Table for two, Donner Party

KP and I are driving his car back from San Francisco. Our flights to San Francisco were a bit nerve racking, but we managed to make our original and connecting flights, by the skin of our teeth. Apparently, Chicago had a wind advisory so the airlines had to bump passengers to meet weight requirements in windy conditions. We checked into our flight a full hour and a half early only to discover that we were 12th and 13th on a standby list! A few prayers to Saint Christopher later, we were the last two to make it onto the flight. Unfortunately, because of the whole seating issue, the flight left an hour late. Mid-flight, we asked the flight attendant the ETA, and she inexplicably said that we were to arrive at the scheduled time. When we were still well out of range of landing at the scheduled time, KP went to the galley to ask whether we would make our connection. Then something magical happened! First, the attendant asked us and two other passengers to raise our hands. They then told all of the other passengers that they were to remain seated until we made it off of the plane. Second, the pilot was driving on the tarmac almost 40 miles per hour. He took a turn at 28! We know it was this fast because we were watching one of those nifty flight tracker things that gives you altitude and speed. Finally, at the gate, an electric cart met us to zoom us off to the connecting flight 20 gates away. They had already closed the door to the plane, but reopened it for us when the cart pulled up.

Then comes the drive. On Saturday evening and Sunday morning, KP was glued to the weather channel. Finally, he announced, "Table for two, Donner Party. We picked some week to travel, given all of the freakish weather all over the country." As you probably now, snow in Phoenix (and in San Francisco, for that matter), a late snow storm in the Sierra Nevadas, and tornadoes across the Midwest.

Heading to church on Sunday morning was yet another exciting experience during our trip. We had forgotten all about the Saint Patrick's day parade and it took us 35 minutes to get across Market Street. We missed the first 15 minutes of mass, but managed to make it in the end.

Then came the Sierras, and the snow chains. Actually, it was quite difficult to acquire the correct-sized snow chains. We woke up extra early on Sunday to accomplish this rather important task, but found difficulty. After a tour of several auto parts stores, we finally found them. Thank you Kragen! The snow chain requirement came during the evening, which added to the difficulty. Neither of us had ever installed them before. As we were putting on the snow chains, KP on one tire, me on the other, I heard him mutter, "This is sucky."

I would just like to say that I don't see how skiing could be worth it.

The drive was harrowing, it took about 3 hours to get over the mountain, but we made it, unlike the Donner Party.

Oh, and my crash course in driving a manual car is going moderately well. I still have problems getting off the freeway at exit ramps, however.

Tales of Utah and Wyoming to come later.