Monday, April 16, 2007

Adventures in Myrtle Beach

Hi Everyone,

It has been an eventful week so far, and it is only Monday night!

Yesterday my flight from Lexington was delayed almost 2 hrs due to weather. As you may have noticed, it was also rather windy. The plane from Lexington to Atlanta is the smallest of commercial jets (the Embrasier 145). 1 seat on the left – then the aisle – then 2 seats on the right. Quite a small plane. Small jet + high winds = exciting takeoffs and landings! We bucked like a bronco up out of Lexington, then back down again into Atlanta. Fortunately my connecting flight to Myrtle Beach was running a bit late and I was able to make it. We had to walk outside from the plane to the terminal and nearly got blown away. Winds, some rain, and cold!

Hartsfield Terminal D was a madhouse due to all of the cancellations up north. Packed solid with people. Our departure gate was serving 4 outbound flights at the same time, and the PA system didn’t work. The Delta agent stood up in a chair and yelled “DELTA 6161 TO MYRTLE BEACH BOARDING NOW. FORGET ZONES – JUST GET ON THE PLANE!” Down the stairs and back outside onto the tarmac again – get blown away again – and up into the even smaller turboPROP plane. They were in a big hurry – “let’s go, let’s go!” And then we sat there. For about an hour. It was a bit tedious but not a horrible experience. Thank goodness for my video iPod.

We finally get airborne – bucking and bumping again. Note: Noise cancelling headphones work GREAT on a turboprop plane! Smooth flight – until we start descending into Myrtle Beach. The male flight attendant said over the intercom “buckle up – this could be exciting”. Just what you want to hear from the flight crew. The closest comparison to that descent that I can make is Space Mountain at Disney World. The plane rotates through all 3 axis’s at the same time. Some ladies were gripping their husbands arms, other people held the arms of the seats like a vise. Others of us laughed at the drops and twists to let off the tension. I put both hands over my head like a roller coaster and went “weeeeeeeee” and made the old lady next to me crack up. The flight attendant saw it and said over the intercom “Sometimes we are more fun than Disney World” and the plane IMMEDIATELY twisted and gyrated in response.

Bouncy descents are nothing new, but usually when you are with 50 ft of the ground it will smoooooooth out and settle onto the runway.

Not this flight.

We are 10 feet off the deck and it’s still twisting. GULP. The rear wheels touch down and the nose of the plane goes RIIIIIIGHT. The pilot did a great job and got all 3 sets of wheels on the ground and it is STILL trying to twist and sway. Not until we slowed down to something like 40MPH did it finally calm down.

After 2 bouncy take-offs and 2 bouncy landings my head was pretty woozy. But we got there safe and sound, and only an hour and a half late.

My buddy Duane – who logged 200,000 flight miles last year – said “That was the worst landing I can EVER remember!”

We got our rental cars and headed to the hotel. The wind was really trying to blow our cars off the road. I had plans to go for a beach run when I got to the hotel, but that was pointless. Probably would have gotten blown out to sea.

Staggered into the Hilton and checked in. Safe at last. Time to relax and get dinner. Get to bed early for the big day on Monday. Yeah right.

I’m in my room for 5 mins – just enough time to take off my coat and call Erin to say “I’m here”. Hung up the phone and “BEEEP-BEEEP-BEEEEP-ATTENTION-ATTENTION-THIS IS AN EMERGENCY-A FIRE HAS BEEN REPORTED IN THE BUILDING. EVACUATE DOWN THE NEAREST STAIRS IMMEDIATELY. BEEEP-BEEEP-BEEEEP”

Darn. Fire alarm. Grab the coat and computer bag, climb down the 10 flights of stairs and back out into the wind and now, cold. An hour later and the Horry County Fire Department has declared the building safe. The wind set off the fire alarm. Back up to the 10th floor. Finally order dinner. It’s going to be delayed because of the fire drill AND because the delivery boy got stuck in the elevator and is now AFRAID of the elevator, and doesn’t want to make his deliveries (they actually told me this).
So much for an early evening.

Interesting note: The wind blew 2 feet of water out of the hotel pool.

Up early for the 30 min drive to the client, and am there at 7:30AM. My 8:15 presentation went great (had an audience of 30) and the afternoon presentation (a different one) did too. Thanks for the many prayers – they really helped!

Got back to the hotel after work and finally went for my beach run. The wind was better but still amazingly strong. Lots of people braved the stinging sand and were out for walks. Some (foolishly in my opinion) had their little kids out there too. I headed down the beach into the wind for 15 mins and wore myself out. Then turned around for the 15 min return expecting a tailwind and – what? How can there be a headwind this way too??? I returned to the hotel exhausted and (literally) windburned but gratified. It looks like I have a slight sunburn but I believe it is due to the wind and sand.

Got some dinner and headed to the local chapter of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). A new friend named Ken said “I flew out last week and started to come back yesterday, but I was scared of flying in that wind so I waited until this afternoon to return.” Smart man.

Now to shower, iron a shirt, go to bed and do it all over again tomorrow. Thanks again for the prayers. There is less pressure the rest of this week, but still a lot of tough work to do.

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