Portland with Lisa!

Yesterday was a full day of mixed up travel to Portland. I arrived at the airport at 6:30 AM with my flight itinerary in hand. The lady at the counter looked at the reservation and said, we don't have any record of this reservation BUT we have you on a different reservation leaving in two hours. So I trekked back home for 1/2 hour to Patrick and the kiddies for a few minutes then left again for the airport.

We boarded the plane, then waited. And waited. The feared 'Message from the pilot' came on as he told us that there was a cargo door light that was on and they needed to have the engineer come to check it out. The engineer came, took about 20 minutes to check it out, then the engines turned on again and the pilot said it was time to take off!

Within 5 minutes, the pilot came on with bad news-the winds had picked up in a direction which made it impossible for the jet to be cleared for takeoff. So we waited another 20 minutes or so. The jet engines started up again. This time I thought it was for real. The guys with the orange pointer sticks raced out and got into position. I called up Lisa McCormick (who I am meeting here in Portland for the weekend) to let her know we were on our way.

Then the engines slowed down and the guys with the sticks raced over to put the stairs in place. Bad sign. The pilot on the intercom informed us that the cargo door light was on once again and we would need to deboard the plane. BUMMER.

So we deboarded, I called Patrick and told him I was bagging the trip. We had spent 2 hours sitting on the airplane and I didn't want to play the "lets try to fly out of Kodiak" game all day, only to be disappointed. I told him this and he said he understood if I didn't go. Then he called me back within a few minutes. He said, "Zoya, my co worker Jill really wants new orthotics so she wants you to persist with travelling." This was all it took for me to decide to go. (Just hearing that someone (other than myself) cared about what I was going to the class for. My class is a running course where we learn how to analyze running gait, wear patterns on running shoes and cast for orthotics. This means you make a plaster mold of a foot, send the mold off and a company can make orhtotics out of them. Nobody in Kodiak currently does this and I know it will be a great service to offer people with foot, leg pain etc...

The good news is that the cargo door light got taken care of and we were on our way in an hour. I was put on later connection flights and landed in portland 5 hours later than I had originally expected. Lisa had checked into the hotel and had several pieces of yummy pear gorganzola cheese pizza to enjoy before retiring to bed. She and I are going to meet up here this evening and go to dinner somewhere. Lisa is taking a 3 day art class with glass. Being here with her makes the trip so fun!! Someone to talk to before going to sleep and we'll have fun checking out downtown Portland tonight.

Zoya

And Patrick-Yes-lucy can babysit today...she'll be there at 10. :)