Anchorage - Day 1 - Just Get Me There!

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The month of November saw me travel between Minneapolis (twice) and Fort Wayne (twice). Thanksgiving week was enjoyed at home with a weekend filled with huge meals and extended family. I carved a turkey on Thursday, venison shoulder on Friday, and a quiche on Saturday (that was for breakfast).

The day after my 5K run saw me heading to Anchorage, Alaska for a 5-day class. Now I've been to Anchorage twice before, and both times in December. A quick check of the forecast for the week had highs in the 20s and lows in the 10s, so I wasn't too worried about the weather once I got there.

But getting there was going to be the chore.

The best price on a ticket meant that I would be flying from Detroit to Chicago/O'Hare to Salt Lake City, and from SLC on to Anchorage. As I checked on my flight statuses, I saw that my flight from Detroit was delayed to where I would not make the connection to Salt Lake City. Frustrated I called the airline to check my options. They put me on standby for a flight from Detroit to SLC, but they couldn't guarantee it. Frustrated, I headed for the airport as quickly as possible, hoping that other options would be available if I were there in person.

Strangely enough, when I got to the airport I saw that my original flight was no longer delayed. I ran to the gate to find that it was running only 20 minutes behind schedule. I figured that would still leave me with plenty of time to make the connection in Chicago.

We landed in Chicago on the northernmost runway, which is a good 5-10 minutes of taxi time back to the terminal. When we pulled up to the gate I had 7 minutes to make the next flight. As soon as the door opened I zipped out of the plane and up the jetbridge. When I got to the next gate the plane for Salt Lake City had not yet arrived. Relieved, I waited and recalculated how much this next flight delay would affect my connection time in SLC. I learned that SLC was socked with "weather", but the nature of the weather issue wasn't made clear to me. I figured if they had "weather" then perhaps my Anchorage flight would be delayed enough for me to make it.

When we took off from Chicago the pilot came on and announced the situation: Fog had rolled into SLC to the point that we might have to divert to Twin Falls, ID if it wasn't safe to land. Wow, I thought. If we divert there is no way I'll make it to Anchorage tonight. I prayed, and left it in God's hands.

About 3 1/2 hours later, I woke up from a nap to look out my window. I couldn't see anything. Suddenly, runway lights were whipping by my window and we landed in some of the thickest fog I'd seen on landing. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SALT LAKE CITY!" A collective cheer went up from the passengers. I turned on my phone to check the time: 11:51pm Eastern. That gave me 8 minutes to make my connection which was NOT delayed. We pulled into the gate, and once again I was chasing the gate agent up the jetbridge. I asked, "Is the flight to Anchorage still here?" But before I got a response, I ran down the concourse, from gate B8 to gate C3. It was already 9:59pm Mountain, which was the scheduled departure time.

When running to make a connection there are some things you look for: A crowd of people, which lets you know the state of the boarding process, and the gate agents who can help you. When I arrived at C3, there were no passengers. However, there were two gate agents at the counter. But the best sign was that the doorway was still open. This is your sign that you might still be able to get on. I didn't break stride as I ran right toward the door and stopped to pull out my boarding pass.

"Wow, that was quick!" said a gate agent. Apparently the other gate agent had called ahead to let them know I was coming. (I guess that distance running is paying off already...) "I didn't think you were going to stop at the door!" said the other. We had a good chuckle and I was so thankful that I had made the flights.

We landed in Anchorage at 1:00am Monday Alaska time (5:00am Eastern). I picked up my rental vehicle, drove to the hotel and flopped in my room. It was now 1:40am Alaska time, making my home-to-hotel travel time about 14 hours.

And I have to be at work at 7:00am.

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