Minneapolis

The plane was supposed to leave Kansas City at 4:30. Unfortunately, it was storming in Minneapolis and they wouldn't let us take off until 5:15. That't not too bad. People were unhappy, but no big crises were apparent from the conversation I eavesdropped on.

We are in the air, flying to Minneapolis when the pilot tells us the storms hit sooner than they expected and we have been instructed to take a different route and hold as the traffic is backed up. However, holding may be a problem, as we do not have enough fuel to hold very long, and may have to divert to Souix City for fuel. Okay, now people are getting irritated. We sat in Kansas City for almost an hour. Why didn't they fuel the plane then? It's only a 1 1/2 hour flight and I feel certain the tanks hold adequate fuel for a flight of that length with plenty to spare.

So we landed in Souix City and waited about 45 minutes on the tarmack for clearance to again try to reach Minneapolis. We finally arrived a little after 8, which was only two hours late and as I was only going to Minneapolis, I was not concerned. There were many others who had expected to connect for somewhere else who WERE concerned. I was remembering when that connecting flight issue complicated my life and was so glad this was not one of those times.

I picked up my car, checked my Micro-soft map to be sure I knew which highways to take and headed to the hotel. My route was to take 35W North to an area called Rosedale. Finding 35W was a little tricky as the sinage isn't as clear as I would have liked. I was surprised when the highway I was on hit 35W before I ever saw the highway I thought was supposed to take me there. So far, so good. Until I hit downtown Minneapolis and 35W was closed. The detour signs weren't clear and I just guessed, ending up on surface streets in downtown Minneapolis. Now I'm a little rattled, it's dark and I have no idea how to get back to 35W past the closure. I'm headed north on what looks like a through street when I realized I was on a bridge. Now I understood. 35W was the bridge that collapsed. (I'll check that out tomorrow when it's daylight.)

The traffic finally cleared out to the point that I felt safe pulling over and looking at my map for options. It looked like I could go North until I found a through street going West and end up at the hotel..which actually worked with no problems. But the hotel looked closed. When I pulled into the parking lot the entrance had no lights and was covered with scaffolding. There were cars in the parking lot and lights on in the windows, so I was pretty sure there had to be another entrance. I found a door proped open with a board and went in. I actually had a reservation and finally made it to a very nice room. Just about three hours later than I had hoped and I missed 'Dancing with the Stars'. Thank goodness for DVR!!