Another story of an experience with Etch. The man should write a book about his life. Character development would only need to be his own. Unfortunately, I believe this is the last time I have seen Etch in person...

This on was from February 25, 2008

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What a time to forget the trail mix...

I purposely went out and bought trail mix for this week. Bagged it, got it ready to go, and then in my rush to make my flight, forgot to take it.

This didn’t occur to me until I was already at the airport, waiting on my flight. I checked the flight status before leaving for the airport. It showed on-time, no delays. Decent weather in DC where I would get my connection to Indianapolis. Snow is falling lazily in Buffalo; nothing that would cause an issue here.

But as luck would have it, the plane was coming into Buffalo from Philadelphia, where nothing runs on time. Ever.

At least it seems that way. Sometimes I think that airport should just eliminate its schedules altogether.

“Well, we need to get these 10 flights out and these 10 flights in… what times should we be scheduling them at?”

“Eh… just let them do whatever.”

Seems like that might work out better.

Anyway, an hour delay out of Buffalo… and only an hour layover in DC. This was going to be interesting. Just how interesting was yet to be seen.

The flight landed at Regan National at the exact time my flight was supposed to depart for Indianapolis. We taxi to the gate where we proceed to sit and wait for a ground crew to help park the plane.

You would think these highly paid, professional pilots that can fly the plane 500 mph in the dark and find an airport could park the damn things without help…

Unfortunately they sent the ground crew to the wrong gate, which if you’re familiar with Regan National… it is perhaps the most logistically screwed up airport in the history of airports. There is no way for ground crew to go from the odd-gates side of a concourse to the even-gates side of the same concourse without going all the way around the concourse. So the ground crew was sent to gate 35 when the plane came into gate 36… and 10 minutes later we were able to park.

You have three concourses that aren’t connected together anywhere but the main concourse on the wrong side of security. Passengers can’t go from concourse to concourse without exiting and re-entering security, so they shuttle-bus passengers between the concourses and make them go up and down the outside stairs of jet ways. US Airways express flights all leave from the same 2 gates. They park the planes out on the tarmac a bus-drive away from the terminal…

Hence I avoid this airport, usually. This week I had no other options.

I jumped on the shuttle to take me to the other concourse to try and get my connecting flight. I scramble to get there as quickly as possible. I approach the unattended gate, a plane is still sitting there with the jet way attached, but there is no gate agent. I quickly run to the flight board to check the status of my flight. It’s still showing boarding. I hear the door at the gate open and run back to the gate.

“This is still the flight for Indianapolis?”

“Yes,” the agent said, “but it’s closed.”

“Well, the jet way isn’t closed up yet, can I get on the flight?” I said handing her my connecting boarding pass.

“I’ll go check with the pilot, hang on.” She said as she ran back through the door.

I watch the pilots in their dimly lit cockpit as I see her reach around the jet way cover to knock on their window and get their attention. I see her gesturing to the pilot and he opens the side window to hear her.

He looks up at the gate. Looks back at her…

…and shakes his head, no.

That rat fucking bastard.

The gate agent returns with a long face as they roll the jet way away from the plane and push it back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “it’s his decision… I asked, I even pleaded. You saw him shake his head?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“I’m sorry, there’s really nothing I can do.”

“I know.” I replied with obvious annoyance in my voice. “So, how does US Airways intend to get me to Indianapolis tonight?”

“Well, we have a 6:45AM flight…”

“No... tonight. I scheduled this flight to get there tonight.”

“That was our last flight out tonight, I’m sorry.”

“I realize that, hence holding it for another five minutes to get ALL the passengers on might have been worthwhile… don’tchyathink?”

“I’m sorry sir, re-ticketing you for tomorrow morning is the best I can do. You can take the shuttle to the other concourse and speak with customer service.”

Great.

So I shuttle back to the concourse I landed at. There is no one at the customer service desk, so I head up to the airline club. There is always someone up there.

The rep behind the desk at the airline club wasn’t very helpful. There were no flights on any other airline to get me to Indianapolis and all she wanted to do was stick to her “policies.”

“It was a weather delay sir, we don’t compensate passengers for weather delays.”

“But I could have made the flight if we had a ground crew to park the plane…”

“Oh, I hear that excuse all the time.” She replied with a tone of accusation, as if I didn’t do everything I could to make my flight.

“Well,” I said, “if you hear that so often maybe the airline should do something to FIX that PROBLEM.”

I believe it was at that point she understood the gravity of my displeasure. She quickly got up, “I’ll get my supervisor for you sir…”

I waited for her supervisor, sending text messages to Sarah. I knew she would have some empathy for my plight. The desk agent returned and told me it would be just a minute.

I was looking down at my phone sending text messages when I was approached by a young man, all smiles, obviously intent on trying to calm me down, or at least make me less unhappy even if he too said he couldn’t do anything for me.

“I’m sorry for the travel issues you’ve run into today… how can I assist you?” he asked.

I explained the whole thing. Best he could do was offer me a discounted hotel room at a nearby hotel.

“If you call the number on the coupon they can help you find a room.” He suggested.

I thanked him and left, still very annoyed and displeased.

As I walked out past security to the hotel information desk, dialing the number on the coupon, I looked at the flight tickers for anything going close to Indianapolis. There was a flight to Columbus, delayed until 9:30 PM. It was now 8:35 PM, I had some time before making that decision, but that would be about a three hour drive to Indianapolis from there.

Doable.

“I’m sorry sir, there are no hotel rooms available within your area…” the voice on the phone said, “if you call back in 15 minutes we might have something free up for you when our system refreshes.”

I thought, you’re using a real-time system you can’t manually refresh? That’s awesome…

I stepped up to the courtesy kiosks and started calling hotels directly.

Nothing. Nothing at the Hilton, Marriott, Hampton, Embassy, Super 8, Econolodge, Sheckie’s Swedish Institute and Flop House. My Diamond VIP status didn’t even matter. Not a single non-English speaking person at the local hotels could free up a room for me.

I even called the Hilton hotline.

Not a single room, anywhere.

Options?

Sleep in the airport… or move on.

Sleeping in the airport is no fun… going somewhere else, could be an adventure.

I raced back up to US Airways ticketing and approached the counter. It was 9:05PM.

I step up to the counter with my current boarding pass for tomorrow morning in hand and try to get the attention of one of the agents. Two agents are there working on another passenger’s ticket and talking to each other. One reaches out to me and takes the boarding pass from my hand without acknowledging me or diverting from her conversation.

She looks at the boarding pass.

“What is this?”

“It’s my re-issued boarding pass for tomorrow morning to Indianapolis. But you have a flight right now in delay going to Columbus, Ohio. I want to get on that one instead. Let’s make this happen!”

“Oh, no, no, no,” she said, “I was supposed to go home at nine, I can’t do this right now.”

I took a very deep breath and reminded myself… sympathy. Empathy. More flies with honey…

“Ma’m,” I started, “I’m sorry. I’m sure you’ve had a very long day, as have I. I just really can’t spend the night here.”

“Ok, ok.. hang on a minute.” She went through the door behind her, I was hoping with the purpose of going to go work on this.

A moment later, the same customer service manager I dealt with for the hotel pass came out, again, all smiles.

“Ok, so you want to go to Columbus instead?”

“Yeah, I can drive to Indy tonight from there.”

“Ok, they’re going to be closing security and the plane is boarding, we have to run!”

And run we did… to the other concourse from where US Airways’ ticketing actually is. I picked up my bags and we ran to security. He flashed his badge and explained to the security guard I have to change flights and get through with a boarding pass dated for tomorrow. They took my ID and boarding pass and let me through.

The gate was just on the other side of security. We got to the gate; he took control of a terminal and printed my new boarding documents.

“Ok, you’re all set. Good luck on the drive to Indy.”

“Thank you so much for your help tonight, I really appreciate it.”

“Not a problem! Glad you won’t be stuck here. That would have sucked.”

Indeed it would have. How much trouble could I get into dragging bags behind me in Washington DC?

But, I know Etch lives between Columbus and Indianapolis. That could be just the right amount of trouble to end the day with.

I took a seat on the plane and quickly dialed him up.

“Yo dude, wassup?” was his greeting, in his raspy, ever friendly voice.

“Hey man, I’m in DC right now, on a plane going to Columbus. I’ll be there in an hour or so. You free tonight?”

“So, you’re flying to Columbus, right now?”

“Yep, will be there in about an hour.”

“That’s cool. I have to drive up to Columbus? Or, what is your plan? Where do you have to go?”

“I’m driving to Indianapolis. I missed a flight, Columbus was the closest I could get.”

“Oh, ok. So you’ll have to drive through here anyway. We could go somewhere around here.”

“Sounds good to me as long as you’re free.”

“Cool. Yeah, hey. Yeah, we can go out for some drinks or something. It would be great to see you.”

“Sure would be! I have to get running, but I’ll call when I land.”

“Ok man, and in the meantime I’ll find someplace we can go.”

“Somewhere with food… man, I haven’t had anything since lunch.”

“Ok, cool. See you soon.”

The flight went quickly. The time seemed to speed by. I landed in Columbus, haggled with Avis getting a, "car," and lost. I got a Cobalt. Sorry, a Cobalt is not a car. It’s a paper cup on wheels. But I took what I could get, and I hit the road.

I spoke with Etch a couple times as he determined our destination.

“There is a b-dubs in Huber Heights, but they close at 1AM. Would only give us about a half-hour of time there.”

“Well, that works if that is where you want to go.”

“Nah, let me find something else, I’ll get back to you.”

I kept driving. The weather was worsening as I got further west. The truck traffic was merciless, and of course, Avis gave me a car with no windshield washer fluid in it.

Nothing like driving blind, on unfamiliar roads, at night, in the snow at 75 MPH in a car that gets tossed by every flake and wind gust it encounters.

“Taylorville Tavern,” Etch called back with this suggestion, “they’re open until two and she said she’d cook us anything we want all night.”

“Awesome. Sounds like a plan.”

Really, at this point, anything sounded good. Just to get off the road for a bit. To relax and not have to be running. I found it by the address on my GPS. It was a quiet area on the outside – the tavern tucked away in the corner of a business plaza. A gentle snow was still falling all around, covering everything in white.

I walked into a smoke filled bar-room. I saw Etch and his girlfriend near the pool tables shooting a game. I walked across the nearly empty bar and took a quick inventory of the people that were there. Typical, small-town watering hole type crowd.

Etch and his girlfriend both greeted me with hugs.

“You know, after I left the project I just figured, it’s one of those things,” he explained, “you know, we didn’t get to work with each other enough, then I’m gone and I’m thinking, well I guess I’ll probably never see these guys again.”

“But here I am.”

“Here you are! That’s cool man. You’re one of those guys I want to keep in touch with.”

“Same goes for you. I figured I’d have to drive through your neck of the woods, how could I not try and get together with you for at least one drink?”

“Well I’m glad you thought of it,” he said as his girlfriend put her arms around him. He smiled a beaming smile. The kind that gives you a sense of not just his genuine happiness, but something that can only be described as bliss. We sat down and perused a menu as we had some drinks.

“We’ve always had good times on the road, you know?” he said, “Like… Titusville!”

“Oh, what? Titusville? I’ve never been to Titusville! I have no idea what you’re talking about!” I joked back at him. His girlfriend laughed and we both gave her that, “It happened on the road, it stays on the road” smile and wink as we all laughed.

We drank, shot pool and had some standard fare bar food until about 2:30AM. We laughed a lot, and shared some old stories. We caught up on life, and what has been happening in our lives since the last time he and I were actually able to get together… it’s been so long, I can’t even say for sure when it was? Tacoma last summer? There must have been a time after that… but the days blend into the weeks and the weeks fly by… before you know it, an entire month has passed and so much of life has passed by with it.

The bartender had fun with us and we tortured her a bit trying to make this small-town bar’s hand-written receipt into something that can actually be expensed. I decided it just wouldn’t happen. I covered the tab. I’ll make it up somewhere.

We said our good-byes and I hit the road for another two hours of driving this little red death-trap across the Midwest.

I arrived at my hotel at about 4:20AM, ready for sleep. I had called the hotel from the road to ensure they were still holding my room. I walked in and a tired looking desk clerk quickly processed my check-in… I staggered to my room carrying my bags, dropped everything inside the door, stripped to boxers and collapsed in bed.

My 7:30 wake-up call would be coming all too quickly…