La Crosse, Wisconsin

Traveled to Wisconsin this week for a customer conference for the maker of our software for work.  I left my house at noon on Sunday and it's been one adventure after another.  Flew from OKC to Dallas, and the flight from Dallas to Chicago was delayed.  When we got to Chicago, our flight to La Crosse was delayed.  It was delayed from 8:10 to 9:00, then the gate was changed, then the gate was changed again, then we got to board the flight only to have to get off because a thunderstorm rolled through Chicago and they closed the runways.  Luckily that delay was only about 30 minutes and we got back on the plane.  We should have arrived at 9 p.m., but we didn't land until almost midnight.

Turned out that it was alot colder in Wisconsin than I had planned for.  I should have brought a heavier coat.  On Monday all the local weather people could talk about was the wind storm that was moving through.  I have lived in OKC for a long time and we've never had a wind storm in the forecast.  Monday evening, I put in 4 miles on the treadmill, so boring, and ordered room service so I could get some work done. 

I brought supplies to paint my toenails, because it had been forever.  I managed to break the bottle of nail polish, all over me, all over the bed, and I had not packed near enough nail polish remover.  I spend about an hour scrubbing off a layer of skin to get it off and I left a tip for house keeping the next morning for making such a mess.

So it was cold and very windy, and rainy in Wisconsin.  Turns out the trip home has been from hell.  Our 9:20 flight was cancelled for technical problems.  So we were booked on a 12:40 flight into Chicago and then a 2:25 flight direct to OKC.  Score!  That would have put us home at 4:40, in time for Josh to pick me up on the way home from work and to surprise the kiddos at the Rec Center.  Well, our 12:40 flight didn't take off until about 1:15, and when we landed in Chicago, and at this point we might have been able to make it, the gate we were to deplane at had another plane in it.  We got to sit on the runway and wait for them to direct us to a different gate.  Then, they had to call someone to bring out the walk way, so another wait.  We ran through the airport but the plane was already gone.

The lovely American agent in Chicago booked us on the 4:10 flight to Dallas and said she booked us on the 9:05 flight to OKC.  There was an earlier flight but we weren't able to make it to Dallas in time to try to get on it.  When we got to Dallas and went to get our boarding passes we found out that they put Kerry on the 9:05 and me on the11:05.  Stupid Jerks!  So now I have three and a half more hours to kill in this dang airport. 

I am so not working tomorrow.