the 8am to Chicago on United, had a roomy seat thanks to my Elite Status, and grabbed a Quiznos breakfast sandwich while I made my way to terminal F. About 10 minutes before we were scheduled to board for the flight to Hancock, MI, the gate agent looks out the window and says, “not good…” referring to the roiling clouds forming a typical midwestern storm. About two minutes later my cell phone rings and says, my flight to Hancock has been cancelled. The gate agent told me to hike over to the United Service counter, and wait in line with 300+ people and basically good luck with that…
There are only two flights a day to Hancock, turns out they are all sold out for the next few days. United is the only airline who serves Hancock. I’m basically out of luck. I ran into Susan Bateman who owns Yarn Barn of Kansas. I’ve worked with Susan for many years on the forecast column I wrote for Handwoven Magazine. Always ready to jump on whatever I needed from her, I was thrilled to have someone to share my misery with. She and her assistant were also stranded, she went off to find a rental car, while I tried to retrieve my bags from Chicago O’Hare airport. What was I thinking…
There are no available rental cars, and of course I can’t get my bags back, I was assured the bags would eventually make their way to Hancock, with or without me, so Susan, bless her, looked into trains and buses.
The three of us ended up hiking it to the train from the airport, which is basically a glorified subway, for the hour trip to downtown Union Station in Chicago. From there we waited a couple of hours and boarded an Amtrak train to Milwaukee, WI, where I’m now sitting with what bags we had from our carry-on luggage. I have a three hour wait until we board the Greyhound bus for the all night drive to Hancock, MI, where we will arrive around 8:30 in the morning, Susan and her assistant Mary Margaret will have to immediately begin setting up their vendor booths, all four of them, with the 2000 pounds of merchandise they had freighted to the conference.
Once I arrive at the conference, I’ll have to cross my fingers and hope my bags arrive at Hancock airport in time to teach my class on Friday. My brand new piece is in there, I keep thinking how smart I was to have done some sort of photograph of it before I left. There is always the chance I will never see it again.
Since my computer equipment is with me, and the handouts were shipped ahead, I can technically teach without what’s in my bags, but I have to just hope it will all work out in the end.
These are the kinds of days that are really rare, but make me think that I’m getting too old for this kind of lifestyle. I am exhausted, sick, and miserable, and I just want to crawl in my own bed. This is what being an adult is, to carry on in spite of everything, to put on a good face and give your students what they paid for. I have to judge the fashion show tomorrow, and hope I’m forgiven if I am not at my complete best. One foot in front of the other, I can do this… And Bless You Susan, for being an angel in an otherwise perfectly ghastly day.
Stay tuned…
I’m so sorry I didn’t know about your travel problems or I could have driven you to MI. I don’t live far from O’Hare, and am always willing to help out a fellow fiber friend. The storms here last night were terrible with lots of trees down and power outages. The wind was quite frightening. I do hope you can get some rest on the bus. I know your students will appreciate your efforts, and you will be great.
This really sucks. I hope it will be better soon. The airline will NOT lose your bags.
Do you need a “Poor Baby”? You got it! Try to sleep and I hope you feel better in the morning.
Hey Daryl- it will work out and eventually you’ll have a great time teaching. just think what great storis you’ll have to blog about. i hope you feel better soon. please don’t say your getting to old. I am older then you are by a few and still loving it.
Thinking of you…..hope you get well soon..it will all work out!
KarinM.
1. hope you have made it to your destination safely and are even feeling a little better.
2. just think of the opportunities to see areas you never even cared existed but are glad they did and will never have to see again.
3. think how pleasant it was to encounter 2 friendly faces who were also traveling to the same place. (misery does love company)
4. plan on the trip just getting better from this moment on & that all will arrive safely just as you did.
Oh, Daryl, what a horrible ordeal and feeling as sick as I know you are. A few other comments come to mind about traveling like this to teach. There is no denying that having a teacher there for the important hands and eyes on needed for most of weaving is important. I also feel a great deal can be accomplished working with the right technology. I hate seeing people have these travel nightmares. The airline industry is so unforgiving. Their own liability and cramming as many people as possible into airlines is more important that helping people arrive at their… Read more »
Oh my what an adventure. Not good!!! I pray that your class will go well and you will feel better. Please take care of EWE
If you weren’t sick, I know you would be seeing this as an opportunity instead of a nightmare. Glad God brought you two Angels. The good news is that this Is rare and you are generally treated with respect and cared for all the way. By now, this is all just history. Have fun with your classes and enjoy the conference. Love you.
Your funny account of the experience made my day. Hope you’re resting right now and everything works out…
Hope you are feeling better soon! Having been in a class of yours at OHS seminar in Woodstock Ont. I can tell you that you are an amazing and interesting teacher. So much knowlege is in your head that you will be wonderful just for showing up and they will learn so many incredible things. Sorry about your ordeal but how wonderful you were able to find friends to share it with.
The worst days make the best anecdotes! When your sinuses are clear, head no longer aching etc etc then you’ll have a brilliant story for your students. Thank goodness for the humble bus and good friends to travel with. Feel better soon.
Sheesh..what a trip. Today and yesterday have been totally messed up here too. Maybe an evil star is in conjunction with a malevolent constellation and producing chaos in the cosmos. VERY bad storm last afternoon…spectacular swirling oily looking grey/green cloulds and pink lightning…a rather garish pallette and scarey…trees down…power off and on since. Ominous clouds and rain today. Hope the rest of your trip goes smoothly. .I am off to NJDMV with my 6 points of identification to renew my drivers lisence and get a photo that I am sure will make me look like an idiot out of Dostoyevsky.… Read more »
Wow what a roller coaster ride you are on, reminds me of the weaving process, up and down and just hang on till it’s done. I’m praying you’ll be re-united with your luggage and what a lovely gift to have a good companion for the journey. Be of good courage, you are such a trooper!
You could have had my seat on that flight Daryl. I did not make it into Chicago for my flight into Hancock because of that f-bomb storm and by the time they could get me there my plane for Hancock would have left. So, I am sitting here in Omaha, waiting to get out of here to night and will not get into Hancock until midnight tonight. If I think to much about the whole thing I cry. And I miss the speaker……….. pooooo pooooo pooooo tears see you in the morning
Wish I had a magic wand to make your nightmarish experience go away! But everything will be fine, you just have to believe. (Did our mothers not tell us that when we were children?) Here is a hug via e-mail! Enjoy the conference!
And days like this are why i finally had to get off the road after 10 years. I do hope it improves. I now teach almost exclusively via the web- it’s a very different beast, but it’s probably saving my sanity.
That’s a long bus ride. I hope it was fairly empty so you could lie down and get a nap (at least the seats were probably padded a little more than the ones in the photo). Sending good wishes that you feel better soon, and that your luggage arrived safely.
Did not know that you caught what Cody had! I’m really sorry. Airline travel is really a test of the fittest. But then hail storms in a closed auto for 20 minutes can be rather nerve racking also! My prayers and love for a quick recovery and a wonderful, fun time. Marta on her way home from Atlanta after a nerve racking Thurs. experience trying to get there via Delta. Be in touch after you get home. The coat is beyound beautiful!!! Not sure how you were able to finish with being sick??? We are fine.
I just loved your class and I learned so much from you in those short 3 hours that I feel like I don’t need to give up with sewing my handwoven goods. I was feeling quite giddy with ideas for fabric. You looked fantastic, you were generous with your time and lots of fun in class. Thank you for making the trip!! 🙂
Sincerely,