Don't let the door hit you on the way...ouch...

"Sir, you're flying out of San Jose, not San Fransisco."

With about an hour left before my flight left the tarmac, it was NOT what I wanted to hear. Through some stroke of wild chance and several prayers to whatever deity was listening, I managed to check in and get to the terminal on time-though they could not put my luggage all the way through to Juneau. This meant that in the hour and a half layover in chicago, i would have to go to baggage claim, check my bags to Juneau, and re-enter security...and an hour and a half was if my san jose flight took off in time.
it didn't.

Once we touched down I had about fifty minutes before my flight left chicago, so I dumped my bags on the nearest chair to speed up my going through security. I made it to the carousel and, again by some stroke of luck, my bag was the first one out. After I disentangled myself from a chatty airport assistant at the check-in counter I got through security in about ten minutes and had about twenty before my flight. deep breath and relax, twenty mintues was more than enough.

Of course, that's assuming the TSA hadn't found your unattended bags and called the cops. the police spent about ten minutes telling me how dumb I was, then let me go with enough time to get to my gate, meet up with the group and board...and also have a Digestive cookie, though I can't reccomend that to anyone.

The night was far from over though. Once the group arrived in seattle, we de-boarded the plane and waited for our flight to Juneau through Katchican. The lovely attendents at the desk also informed us that no flights had been able to land in Juneau for two days, and our chances didn't look good. after a short thirty minute hop to Katchican we sat on the tarmac for another twenty crossing our fingers so hard our knuckles were white.

ten minutes after we were supposed to leave, the intercom sparks to life and we hear: "We just finished re-fuling and we're going to try to make it in, please buckle up and take your seats, we're out of here." There was a rousing cheer and we strapped down. After two passes at the runway and several nerve-wracking bouts of turbulance, we broke the cloud cover and touched down- the first flight to land in two days. Applause broke out in the cabin and we all exited giving the captain and co-pilot hi-fives. we picked up our luggage and walked out into the balmy and beautiful Juneau air, it was all downhill from here.

seventeen people and thier luggage in a fifteen person van?
easy.