Saturday, February 24, 2007

Stuck between the Mississippi and Missouri

So I was supposed to fly into Mason City IA last night and come right back to Minneapolis. I got to see my first thunder snow showers as we came into land. It went from beautiful colors of blue-purple ground and white shafts of snow from layers of pretty clouds to concern as we watched lightning coming out of snow clouds. The wind was out of the east at 25knts gusting to 36. We landed no problem, then it started to rain. Even with the temp at 30F. So yeah, freezing rain. Planes don't deal with freezing rain so well. Neither did the runways: they were so slippery after a few minutes of freezing rain, that we couldn't use them. So it now became an overnight. I didn't have my rollerbag/ suitcase with me (it's falling apart and I'm waiting for a new one to be shipped). Now I'm stuck here waiting for the weather to improve as my airplane, and much of Iowa has turned into an icecube (it will take over 100 gallons of deicing fluid ($15-20/gallon) to bring it back to flying condition). We've just been informed that we'll be spending a second night here. I really need some clean socks. This town has no taxis. The hotel will drive us ONLY to the airport, but refuses to take me somewhere to buy socks, whitey tideys, etc. After the front desk woman told me her driver doesn't work on Sats. she said she'd look for someone to help. Apparently that was easier to say than "no, we can't take you." Why do people lie. Makes them weak in my mellon. I think I'll try washing my socks tonight...I sure hope they dry by morning. The roads are so bad, it probably would be best to just stay here than find a ride to a store. I still wish I flew into towns with taxis.