Remember Traveling

Remember traveling?
Every now and then I remember this trip....
Remember traveling? Well traveling just does not change that much, no matter who you travel for. Take my business trip to the wonderful land of Iowa, which started off just great on Tuesday morning October 24, 2000.
Checked the weather channel and all was well from here to Iowa.
Caught a cab at 5:40 AM from my condo to the Ronald Reagan National Airport located in Crystal City, Virginia.
Checked in at the American Airlines gate, checked my suit bag, had a cup of coffee, and got a seat with legroom, on an almost empty flight to the Chicago, O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Ill about 7:10 AM.
Took my lap top computer and working files with me, just in case my luggage did not make it. This way would be able to get the work accomplished even if my bag wound up in Alaska, which it very well could have.
My flight to Chicago was uneventful and arrived early and only had a one-hour layover scheduled at Chicago in route to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The trip, which was going so great, was about to turn into a full day tour of the Chicago airport instead of my one hour layover.
While sitting in a little coffee bar near my departure gate having a nice hot cup of strong black Star Bucks coffee with cream, heard the announcement that my flight was delayed. Was not too worried; it was only delayed, not canceled.
Noticed most of the Chicago airport has a view of the sky and the runways from just about anywhere you are in the airport. Noticed it was becoming over cast and very cloudy. Was not real happy about staying in Chicago for very long.
Enjoy airports as much as anyone can enjoy an airport. Liked watching people and all the crazy things they do in the airport without realizing they are doing it. Am sure people do not realize they drive us all crazy with their cell phones and their running to catch an airplane. Who in their right mind would talk out loud in a public place about their love lives, their business efforts, their family life, and how they hate whomever?
In an airport you see people wondering, running and sitting all over the place, next to strangers, talking about these sensitive areas of their lives. It is also great to watch everyone go crazy trying to see if it is his or her cell phones that is ringing and ringing and ringing. People who know there cell phone is off will turn it on to see if it was their cell phone that just rang.
Was having fun watching this parade of people going about their busy lives trying to get from one place to another. Am also sure there were people watching me trying to figure out what I was doing having so much fun watching other people.
People arrive at the airport late and run to the gates to try and catch the plane they should have arrived early for in order to board it on time. These same individuals get so upset at the security officers at the metal detectors and blame them because they missed their flight.
Now along with all the rest of the traveling public did become a little upset when our flights were delayed, delayed, delayed and then canceled. It was an angry group of people talking to gate agents and getting new tickets for new flights, which would also be delayed and canceled.
The short one-hour layover turned into a six-hour delay. It seems the Cedar Rapids, Iowa airport was fogged in and closed. The fog moved in and closed a lot of larger airports in the mid west, central plains, and even the East Coast this fine Tuesday morning. The delays caused more delays and that meant there were a lot of unhappy travelers in the Chicago airport on October 24, 2000.
Kept listening for my flights boarding announcement. However the flight kept being delayed and canceled. While waiting for my flight got a chance to walk about and see the entire Chicago airport. This was some fun since got to people watch and see more of the airport than I had ever seen previously.
This great day at the Chicago airport was also becoming more over cast every minute and that could cause fog and rain and even shut the Chicago airport down. Now the mood of the traveling public was becoming even uglier.
Was not sure wanted to stay overnight in Chicago if the airport was closed. So continued to check for ways of getting to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Called my Boss in Northern Virginia and explained the weather situation to him. Wanted to make sure he wanted me to continue my efforts to get to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to accomplish my mission. Ken advised me to be safe but "Do what had to be done" get the job accomplished if at all possible. If I could not get out of Chicago and wanted to stay the night and try the next day, by all means do so.
If the weather was still bad the next day, head back to Virginia and could try the trip later. So, in other words, go to Iowa by whatever means is available and get the job done. With the ok to stay and get the job done with deviations to my original travel plans, continued to look for a way to get to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Driving 4 hrs from Chicago, Ill to Cedar Rapids, Iowa was not an option.
Managed to get a flight to Des Moines, Iowa which was only 122 miles from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Should not have been surprised when that flight was also delayed and then further delayed. Was almost ready to call it quits for the day and get a hotel room.
The announcement came over the public address system indicating the flight to Des Moines, Iowa was ready for takeoff and all passengers should head for gate H14 on the lower level for immediate take off.
Was at gate H4 on the upper level in another terminal where the flight was supposed to leave from. Do not believe in running in the airport and did not believe the flight was really going to take off anyway. So walked the half-mile, dodging all the frantic running passengers also headed for gate H4.
Got to gate H4 just in time to get on the smallest American Airlines jet I have ever ridden on. The jet was so small did not have room to put my brief case under the seat or in an over head storage area.
Now you know the plane is small when you have to stoop down and turn sideways to walk in the cabin door. Had to have my brief case checked and placed in the luggage area.
The fun started, the plane was full with some 30 thrill seeking travelers. The door closed and the pilot announced there was too much weight in the front of the jet and some of the passengers would have to move to the back of the plane.
Not what you want to hear on a plane that is about to fly into bad weather. Apparently the plane could hold 38 people and there were 8 empty seats in the back of the plane. The ensuing rush by the passengers for the back of the plane caused the plane to rock from side to side. This was also not a good sign for a good flight.
Once the weight problem was resolved, no I did not have to move for the plane to take off.
We had a bumpy take off but the ride at 35,000 feet was nice and smooth. Did notice we were flying over the clouds that were causing all the problems. The clouds looked like a great deserted snow covered landmass. These clouds did not look like clouds at all, but like lots of snow. Almost expected to see Polar Bears romping about on the snow.
Just goes to show how your mind can play tricks on you while you are adjusting to extreme situations. The view of the snow-covered clouds mesmerized me and kept my mind off the possibility of problems with the flight to Iowa.
We made the 40-minute flight from Chicago; Ill to Des Moines, Iowa in 1:30 minutes and landed in Des Moines without a problem even though it was hazy and wet.
The airport at Des Moines was nice, just small. Managed to rent a car from Budget, load my bags and get on the road to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in only 30 minutes.
Had a car with Budget reserved in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at a U.S. Government rate. The car rented in Des Moines was cheap at $54.00. The drive to Cedar Rapids was easy enough with only a little fog drifting in and out. Managed to make the drive of the 122 miles in about three hours.
Had to keep up with traffic, which was cruising at light speed at times. I drove right to the Hampton Inn hotel, checked in, and all seemed right with the world again.
Then found my hotel was over booked due to the fog. A lot of guest did not leave on schedule, so I did not get the non-smoking, King-bed with easy chair, room ordered. Complained to the management and was advised they had no control over the weather and had no other rooms available.
Told the hotel folks was not happy and my reservation should have been honored. Oh, well life is tuff when you are traveling.
Could not get a room elsewhere due to other travelers being stranded in Cedar Rapids. The fact my room had to be a U.S. Government room rate kept me at the Hampton Inn. Any charge over the U.S. Government rate would have come out of my pocket and not the pocket of Uncle Sam.
Compromised and stayed in my smoking room without the easy chair. Realized had not seen my luggage since left Ronald Reagan National Airport at Washington at 7:00 AM that morning.
Called American Airlines and learned that one lone American Airlines flight did make it out of Chicago and it landed in Cedar Rapids at 6:00 PM. My bag was allegedly on the flight and could pick it up at the Cedar Rapids airport anytime.
Drove the 18 miles to the airport and after some searching found my bag among all the other hundreds of bags that somehow made it to Cedar Rapids on that little jet.
Returned to the hotel expecting to get in on the free food they offer in the lobby. The food was all carbohydrates; there is a limit to how many carbohydrates eaten in a day for me so I had to eat out.
Walked down the street, ate, walked back to the room and did my homework for the fraud investigation was to conduct the next day.
Awoke early (5:30 AM) on Wednesday morning October 25, 2000.  ate, reviewed my notes, called the Boss and let him know made it to Iowa. Headed out to travel the Iowa countryside doing my investigation.
Drove about 200 miles (between 7:00 AM to 6:30 PM) checking on various hotels, motels, restaurants, and storage facilities. While out and about noticed Quaker Oats is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
Conducted my interviews and returned to my hotel to type up my notes on the investigation about 6:30 PM. Called it a night and headed off to bed in order to get up early the next day to get the heck out of Iowa. The weather was getting worse with rain and fog and threatening to close the airport again.
Got up the next morning (Thursday October 26, 2000) and had a nice surprise when the Hampton Inn manager did not charge me for one of the two nights I stayed at their Hotel. It seems the Hampton Inn has a 100% guarantee on your stay or your money back. They still charged me for one night, but the gesture was nice.
Drove to the East Iowa Airport, and turned in the rental car, and managed to get an early flight (8:00 AM instead of 1:00 PM) out of Cedar Rapids to Chicago on that same little jet (one like it anyway) that flew me into Des Moines previously.
Just when the trip to Chicago was winding down, the pilot announced we were being placed in a holding pattern for Chicago due to high air traffic in the area.
We flew in a circle around Chicago for about an hour before landing. When we landed found out my connecting flight to Reagan National airport already left. Instead of leaving Chicago at 10:30 AM was not going to be able to leave until 1:10 PM. Was able to do more people watching at Chicago O'Hare International airport. Once boarded the plane for Reagan National airport noticed it was a nice large plane and was again almost empty and was able to enjoy the flight and landed at Reagan National airport about 5:00 PM.
Made my way to the luggage area, got my bags, drove home, and arrived home about 6:00 PM.
A simple three-day trip from Northern Virginia to Central Iowa is not always so simple.