March 18-20, 2009

I know, I know--where the heck have I been. I have been busy trying to get caught up with going to San Antone, etc. This blog posting deals with that time. First I had to awaken at 2:30AM to gather the girls at 3:30AM for the flight to begin the journey. All things went well as we checked in and went through security. This is the first time I have ever flown commercially, but I was not nervous. We took off on schedule and flew to Charlotte on US Airways (I will get back to them in a moment). I enjoyed the flight, and it was great watching the terrain. When we got to Charlotte, it was fogged in so we had to fly to Greenville and sit on their tarmac for several hours. We finally took off and landed at Charlotte, but we ended up staying on their tarmac for an hour before we were unloaded. The nightmare now begins.

I do not blame US Airways for the weather, but I blame them for not taking care of their passengers who, through no fault of their own, could not make a connecting flight. I received assurances, boarding passes, standbys, etc. that were ineffectual through various reasons. I had boarding passes in my hand for a flight and found out that when I got to the area that my name and the names of others were gone from the computer. That means someone over rode the system and placed someone else in the seats or they were saved improperly. I could not get four of us on a plane together. It was frustrating, and I even considered booking a flight back to Harrisburg. US Airways did a horrible job of accommodating their charges. I finally was able to secure a flight for one to Dallas and assurances that they other three would follow me the next morning. I chose to send me to Dallas because I knew what time I would arrive (1 AM), and I would be alone. I am so glad that my wife was there; of course, there was a mix-up, but she was able to take care of that.

It was a very interesting time at Dallas-Ft. Worth, and I do not need to go into that, but I will write that I did not have the option of sleep. Well, I will badmouth US Airways, but I will laud American Airlines because they were so good at helping us. I flew to San Antonio and got things ready for the other arrivals. I got it all including our luggage and everyone arrived safely. I had heard that one needed a GPS unit to get around the city so I rented one. Thank goodness. We headed down a 10 lane highway to the hotel, and found out the GPS unit had not been updated; the exit to the hotel had been removed. Well, I did some Texas driving and we got there to find out that we could not check in for another two hours. I had already been awake for 36 hours. The hotel got us in early, and I contacted CP and we arranged a time. The girls got some rest, and I knew that if I did, it would be trouble getting awake. Well, the time for the presentation changed, and we had to get there sooner. We did, and to make a long story short--IT WENT GREAT!!!!!

The girls did a wonderful presentation, and we went to a reception afterwards and talked with the major players in all of this. These professors and professionals treated the girls as equals and talked with them. There were people from Denmark, Australia, Spain, France, etc. there. We were told that when the NASA people gave the girls an applause, the rest of group that has dealt with them before could not believe it because they had never seen this group break its stoicism. Fantastic!!! We debriefed that night, and I decided to give the girls their time on Friday. I finally got to sleep after 44 hours.

The girls went to River Walk, Alamo, and some shopping. We had to catch a flight early the next day on American, and all went well. The girls had a great educational experience. I know this is a long entry, but it is my blog so pttttttttttttttttttttt.....flick