Another Day in the Country
Snowstorms and all that jazz
© Another Day in the Country
When I made airline reservations to fly to California and back to Kansas, like Santa hitching up reindeer delivering presents, I considered a lot of things:
How long could I be gone from home? I considered my sister’s willingness to take care of things, my willingness to sleep on a weird bed, and “what’s with the weather?”
With all that, I came up with returning Saturday, Jan. 4. I was also considering:
- Air fares.
- My daughter’s work schedule for getting me to the airport.
- How long I could sit around in California without anything to do.
- How long Richard could tolerate me turning up the heat because it’s raining and damp in northern California.
- My sister’s work schedule.
Saturday would be a good day.
I’d been there long enough for a good visit. My grandson would be going back to school a couple of days after I left. Jess would be off work, and it would be easy to pick me up. And then I saw the 10 day weather forecast on my phone.
Whew! I was going to be sneaking in right before a big weather forecast was coming in.
That day, Richard called from work and said, “Pat, there’s a weather front coming in to Kansas, a vortex.”
I grabbed my phone. This was not just Richard wishing I’d turn off the lights more often and leave the thermostat set at 60. He was concerned about my well being.
“Maybe you should stay longer,” he said.
Then I got a call from Jess in Kansas.
“Have you looked at the weather?” she wanted to know. “Maybe you should reconsider — wait until Wednesday? Next Saturday?”
The weather always causes problems when I travel in winter. How can you predict what is going to happen?
“That’s why I stay home,” Jess adds with an ironic chuckle.
I powered up my trusty phone and started checking airline schedules.
Everything I found was either too early in the day for a two-hour trip to the airport in Sacramento or too late in the day for another two-hour trip home from the airport in Wichita — or the flight went through Denver, which is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
So, I made a decision. According to a weather app on my phone, the snow wasn’t supposed to start (50%) until after I’d landed in Wichita, so I let my reservation stand and proceeded as planned.
Meanwhile, we were making contingency plans with LeeRoy.
“Who’s LeeRoy?” you might ask.
Well, fortunately for us, he married into the family, so to speak. He’s the husband of my cousin Gary’s daughter, Kristina. And he has enjoyed “hero status” with us for quite some time, although we’d never needed it quite so much as we did just now.
I texted him, just in case Jess wasn’t over-reacting, and said, “Can you be on standby to pick me up from the airport in case Jess needs you?”
“Will do!” he answered, and just like that I was breathing a little easier with my decision to stick to the plan.
“We’re sticking to the plan,” I said to my daughter, so on Saturday she’d take me to the airport. She does it alone. There’s no husband driving or grandson riding shotgun. It’s just the two of us, heading off to Sacramento from the Napa Valley at a reasonable hour.
It was early enough in the morning that hot air balloons were taking tourist types on rides over the valley.
I tried to get a picture out the window of the car, but you’ll have to just imagine five colorful balloons drifting over the grape vineyards, covered in wisps of fog chased by sunlight.
They do those balloon excursions early in the morning — at dawn, when weather conditions are quiet.
In the car, just the two of us, we finally had a chance to talk and make plans for our next get-together.
For sure, I’m coming back to California in June because Dagfinnr will be finishing school.
“What about spring break?” Jana asks.
And before we know it, we’re at the airport and saying goodbye.
Meanwhile, back in Kansas, while the folks from the weather service were scaring Jess to death, LeeRoy was planning my rescue.
I kept them posted — crossing my fingers that the weather would hold and planes would be on time.
Sure enough, in spite of leaving Las Vegas late, my trusty Southwest plane landed in Wichita early!
“I just landed,” I texted.
“We’re at Starbucks in Wichita,” Jess texted back. “We thought you’d be late.”
Was I glad to see them? You bet your sweet bippy!
Not only did LeeRoy arrive, he arrived thinking of all contingencies, including extra coats, water, granola bars, and all the necessary tools to survive in Kansas on a stormy night, hoping for another day in the country.